[Year 12 SofDev] CS10 - Postcodes

[Vella, James]

I thought the exam was reasonable and there weren't too many curveballs that my students should have faced.



That being said, a few things have come to my attention via the recent emails from the listing...

*         Q3 - cost effective should have pointed to efficiency, while quality should have pointed to effectiveness for the kids...curveball for the less literate students I think...a few of my kids have mentioned they didn't find this question a problem though.



I've come to this conclusion with regards to the postcode question (CS 10):



*         The question clearly states "a valid Victorian postcode for a RESIDENTIAL address" hence only 3000 to 3999 being used in the algorithm.

o   The 8000-series postcodes are only for Large Volume Receivers (big business, govt departments, etc) and PO boxes.



*         Most VCE students wouldn't be aware that there are less than 10 exceptions to the 3000-3999 rule for Victorian postcodes, and less than 30 exceptions to state based rules nationally!



*         If the examiners included both of the above, the selection statement in the algorithm would look incredibly confusing and for most students it would not have been workable.



*         Whether postcode is a string or integer variable...does it really matter?

o   For the purposes of this question, students were told to choose a value. This did not require them to list a data type.


o   We all know as people who have coded before that there are always a number of different ways that solutions can be implemented. In reality, does it matter whether students use a string or whether they use an integer and then format it with a leading zero or parse it as a string? Same result (most of the time...) in the end



Cheers

[Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: signature_logo]

 Mr James Vella
Head of Technology - ICT
MacKillop College
Russell Street
Werribee, VIC 3030




*     email: jvella at mackillop.vic.edu.au<mailto:s at mackillop.vic.edu.au>
* phone: +61-3-87345200
* Fax: +61-3-87345261
* mail: PO Box 522, Werribee VIC 3030
*      web: www.mackillop.vic.edu.au<http://www.mackillop.vic.edu.au/>





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