SATS question

[Guest55]

Oh dear. Which year and which paper was it with this ridiculous mark scheme then? Can't headteachers comment afterwards and get the marking adjusted?

No, I believe one question in 2013 (?) was challenged by a number of experts but the mark scheme stood.

[mystery]

And is it right that there was a question where the only acceptable words were screamed or yelled? It seems crazy.

[Amber]

My favourite bit of the paper I quoted (an iGCSE) concerned how a group of school children could control predators at a freshwater pond they had made. One correct answer was to 'shoot birds, animals etc', and another was to 'prevent access by wild fish'.

I have visions of children armed with shotguns/sub-machine guns taking aim at passing birds and cats - maybe even people - while also manning some kind of checkpoint designed to keep out 'wild' fish. Utterly bizarre, and yes, answers suggested on the official exam board mark scheme.

[kenyancowgirl]

Let me guess...was the freshwater pond in a conservation area?!

[Guest55]

Is this what they mean by iGCSE science being more rigorous?!

[mystery]

How do "wild" fish get into a pond I wonder? By flying? Or by spontaneous generation?

Did the mark scheme also ban sensible answers?

[Amber]

Let me guess...was the freshwater pond in a conservation area?!

It was in Uganda! We did wonder why that was stipulated - it just said ' a group of children in Uganda decided to make a freshwater pond' - and decided it must be because schoolchildren there go about armed against birds and things.

How do "wild" fish get into a pond I wonder? By flying? Or by spontaneous generation?

We also asked ourselves this. Perhaps there is something about predatory winged Ugandan wild fish on the syllabus which DS1 missed.

The only sensible answer we could think of was putting a net over the pond and that got you a mark. But the question was worth 2.

[mystery]

Perhaps the reference to Uganda was to earn the GCSE the i.

I am still pondering over that second mark. Oh dear, that was an unintentional and incredibly poor joke. What is in the pond that we are trying to protect? I suppose the location does change the nature and sheer scale of the predators we might have to keep away. Perhaps a ring of fire around the pond would be a deterrent without having to resort to an armed patrol day and night.

[MmeOgg]

I would have thought that some sort of scarer would be more effective than shooting predators. Perhaps a scarecrow or some flapping/shiny material.

Am boggling at the invasive wild fish.

I would laugh if it wasn't all so demented.

[kenyancowgirl]

Wild fish? They were blinking livid......