Lesmurdie Senior High School WACE Courses Score Adjustment Post-school destinations

WACE Courses of Study Structure   In principle, all WACE Courses have three stages – 1, 2 and 3.   Within each stage are Units which are normally semester long.   Units are normally studied in pairs.

WACE Courses of Study Structure   Stage One Courses – –Senior School entry level in a Course – –Can be studied in either Senior School (Yr 11) or Exit Year (Yr 12) – –Advantage to have studied in the area in Lower School – –Not Externally assessed in WACE Examinations – –Cannot be used for ‘front door’ University entrance – –Excellent for TAFE entry.

WACE Courses of Study Structure   Stage Two Courses – –Recommended as University entrance course entry level. – –Can be studied in either Senior School (Yr 11) or Exit Year (Yr 12) – –Externally assessed in WACE Examinations at the end of Exit Year. – –Can be used for ‘front door’ University Entrance but severely adjusted. – –Good for TAFE entry.

WACE Courses of Study Structure   Stage Three Courses – –Recommended as University entrance level for use as part of ATAR. – –Can be studied only in Exit Year (Yr 12) – –Externally assessed in WACE Examinations at the end of Exit Year. – –Recommended as part of ‘front door’ University Entrance. – –Good for TAFE entry.

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)   Previously known as the TER   A TEA is a score that is used to identify how students performed in each of the WACE Courses for which they sat an external examination.   It Is used to calculate the ATAR

WACE Courses   Best four WACE courses (2 units = a course – at Lesmurdie, it is very unusual for students to sit a single unit from a course)   Standardised score for each course   Marks are moderated and scaled   TISC produces a conversion table to work out the ATAR

What is an ATAR?   Australian Tertiary Admission Rank – lists all students in Australia on a continuum from highest to lowest.   ATAR is used for selection into University courses.

CALCULATING THE ATAR   50:50 School and external assessment.   15 point bonus marks added to Stage 3 Course marks before scaling.   The bonus marks for Maths are different! – –2A/B Math – none – –2C/D Math – 10 bonus points – –3A/B Math – 20 bonus points – –3C/D Math – 30 bonus points – –3C/D Specialist Math – 10 bonus points

CALCULATING THE ATAR   YOUR BEST 4 MARKS   MARKS ADDED TOGETHER TO GIVE A TOTAL OUT OF 400   THIS IS CALLED YOUR TERTIARY ENTRANCE AGGREGATE (TEA)   ATAR ( )

CALCULATING THE ATAR English 2A/2B 50 Maths 3A/3B 70 Geography 3A/3B 65 Earth & Env Sci 3A/3B 60 Chemistry 3A/3B 55 Best Tertiary Entrance Aggregate (TEA) 250 ATAR guesstimate 85.00

2011 TEA/ATAR SUMMARY TABLE BASED ON 2010 RESULTS FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY ATARMinimum TEA for an ATAR (95) ATARMinimum TEA for an ATAR (69.8) (62.5) ATARMinimum TEA for an ATAR (56.4) (50) (44.25)

What couldn’t you do this year with a ATAR of 85.00?   Actuarial Science   Chiropractic   Dentistry   Medicine   Midwifery   Physiotherapy   Podiatry   Veterinary Science   Most double degrees

Standardising Moderation, Application of Increment and Scaling

Why Moderate and Scale?   Standardise because not all examinations are the same (Curriculum Council)   Moderate because not all school assessments are the same (Curriculum Council)   Scale because some courses are more difficult than others (TISC)

The difficulty of an examination paper from year to year Marks Adjustment Process The standard of marking from school to school Marks are adjusted to ensure that this competition is as fair as possible and not affected by differences in: The difficulty between different courses and the courses chosen by groups of students moderation scaling standardisation

School Mark Standardised (State Mean 60) Exam Mark Scaled Mark Standardised (State Mean 60) Moderated Combined Mark 50% Scaling refers to this final step, not the whole sequence Process used to adjust marks In the marks adjustment process, teachers can only influence this area

COURSE INCREMENT For courses that have Stage 2 and Stage 3 exams, an increment of 15 will be added to the Stage 3 combined standardised scores before scaling. Mathematics and Mathematics Specialist have different increments.

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