This circular is published to provide information about Scholarship

Scholarship Agricultural and Horticultural Science

3 April 2009 - SC2009/001

Scholarship Agricultural and Horticultural Science will be examined for the first time in 2009. The Scholarship examination focuses on the learning outcomes expressed in all the level 3 achievement standards.

Scholarship requires students to demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation, and to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations. Students are expected to display a range of:

• comprehensive content knowledge (breadth and depth)
• effective communication
• original or sophisticated solutions, performances or approaches
• critical evaluation
• flexible thinking in unfamiliar/unexpected contexts.

This is reflected in the expectations of the performance standard and the assessment specifications.

Note that up to 3 per cent of the cohort may be awarded Scholarship - that is 3 per cent of the number of students studying in year 13 at level 3 and achieving 14 or more credits. Analysis of performances in Scholarship subjects shows a moderate to high correlation between level 3 achievement and Scholarship performance - typically those gaining Scholarship have a high proportion of level 3 results at Merit and Excellence level, and the higher the Scholarship mark, the higher the proportion of level 3 results at Excellence level.

Each question in the Scholarship exam will be marked on a generic marking guide of 0 - 8 marks, based on:

7 or 8 marks: represents performance at an Outstanding level (equivalent to performance descriptor 1)

5 or 6 marks: represents Scholarship level performance (equivalent to performance descriptor 2), but not Outstanding

4 marks: represents borderline (or marginal) Scholarship performance 

2 or 3 marks: represents moderate performance (equivalent to performance descriptor 3 or 4), but below Scholarship level

1 mark: represents a lower level performance

0 marks: represents nothing meaningful done (including not attempted).

Teachers who wish to assist students prepare for entry for this examination may like to consider the following:

1. Ensure familiarity with the Agricultural and Horticultural Science Performance Standard and Assessment Specifications (see the links below)
2. Consider the requirements for Scholarship and Outstanding Scholarship performance in other subjects, such as Biology, Physical Education, or Science. An analysis of the exemplars of student responses and the assessment schedules will help teachers understand the skills and competencies expected from students performing at this level.
3. Discuss with colleagues in other subjects and/or schools the strategies that they use to help prepare students for Scholarship.

Performance Standard
Assessment Specifications

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