Agriculture 2017 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• focus their response on the question asked
• use the number of lines as an indication of the expected length of the response
• write a plan for the longer response in Section II to assist in structuring the response in a logical and cohesive way
• engage with any stimulus material and use the material to strengthen the response
• use relevant agricultural terminology rather than common terms (for example, use ‘soil’ rather than ‘dirt’)
• use the key words in the stem of the question to guide the structure of the response – for example, ‘explain’, ‘describe’ or ‘analyse’
• carefully read the question and use the wording to guide the response — for example, if the question says to ‘provide reasons’, students should provide at least two reasons.

Students should expect:

• examination papers to be in a similar format and at a similar level of difficulty as past HSC papers
• questions to be of varying difficulty and to challenge students across all degrees of ability
• questions to be drawn from the syllabus content and respective course outcomes
• to perform some basic mathematical functions, interpret data/graphs/tables, and assess information for accuracy, reliability and/or validity.

Questions 21–27

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify standardisation elements of a trial, usually by mentioning the same amount of water and the same soil (Q21 (a))
• describe an appropriate plant trial by outlining the use of a control, standardisation, randomisation and replication (Q21 (b))
• outline at least two beneficial roles played by microbes in soils (Q22 (a))
• identify two soil management techniques and link these to an increase in the microbe population (Q22 (b))
• identify some phases of plant growth (Q23 (a))
• identify the reasons for the increase and decrease in yield per hectare (Q23 (b))
• identify a method used to improve soil moisture and explain an advantage and a disadvantage of the method (Q23 (c))
• identify two factors affecting fertility in farm animals (Q24 (a))
• identify and explain a management strategy used by farmers to improve the reproductive performance of breeding stock (Q24 (b))
• identify or outline a control strategy for a named pest or disease (Q25)
• make links between the control strategy named in the response and its environmental impact, economic factors and resistance issues (Q25)
• identify clear steps in the marketing chain (Q26 (a))
• understand the role/effects of government influence on production OR marketing (Q26 (b))
• identify what constituted value adding and offer relevant examples (Q26 (c))
• perform calculations for parts of the gross margin (Q27 (a))
• interpret and reference the graphs to identify the increase in production and the decrease in farm numbers (Q27 (b)).

Questions 28–30

In better responses, students were able to:

• outline the importance of food safety and labelling in relation to human health and ethical decisions (Q28 (a) (i))
• describe two developments in biotechnology and how these help to improve farming (Q28 (a) (ii))
• provide examples of the use of genetically modified crops in agricultural production (Q28 (b))
• identify methane as a greenhouse gas source (Q29 (a) (i))
• identify features of climate change and the impact of increased greenhouse gases (Q29 (a) (ii))
• identify issues associated with water storage and water trading (Q29 (b))
• identify issues relating to the development of a new farming technology (Q30 (a) (i))
• identify a range of methods for marketing new technological developments (Q30 (a) (ii))
• identify at least two technologies with potential satellite links to agricultural production (Q30 (b))
• outline the function and purpose of the technologies identified (Q30 (b))
• provide points for and/or against the use of the identified technologies in agricultural production (Q30 (b)).