MAY13 Maths SL Paper 2 TZ2

[maereth]

I think predicted grades are used when the papers are lost... That would be unfair tbh... I saw on a biology markscheme that when 1 question is canceled then the marks for it are given depending on the rest of the questions. There was a table which said if you have more than 12 points you get 3 for this question if you have 8-11 you get 2 etc... which is also unfair but whatever Anyway I hope that they won't disregard the papers but only adjust the marking scheme and that I'll get a 7

But if they do it this way the boundaries would be higher not lower so that less people will get 7, am I right?

Oh God, I want my results now!

I don't know, if they only take into account coursework than I suppose the grade boundaries would be high but it doesn't make sense to mark those 20 percent only...

[Fabrice Kornienko]

I can confirm these rumours, my centre has also been alerted. Apparently in Paper 1 the latter stage of one of the questions near the end of Section A (which I didn't get near to!) needed a calculator - something to do with Cos. In paper 2, there were issues with the first and last questions in Section B, forgetting the numbers, not the middle one with probability and stuff. The first was possible but beyond our syllabus by some distance, the second impossible. So pretty major stuff it seems. Normally they'd re-distribute the marks etc, but given the severity there's talk they could instead have to award predicted grades balanced with coursework marks and forget the papers altogether.

Thats strange because most of my friends did the cosine question and got cosx=0 while I had something strange like 0=cosx-2x-1. Maybe I was right? What did you have guys?

Probability was strange I do agree. I also made a mistake in the last question.

Since I dont believe in this awarding predicted grades (did it happen once in the past?) could you please explain to me how the redistribution of the marks works?

Personally I do not like the situation because it would mean boundries going up (if people who did the whole question in the wrong way are given the same amount of points like people who at least tried and knew the method...)

I think it was solvable because I got cos(x)=0 and other people from my class got the same.

[Johanna St]

I can not believe that they would not take the exams in consideration at all... This would put so many people at a disadvantage,who have for exampled counted on the exams pulling their grade up, being in the knowledge that it is worth the greatest part of their grade. I think what they sometimes did in chemisrty and biology was simply removing the question from the marking all together, and adjusting the total marks.

I would be seriousy mad if the exams do not count, because we all pay loads of money for these examinations, and we can at least expect that the questions are solvable and within the syllabus...

[Johanna St]

ANd for the cosine question I had exactly the same thing were cos(x)=0.... so it should be doable if many people had the same approach. I just talked to my math teacher and he thinks it is very unlikely that they will cancel the papers in total; he said they will either remove the questions or assign marks for students if they had the right approach

Edited May 18, 2013 by Johanna St

[mao731]

How likely is it that they'd not include the results from the papers at all? Surely at most they'll just not mark those specific questions

[nuby]

Well, once, in May 2007, the IBO accidentally reused the May 2005 History paper 2 (it was the same exact paper). There were talks back then about cancelling the paper and just using predicted marks. However, once they marked it, they saw that the accident gave not much benefit to the students and they ended up marking it as normal (perhaps with a shift in grade boundaries). From this, it seems like the IBO doesn't cancel exams unless something really bad happens. They'll probably just remove the bad questions (i.e., nobody gets points for them and total is lowered, like what happens with bad science multiple choice questions) and lower the grade boundaries.

[jinye]

Well, once, in May 2007, the IBO accidentally reused the May 2005 History paper 2 (it was the same exact paper). There were talks back then about cancelling the paper and just using predicted marks. However, once they marked it, they saw that the accident gave not much benefit to the students and they ended up marking it as normal (perhaps with a shift in grade boundaries). From this, it seems like the IBO doesn't cancel exams unless something really bad happens. They'll probably just remove the bad questions (i.e., nobody gets points for them and total is lowered, like what happens with bad science multiple choice questions) and lower the grade boundaries.

Unfortunately that is the most probable thing that is going to happen.

Oh, I liked so much my predicted grade ahahah

[Moini92]

Well, once, in May 2007, the IBO accidentally reused the May 2005 History paper 2 (it was the same exact paper). There were talks back then about cancelling the paper and just using predicted marks. However, once they marked it, they saw that the accident gave not much benefit to the students and they ended up marking it as normal (perhaps with a shift in grade boundaries). From this, it seems like the IBO doesn't cancel exams unless something really bad happens. They'll probably just remove the bad questions (i.e., nobody gets points for them and total is lowered, like what happens with bad science multiple choice questions) and lower the grade boundaries.

You mean removing part of that question or the whole question including the 10 a) on Sec B P2?or just part of the question that was badly asked to the student?

Edited May 20, 2013 by Moini92

[Jamal102]

This is the email they sent out. Our teacher forwarded it to us:

The IB Assessment Centre acknowledges that mathematics SL paper 1 and 2 contained errors which may have caused difficulties for candidates. This of course is very regrettable and I wish to apologize for the discrepancies in these examination papers. During the marking of scripts and grade awarding for mathematics SL, steps will be taken to ensure that no candidates are disadvantaged by the errors in these papers. Further details will be available in the May 2013 subject report for mathematics SL. Graeme Donnan, Head of School Delivery.

I guess it means that they will count the paper but remove those questions.