A tricky question on Monday's Higher School Certificate Mathematics Standard exam has left Australian year 12 students and their parents well and truly baffled, with many taking to social media to share their confusion over the overly-complicated scenario.
The exam question featured a box plot of temperature data, with students undertaking the test asked to 'calculate the number of chirps made by crickets expected in a 15-second interval when the temperature is 19° Celsius.'
Answers had to be given 'correct to the nearest whole number.'
Advert
Following the exam, students took to social media to post memes and poke fun at their struggle with the difficult question.
One parent posted to Twitter: "My son said the exam was hard and he was relieved to see this was commonly felt across the cohort. Then he showed me lots of chirping crickets & temperature memes."
Another added: "The HSC Maths exam papers are another NESA stuff-up. The way they are justifying it is ridiculous. At the very least, NESA should have told everyone what they might expect instead of dropping it in the exams."
Advert
Speaking to news.com.au, a spokeswoman for NESA said it had already received feedback from a number of students and parents about this year's maths exam "being difficult".
She added: "NESA confirms that all questions asked within the Maths Standard 2 exam were within the scope of the syllabus."
"All HSC exam papers are designed to differentiate student achievement. NESA will monitor marking of the Maths Standard 2 paper very closely."
"Mathematics education is a priority for the NSW Government."
Advert
The spokeswoman also told the publication that HSC maths syllabuses, examined for the first time in 2019 for Maths Standard 1 and 2 and in 2020 for Maths Advanced, Extension 1 and Extension 2, encourage students to 'choose the mathematics course appropriate for their ability.'
"The Maths Advanced and Maths Standard 2 papers now include some common questions which are based on shared syllabus content," she said.
"This year 23 marks were common to the two papers. The inclusion of common questions enables NESA to better understand student maths abilities across the different maths courses."
Topics: Australia
