Earth and environmental science 2017 HSC exam pack (archive)

Students should:

• answer the question asked rather than writing everything they know about the topic
• use the number of lines as an indication of the expected length of the response
• write a plan to the longer responses to help structure their answer  
• use their case studies, investigations and contextual examples, where appropriate, to help answer questions in the Core and Option modules
• where possible, use information from across modules to answer questions
• only answer questions on ONE option – the one studied at school
• engage with the stimulus material and be able to use the material to strengthen responses
• use relevant scientific terminology to improve responses (for example, ‘insects’ is a better term to use than ‘bugs’)
• address the key words in their response, for example, ‘explain’, ‘describe’, ‘analyse’.

Students should expect:

• questions to be of varying difficulty
• to support questions requiring an opinion with facts, data and/or evidence
• to draw scientific diagrams, interpret data and assess information for accuracy, reliability and/or validity.

Students can prepare for this examination by:

• using past HSC papers and their marking guidelines to practise responses
• writing plans for answers from past HSC papers
• using various media sources to keep up to date on current opinion or breaking news on relevant environmental issues.

In better responses, students were able to:

• directly answer the question, provide relevant data/information and apply context  
• use a variety of ways to answer questions and include diagrams, named examples and annotations where appropriate
• apply a contextual example when responding to questions that asked for a named example
• refer to diagrams, data and/or stimulus material in their responses.

General feedback

In better responses, students were able to:

• answer questions relating to module 9.1 of the syllabus and the Prescribed Focus Areas. This section of the syllabus addresses the scientific skills, scientific thinking, models, theories, laws and technology in Earth and Environmental Science contexts
• clearly integrate the stimulus material and answer all parts of the question.

Question 23

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify two trends in the diagram
• recognise the diagram as a model of volcanic activity and so clearly understand that the  strength of the diagram is in linking the size of the bubble to the volume of ejecta. They clearly also identified a weakness such as ‘no key included’.

General feedback

In better responses, students were able to:

• interpret and represent data, identify trends and variables
• use the stimulus material and/or examples to strengthen responses
• organise their longer responses into logical paragraphs or tabulate information in a way that addressed the key word ‘evaluate’
• address the key words in longer responses with coherence and logical thinking.

Question 33

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a broad understanding of the applications of scientific understanding of the ocean to society
• address the specifics of the question, including the requirement for multiple examples, or the relevance of technology to the study of the oceans.