Solving The Wrong Problem (From Section B)
August 29th, 2007According to the BBC, via the Times, “exam boards in England are planning to put more simple questions in science papers”. This is in response to lowering science grades and corresponding drops in science A-level and university course uptake.
Okay. But might it also be an idea to put more science questions in there? Science is interesting, and if it was taught properly then students would get better marks and enjoy it more and uptake would increase.
You could also try putting more sensible ones on. Have a look at the exam paper The Times has for download. It’s mostly pretty good for avoiding the complaints of Wellington Grey, although that’s perhaps because it’s all multiple choice and as such it’s largely impossible to specify answers that can’t be guessed at or ask political “why..?” questions. But question three can be answered by someone who doesn’t understand any science at all. Someone who only knew one word of English could probably get it, providing that word was “between”. Question five is quite a good one in principle, but misses a key point of science: that we should assume that the stupid theory is wrong unless its advocates can prove otherwise. I’m sure it’s perfectly answerable, but the correct response to that question is “they shouldn’t bother”. Question seven is not about science. Question ten implies that Jupiter is a star. Question 20 is only debatably a science question, and has two correct answers (or none, depending on how you interpret them).
There’s a huge amount of science test papers and things on the AQA’s site, which is presumably more representative. I might have a look at some later.
[More Help]
August 29th, 2007 at 17:02
Question 23 quite unnecessarily tells candidates to assume Pluto has a circular orbit, when the same question could have been asked using a planet which actually does have a roughly circular orbit. Better to be topical than factually accurate?
August 29th, 2007 at 23:28
I think the AQA exams are a bit more difficult in that it sometimes asks you science (though all the papers have something called “citizenship” in it where you learn about something that has bennifitted society in the hopes that you’ll come up with something similar, later)
These edexcel exams look like a piece of piss. I wish I taught them instead of AQA.
August 30th, 2007 at 03:11
…dear gawd. I read through that exam on Times and that is just some unremarkable piece of shit! I wish I did exams like that. Yes the questions do relate to science, but I could still answer most of them just with some basic math, logic and common sense! Most could have the keywords replaced with whatever else and still make sense. Not to mention the pointless stuff just to add extra padding. (pics in 19 and 21, the curious balloons of 33, etc.)
I don’t see how question 6 qualifies as Physics. (frankly, I could say that about most) Question 9 is really just common freakin’ sense. Question 12 is taught in elementary. Question 20 is just silly. Question 24 requires the extraordinary skill of figuring out the biggest number! (the formula is barely necessary) Questions 28-29 use the most pointless graph in history (holy crap it’s a graph and it has two values, what will I ever do with them?!?). And so on.
Damn, I wish I had to do exams like that.
August 31st, 2007 at 14:20
This has been pointed out in a few places as well I think but question 30 doesn’t make any sense. The big bang doesn’t have an “origin”. So the poor kids don’t have a chance really.
August 31st, 2007 at 14:41
Even if you take “origin” in the coordinate sense, I reckon a lot of scientists would say “the vacuum” was a perfectly valid answer.
August 31st, 2007 at 15:16
yes definitely. Passing these exams seems as much getting inside the mind of the examiner as it does understanding the subject.