This blog will take the load off the Mathemafix message board by hosting important information about 2020 OC preparation.
17 Jan
---
Finally the OC result is out! After so much delay. There is no school marks so the raw test scores shows how the OC profile is related to the test scores. The average of the test scores influences the profile almost directly. English is scaled better than maths and GA. However, it shows a strange thing where the higher the scores are, the less increase in the profile is.
There are some interesting observations. The averages for Eng, Maths and GA are Eng 69.5, Maths 76.8, GA 80.7. While it is not possible to use the figures for our students to talk about scaling of the marks across the entire NSW, however English does look quite lower and should be scaled better. Our high GA average might be because the impact of the extra GA stuff added to the website this year. The English scores for top kids also look good. It could be due to more effort we put in this year for English and the emotion type of English. The highest score in the state is 271 and that is lower than scores over 280 for the past years. Looking at the top raw scores, we can see that there is scaling down on test marks. The slightly lower profiles could be the effect of not having school marks.
OC profile versus Raw mark
Observations
05 Jan
---
The OC test results will soon come out. It's expected that the results would be out by the middle of Jan so that's only just over one week away. As this OC test was still from ACER, the results should be similar to the previous 3 years. There should not be any surprise. The only surprise will be English reading scores as it was extremely unpredictable due to ACER's game to beat tutoring shops.
When the results are out, parents can log on Mathemafix and update the scores so we can all have a picture of what the 2020 OC test performance for our students looks like.
A look back at the 2019 OC results
12 Nov
---
This is the result of the last 3 OC trials when compared with past students in 2019. The last 3 tests were harder and probably more accurate to predict results. However, it also show that some kids with low scores managed a high OC profile (they were probably doing tutoring soomewhere and not too interested in doing OC trials here). We also see some kids get low profiles as they unexpectedly crashed on the day (especially in English).
Rankingby OC trials 6-8
16 Sep
---
After two delays, we are still no sure if the OC test will actually happen to plan or it will go online in Nov. If it goes online in Nov, it will surely be done at each school rather than in a hall at a high school as there won't be enough equipment.
This 2020 OC test will still be from ACER. It is expected taht the format will be the same as before and the English will be like the last 2 years. They will put a lot of questions about feelings to blunt the advantage of the students attending tutoring. It will favour older/mature students and the students who have strong empathy for others. It has been observed that a student who only read at year 4 level can beat those who read at year 6 level. The ones who read a lot of fiction with deep themes will be able to score well.
The other issue is that those who work hard right through Sep-Oct is likely to risk getting burnt out. For parents, having a courage to let kids rest and recharge is the quality that can help the kids to be at their best on the OC test day.
This OC test is like no others. It gives the slower kids a chance to catch up. It frustrates the strong perfomers who are ahead and ready for it since July. Many kids will face the risk of being burnt out. It gives kids a chance to avoid school marks which can be very unfair. If the 2020 selective test is any guide, teh OC test will have the same hard English and the maths will not be as easy as it was before.
- Students are advised to use the "resting time" now to read a lot of sad novels.
- Students should work matsh problem solving to get to the top level as maths will have more weight than before (even though the weight is less than English).
12 Mar
---
Some schools will offer students at year 3-4 a chance to do Maths Olympiad competition. This is a hard maths competition where students get 30 minutes to do just 5 questions.
The maths series Mini Math Challenge Grade 4-5 is designed for this purpose. For year 3 students, it is just too difficult to participate in this competition. Year 4 students are advised to do this maths series and try to score around 80%. This means they actually have to spend about 25 minutes. They may be able to solve 4 problems in 10 minutes but one hard problem can take 15 minutes! This is why students must learn to be patient and parents must set them time between 20-30 minutes to do each test. There is no point to work on these tests the normal way spending only 10 minutes and guess what the answers.
The series Mini Math Challenge Grade Short Response 4-5 is teh harder version of Mini Math Challenge Grade 4-5. This is for really keen maths students.
10 Mar
---
It looks like school disruption by coronavirus will happen frequently in the near future. It's a good idea for parents to plan for kids to do stay home and do work online rather than playing games at home. It's important to have a plan of work for days that they stay home doing a mix of reading, doing tests, review failed questions, learning vocab, writing, learning basic school maths, ... All of this is provided on Mathemafix website. Please read the OC G&T program guide for more information.
09 Mar
---
The emphasis on English now is making OC placement a lot harder for kids who don't do well in English comprehension (and get good English marks at school).
There is a feature called Personal Wordlist. An English dictionary has been added to the system as well. Students can now collect the words they don't know well into a personal Wordlist to study.
There is a guide called Enriching English Vocabulary on the page QUICK LINKS about this. This new feature will really help students get more out of the texts they do in English comprehension. They can go back to study the questions that have new words they need to learn.
03 Mar
---
It's useful for parents to read the 2019 OC preparation blog where a lot of information and OC results are avialable.
https://mathemafix-users.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-oc-preparation.html
