You’ve just received your mark back on your latest assessment. It’s not quite what you are after. You may be in Year 11 and after maintaining solid marks throughout your junior years, this seems to be a dip in results.
But a number is just a number. Unless we give it meaning, it remains digits on a page. The population of Australia is 25.69 million. The population of America is 331.9 million. That’s roughly 13 times more people in American than Australia. See how we have given the numbers meaning?
How do we then give meaning to the numbers in our results?
Well, the first thing to look at is the average mark. How do you sit in relation to that? The average is a good way to make meaning of your performance because it shows the results of the majority of the students against your own. So, if you sit near the average mark, even though that average mark on its own may not seem like a strong mark, then consider yourself to have done well. If the average mark is low, that may be an indication of the difficulty of the task and explain your lower than expected mark.
The other thing to consider when assessing your mark is in relation to your previous mark. Has there been an improvement? Even if your mark didn’t necessarily improve, were you able to achieve a criteria outcome in a higher band than last time? Did the marker leave feedback that you were able to address an aspect that you have previously struggled with? If the answer is yes, then despite the mark you should view it as an improvement.
Another number to look at during your Year 11 and 12 studies together with your mark is your ranking. This is a great way to know where you are sitting amongst the cohort and often gives more meaning than you raw marks.
Not to forget weighting. Each assessment has a different weighting so remember to take that into consideration when looking at your marks and making a determination.
We hope this helps alleviate some stress and concern around marks and we wish you the best in your next assessment.