Here’s what I found when I reviewed a heap of last year’s exam papers.
There’s one type of Q that seems to be cropping up more and more.
Even in subjects you wouldn’t necessarily expect it (yep, we’re even talking Art and PE!)
And it’s (unfortunately) the type of Q that many students dread (because it’s also the one that catches many out and where they perform worst – eek). *
So with end-of-term exams looming for many students, I want to make sure I share this now!
* Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom, because awareness is half the solution! Having your teen look out for these Qs and know EXACTLY what to do with ’em will mean they’re way ahead of the pack (and picking up all those extra marks!) 🙂
This week I wanna help you out with one particular type of essay and extended response Q.
This has always been, for as long as I’ve been around as a teacher and examiner, AND even back to when I was a student, the type of Q that students are most uncertain and least confident in.
And validly so – because these are the Qs students overall perform worst in, too! ?
So what are they?
And how SHOULD students be tackling them?
Well, I’ve just been going through some past papers and it struck me just how many times this type of Q is coming up these days.
“What type of Q, Katie?”
Evaluation level questions.
These are those dreaded types of Qs that make a statement and then just finish with the word ‘discuss’.
OR the questions that BEGIN with the opening:
‘To what extent’
or
‘Assess…’
They may even have the word evaluate in them, like:
‘evaluate the success of…’ .
But usually they don’t actually include the word ‘evaluate’, which is, or course, part of what makes them more challenging!
But more on that in a moment.
Even as a national and state exam marker, I’m a little surprised at how many times evaluation level Qs have crept into all subject exams recently.
Even multiple times in one paper!
And not just on the ones you’d think either, like History or Science or English.
Nope, these are in subjects like Art and HPE.
In fact on the NSW PDHPE paper of 2017 – which I’ll include a link to in the blog notes, just in case you wanna check it out –
In that paper, the phrase ‘to what extent’
– a flashing, ‘hit you over the head’ wording alarm for an evaluation command! –
that phrase was used for almost every extended response question in the 2017 HSC PDHPE exam and contributed around 30% of the marks on the paper.
Whoa! I know, right?!
‘To what extent’ is often used in ATAR exams and it’s important that it’s recognised as a question that requires you to make a judgement.
For example, Question 23 from the 2017 exam asks:
To what extent does Australia’s health care system benefit from having a healthy ageing population? (8 marks)
Now I know that ‘evaluate’ level questions are almost always the ones that students struggle with most
So I thought I’d share the bones of this with you too.
So here’s what I want students to know:
1) How to identify an EVALUATE command in a question, even when it doesn’t actually state the word evaluate.
2) That this means they need to make a JUDGEMENT about the statement being given.
That might be a judgement about how much they agree with the statement, or more objectively, how much it is agreed by others or by other research that the statement is true.
Let me explain using that PDHPE example: ‘To what extent does Australia’s health care system benefit from having a healthy ageing population?’.
Students need to respond with:
Yes it does,
OR
No, it doesn’t,
OR
It does to some extent.
3) They need to be able to plan and structure their response in light of this.
They need to outline in their intro their judgement and an overview of the reasons for it, which they’ll then expand on in their body paragraphs through examples, evidence and explanations.
Of course rounding up with a conclusion that shows how these all fit and link together to lead to the overall judgement.
So, if your teen doesn’t feel confident in these types of Qs, then it’s definitely time for them to take action to turn that situation around.
Because it’s highly likely they’re gonna be faced with these questions regularly in their future exams, no matter their subjects.
Rather than figuring it out for themselves, I just wanna remind you that I have a whole Catapult module dedicated solely to ‘Evaluations made Easy’ in my 10 Week Grade Transformation Program AND will cover a variety of examples and break down model responses in the monthly GTZ Seminars throughout this year.
Please go ahead and leave me a comment, share this blog with anyone else who’d find it useful, and until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week!
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The 2017 NSW PDHPE Paper: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/resource-finder/hsc-exam-papers/2017/pdhpe-2017-hsc-exam-pack
