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The report explains common issues with helper functions in pseudocode responses, discusses functional abstractions and readability, and emphasizes strategic time management for higher-weight questions. 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It also notes that some students did not fully capitalise on scaffolding in Section B questions.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the report describe functional abstractions in pseudocode questions?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Functional abstractions are described as reducing complexity and improving readability, helping assessors interpret student pseudocode more easily. The report points to example helper functions used across several questions.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What guidance does the report give for answering questions that include helper functions?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Students are advised to carefully study the relevant questions so they can properly use the provided functions and correctly understand what is being asked in their responses. The report also notes that students often engage with helper-function abstractions poorly.",{"name":74,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Why is time management emphasized in the examination?",{"text":76,"@type":64},"Because the subject requires engaging with multiple and sophisticated problem contexts during the exam, time management is considered important. Students are urged to be strategic, especially on weighty questions such as Question 10 in Section B.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":79,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":83,"site_id":7},315272,1790531259,{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":87},"success",[88,92,96,99,104,109,113,118,123,126,130],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},70,"exam",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":121,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":125},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":129},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":133},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":135},{"doc_id":83,"user_id":136,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":137,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":138,"file_id":139,"file_url":140,"file_type":141,"file_size":142,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":143,"language":144,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":145,"faqs":146,"seo_title":147,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":148,"read_time":149,"preview_page_count":4},5909890329169,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","2023 VCE Algorithmics ( HESS) external assessment report  \nGeneral comments  \nStudents performed well in Section A of the 2023 Algorithmics examination , with all but two questions answered correctly by more than 50% of the students. Question 9 of Section A could be best attempted by drawing a recursive tree, which is an important skill that students would benefit from practicing.  \nMany questions in Section B of the examination were structured in such a way as to scaffold students in their engagement with a given problem context. Many students did not seem to fully capitalise on this fact. For example:  \n􀁸 Question 4ci. provided pseudocode for an algorithm that closely resembled the structure of the inductive argument that students needed to demonstrate in Question 4cii.  \n􀁸 Question 6 involved a problem context with two competing optimisation goals. It then directed students to engage with each one in turn before considering them both together.  \n􀁸 Question 10 was gradually scaffolded to allow students to make connections between the problem context and the graph colouring problem in order to analyse the problem more deeply and discuss algorithmic solutions.  \nIn examination questions that require students to provide answers in pseudocode it is quite common to include helper functions that students are expected to incorporate into their responses. These functional abstractions are often poorly engaged with by students. Interestingly Question 1 of Section B required students to engage with the concept of functional abstractions by describing a motivation for using them . In the context of answering an examination question in pseudocode:  \n􀁸 functional abstractions reduce the complexity, allowing students to focus on the key ideas being examined in a question  \n􀁸 improve readability, allowing assessors to more easily interpret a student’s pseudocode. Question 2c. included the helper function isPrereq(P,a,b) , Question 5c. included the helper function nodePR(G, r, u) , and Question 6b. included the helper function Prim(G) . Students should carefully study  \nsuch questions to ensure that they can appropriately utilise the provided functions in their responses , and correctly interpret what they are being asked to do in answering the questions.  \nThe nature of the subject and the number and sophistication of problem contexts that students need to engage with during the examination means that time management is an important consideration. Students should be strategic in ensuring that they give themselves sufficient time on particularly weighty questions such as Question 10 in Section B.  \n2023 VCE Algorithmics (HESS) external assessment report  \nSpecific information  \nThis report provides sample answers or an indication of what answers may have included. Unless otherwise stated , these are not intended to be exemplary or complete responses.  \nThe statistics in this report may be subject to rounding resulting in a total more or less than 100 per cent.  \nSection A  \nThe correct answer is indicated by shading.  \n\n| Question | Correct Answer | %A | %B | %C | %D | Comment |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| 1 | C | 11 | 1 | 86 | 2 |  |\n| 2 | B | 1 | 91 | 4 | 4 |  |\n| 3 | C | 12 | 5 | 82 | 1 |  |\n| 4 | C | 4 | 0 | 91 | 5 |  |\n| 5 | D | 4 | 9 | 2 | 85 |  |\n| 6 | B | 7 | 80 | 10 | 2 |  |\n| 7 | A | 76 | 7 | 9 | 7 |  |\n| 8 | D | 6 | 11 | 7 | 76 |  |\n| 9 | B | 22 | 48 | 23 | 6 | To identify the number of redundant recursive calls, students needed to draw therecursive tree. |\n| 10 | A | 47 | 12 | 13 | 28 | The values in the array correspond to the number of coins required to make\u003Cbr>change for amounts of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Hence [0, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2] . |\n| 11 | C | 2 | 7 | 56 | 34 | Option C describes a pure hill climbing algorithmic approach. Option D describes a simulated annealing algorithmic approach. While simulated annealing does incorporate hill climbing, the question requires students to identify the ans","cbCaip546PS6enJJ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaip546PS6enJJ","pdf",1321319,15,"English","# General comments\n# Specific information\n## Section A\n## Section B\n### Question 1\n### Question 2a\n### Question 2b","[{\"question\":\"What key skills does the report say students should practice more?\",\"answer\":\"The report highlights the ability to draw a recursive tree for Question 9 and suggests practicing algorithmic skills associated with recursive structures. It also notes that some students did not fully capitalise on scaffolding in Section B questions.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the report describe functional abstractions in pseudocode questions?\",\"answer\":\"Functional abstractions are described as reducing complexity and improving readability, helping assessors interpret student pseudocode more easily. The report points to example helper functions used across several questions.\"},{\"question\":\"What guidance does the report give for answering questions that include helper functions?\",\"answer\":\"Students are advised to carefully study the relevant questions so they can properly use the provided functions and correctly understand what is being asked in their responses. The report also notes that students often engage with helper-function abstractions poorly.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is time management emphasized in the examination?\",\"answer\":\"Because the subject requires engaging with multiple and sophisticated problem contexts during the exam, time management is considered important. Students are urged to be strategic, especially on weighty questions such as Question 10 in Section B.\"}]","2023 VCE Algorithmics (HESS) External Assessment Report - Sample Answers and Statistics | PDF",1789904204,38]