[Year 12 IT Apps] Sample exam questions and entity-relationship diagrams

Mon Apr 4 09:37:35 EST 2011

Sample musings on the sample questions...

1. A5 - I thought the storyboard would have more navigational information
than a sitemap.  Isn't a storyboard like a sitemap with extra information
about each page's navigation components?

2. A8 - Are we now examining corporate policy making?  The management could
choose any of those options as its "best" decision.  It's not a legal
decision, it's a local decision. What *they* find best is open to debate.

3. B1a - The word "type" is ambiguous. Students could answer "text"
(Filemaker would store the letter "F" or "M") or "gender".  In Filemaker it
could also be "numeric" with the answer stored as Boolean while displaying
the "M/F" text onscreen.

If the question simply wanted students to show they knew what a radio button
was, it was a dangerous way to do it.  If they wanted the answer "Boolean",
it's just *wrong*. As has been mentioned by Maggie, to be Boolean, the
question would have to be "Male?".

4. B1b - I can't see much wrong with the drop down list.  Should it be
marked as a required field?

While on this subject, my usual grumble: I really don't see that using
controls to *prevent* invalid data input can be viewed as *validation*. I
see validation as the step *after* data entry that actively checks for
unreasonable data. Preventing the entry of invalid data would come during *
input* (in the old, defunct, but still valuable information processing
cycle.)

5. B2 - I think this question's reference to "technical feature" is too
vague.  If a student said "it would need some cables", would that qualify as
a technical feature?

6. B3a. I agree with Maggie that Boolean does not properly apply to *any*field.

7. B3c.  Pah! 'Nuf already said on that.

8. B4.  At least we now know that VCAA thinks an ERD is.  Thanks for the
clarification.

9. B5a.  Vague again.  How can they record the data?  "On a hard disk"? Is
it referring to using a web form with a POST method? If so, I'd read that as
implicit since they are using a form on a website...  I dunno.

10. B7 - the advent of super-long answers is an interesting new direction. I
know my ESL kids will not be advantaged by it.

I believe exam answers have been growing shorter and more specific quite
deliberately in the past years because students were having trouble with
longer answers that were relevant and focused.

Is VCAA is consciously aiming to make ITA more rigorous?  These 8 mark, 15
line answers, I fear, will lead to weaker students producing weaker
answers.  At least with short answers, if their answer is irrelevant it is
short and does not waste too much of their time.

11. B8a.  I assume the method of identifying members would be
username/password.  Asking students to describe "how she would do this" may
be a bit much unless students have studied cPanel and know how to
password-protect website directories.  Or have I missed a more obvious
method?

Thanks for these sample questions: they do raise even more questions!

On 1 April 2011 13:31, Christophersen, Paula P <
christophersen.paula.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:

>
>
> Dear colleagues
>
>
>
> The examination specifications and some sample questions focusing on new
> content in the study design are now on the VCAA website:
>
>
>
>
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf
>
>
>
>
>
> Structurally the examination remains the same – two sections: Section A
> multiple choice; Section B short and extended responses.
>
>
>
> I draw your attention to a couple of matters in the sample questions:
>
> ·          Question 4 focuses on an entity relationship diagram – this
> hopefully clarifies recent concerns that have been raised.
>
> ·          Question 7 illustrates one way in which the examination can
> deal with the choice of different software in Unit 4, Area of Study 1. Here
> a common question is presented, and students select the software tool to
> explain their answer.
>
> ·          Question 9 is an example of an extended response (worth 8
> marks) with prompts to guide answers
>
> ·          Question 12 is an example of the scope of a question on RDBMS –
> the focus can only extent to what is covered in Unit 3. Again it illustrates
> an extended response with prompts
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Paula
>
>
>
> Paula Christophersen
>
> ICT Curriculum Manager
>
> VCAA
>
> 41 St Andrews Place
>
> EAST MELBOURNE 3002
>
> (03) 9651 4378
>
>
>
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-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager of ICT, Reporting, IT Learning Area
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085, Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
VCE IT Lecture Notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Edulist

All generalisations are false, except this one.
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