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Review of VCE Examination Paper

Introduction

            VCE assessments provide a great way to monitor and identify flaws in certain schools and the national curricula. This work reviews the 2018 end year VCE examination paper analysing the quality of the paper questions. The review further analyses how the syllabus outcomes are sufficiently covered in the paper. With supporting evidence, the precision of the marking schedule of the open-response questions is also analysed. Moreover, the paper establishes the relationship between the 2018 end year VCE examination paper and the school assessment of physical education giving adequate proof for the established relationship. The paper also describes the contribution of the examination in review to the purpose of the VCE as an exit external assessment system.

Quality of the paper questions

            The 2018 end year VCE examination paper exhibits exceptional standard of paper questions. The questions are concise and clear as per the requirements of high-quality questions (Sood, 2019). Question one and three (section A), for example, are framed in an easily understandable way, excluding any non-essential information, enabling students to understand what is required of them although they may not know the answer. Furthermore, the questions meet another quality requirement of being grammatically correct (Bothell, 2001). Moreover, as Crisp, Johnson and Constantinou (2019) describe quality questions, the paper questions seem to test only the intended knowledge thereby ensuring that students are only tested on the knowledge they were taught. The questions also meet the single dimensional objective of quality questions. Question 1a (section B), for instance, requires two answers which are divided to focus on one dimension at a time. Emphasis on higher level thinking is another characteristic that raises the quality of the paper questions. Instead of direct recall questions, the paper makes use of remembrance-plus application questions. These expect the students to not only recall facts and concepts, but to also adequately apply them to real life situations. Thus, the 2018 end year VCE examination paper exhibits exceptional standard of paper questions (see appendix A for more proof on quality of paper questions).  

Coverage of the syllabus outcomes

            The 2018 end year VCE examination paper makes tactful use of structured questions to meet the syllabus outcomes. For instance, the syllabus requires that a student who undergoes unit four teaching is able to analyse information from an activity analysis and fitness tests to determine the fitness units and energy system requirements of the activity. It also requires the student to design and evaluate training programs to enhance specific fitness components. Question 1 (section B) comprehensively tests these outcomes by presenting data collected by a coach who wants to assess the level of agility of his recreational European handball team. The paper contains specific questions that stimulate thinking of the students by incorporating not just one but several syllabus outcomes in a single open-response problem. Moreover, the questions are unambiguous with a well-established pass or fail criteria to ensure it is clear to distinguish between those who met and those who did not meet the learning outcomes. Additionally, the questions possess great similarity to the VCAA study design provided to schools. This ensures adequate coverage of the syllabus outcomes. Hence, the 2018 end year VCE examination paper makes tactful use of structured questions to meet the syllabus outcomes.

Accuracy of The Marking Schedule of Each Open-Response Question

            The marking schedule of each open-response question of the 2018 end year VCE examination demonstrates a high level of accuracy. An open-response question requires a student to link already known information to the question at hand. As such, there is no static response to such a question and the marking schedule of the question should put this under consideration. The marking schedule for the 2018 VCE end year examination is accurate as it gives credit to the student for the correct approach and answer to the open-response question. It emphasizes on the students’ ability to link pre-acquired knowledge to the exam question scenarios. The marking schedule further warns its users that the information present in the same schedule, unless otherwise stated, is not to be taken as the exemplary response to the open-response question. Rather, the users should do case by case review of the students’ responses and give them credit where they adequately link already known information to the open-response question. The marking schedule also ensures that a clear distinction is available for weak students (provides a shallow linkage of lectures to the question) and bright students (provide an in-depth understanding and linkage of lectures to the question). Thus, the marking schedule of each open-response question demonstrates a high level of accuracy.

Relationship to the School Assessment 

            The 2018 end year VCE examination is insufficiently linked to the school assessment of physical education. Based on my experience as a student, certain questions from the VCE examination questions usually require that you draw key knowledge and skills from an activity that you had participated in during the school assessment. However, the school assessment does not usually offer a comprehensive activity from which you can draw such knowledge and skills. Consequently, students experience difficulty in answering content questions that require a pre-engagement in a school-based assessment activity. The paper in review follows the conventional VCE methodology requiring students to draw knowledge and skills from an activity they did not take part in during the school-based assessment. Furthermore, a research by Whittle, Benson, Ullah and Telford (2017) related students’ difficulty in answering questions that required them to draw activity-related knowledge and skills to the failure to perform an activity analysis during their school-based assessment. Lack of such knowledge and skills in the students renders the VCE exam dissociative to the school-based assessment of physical education. As such, the 2018 end year VCE examination is insufficiently linked to the school assessment of physical education.

Contribution of the VCE Paper to the Purpose of VCE as an Exit External Assessment System

            The 2018 end year VCE examination paper enables students to acquire essentially useful skills. The VCAA states that its purpose is to provide exceptional curricula and assessment through VCE examination to enable learning. For the paper in review, students are required to extensively prepare through planning and time-management. These are useful life skills that one can carry onto their professional life and thus, a great potential in fulfilling the VCE purpose. Furthermore, the concepts learned in preparation for this VCE examination are useful to one’s health as they help one to exercise and keep the body in shape. The skills learned in preparation for this specific VCE paper also enable one acquire employable skills thereby allowing him/her to venture into sporting activities as an employment opportunity. This VCE examination paper, therefore, enables students to acquire and develop useful skills, and hence, possesses great potential to effectively contribute to the purpose of the VCE as an exit external assessment system.

            The 2018 end year VCE examination paper will enable VCAA to effectively test the effect of a new study design implemented in 2017. In the provision of high-quality curricula, VCAA does comparisons between present student grades and previous year grades to understand the effect of different study designs. The VCE examination papers usually provides a great basis to compare the different effects of these study designs on the student grades. Thus, VCAA is able to recommend and implement new and improved study designs. This means that the VCE examination paper provides a great basis for the VCAA to test the new study design implemented in 2017. Through this paper, for example, the VCAA will be able to test whether the newly implemented study design has a positive effect on the students or not. Hence, the 2018 end year VCE examination paper possesses great potential to effectively contribute to the purpose of the VCE as an exit external assessment system 

Conclusion

In summary, VCE examinations provide a great way to monitor and identify flaws in certain schools and the national curricula. As proved, the 2018 end year VCE examination paper exhibits exceptional quality of paper questions. It wittingly uses structured questions to ensure sufficient coverage of syllabus outcomes. The marking schedule of each open-response question in the paper demonstrates a high level of accuracy as it credits students for the correct approach and the correct answer. However, it is insufficiently linked to the school assessment of physical education due to failure, by schools, to perform activity analyses during the school-based assessment. Finally, VCE examination paper possesses great potential to effectively contribute to the purpose of the VCE as an exit external assessment system.