Student Sharing - Online Mock Examination preparation for HKDSE Candidates
Cheng Tsz Yuet, Rene
Postgraduate Diploma in Education in Mathematics
Due to the pandemic, schooling was suspended and classes are switched to online mode. For the 2019-2020 academic year, students had limited chance to attend face-to-face lessons in school. However, the learning effectiveness of online lessons could be lower than that of face-to-face lessons. Therefore, it affects all students, especially the S6 students who are going to participate in the HKDSE exam this year. In order to do something for the students, I decided to join the Online Mock Exam project organised by our Faculty and the HKFYG.
In the project, the HKFYG provided us with a very precious chance to meet Mr Cheuk Wing-hong, the Vice-Principal of King Ling College, who is also an author of a Mathematics textbook to advise us on how to prepare a good mock exam paper. Mr Cheuk provided us with a lot of resources and useful opinions when designing the exam paper, for example, which topics or question types should be included. While working with my classmates, we also learnt a lot from each other. Some of my classmates are good at designing layout of the exam paper, while some are good at using Geogebra to set questions on geometry, etc. We enjoyed working together and collaborated well.
Apart from designing the exam paper, we also had a chance to mark the exam paper and held a follow-up session with them through ZOOM. By marking students’ work, I can find common mistakes from them, which represent most Hong Kong students in general as they are from different schools. Hence, I can also improve my teaching in future to explain more on students’ common misconceptions in the public exam with my students.
I am glad to have this precious opportunity to join this meaningful project as I can have a taste of how it is like to design an exam paper before the real practicum starts. Now I’m serving my practicum, and I’m also asked to design test paper for my practicum school. Thanks to this learning experience, I can make a presentable paper by myself.
Fu Chun Sang, Cody
Postgraduate Diploma in Education in Mathematics
I recall that when I was a secondary 6 student, I also sought to participate in some mock examinations in order to prepare myself better for the DSE exam. Students might not have many opportunities to sit a mock exam, especially for those taking the exam in 2021 as they had switched to an online learning mode for over a years’ time. It might have hindered their learning progress. Through this project, I hoped to provide some resources to the candidates, where they can assess their understanding of different topics so as to improve in the actual DSE exam.
Besides, this online mock exam project was also a valuable opportunity for me to learn and prepare myself as a future teacher. First of all, I could create a high-quality examination paper, which will also be one of my duties. Creating a full set of paper is not as easy as I thought in the first place, since we had to first think of what to be assessed, then think of suitable questions and make sure that there would not be any faults in the question set. We also had to carefully inspect the past DSE paper, such that our final product would be up to standard. Secondly, on top of setting the examination papers, we also provided free marking. On one hand, students could learn more from their mistakes. On the other hand, through reviewing students’ work, I discovered the common misconceptions and difficulties that students may encounter during their learning process. This allows me to properly address these difficult points in my classes in the future.
Kwok Sze Chai, Melody
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in Language Education - English
At the start of the project, staff from the HKFYG arranged a two-hour sharing session with Dr Anson Yang, Principal of King Ling College. We met with Principal Yang and had the valuable opportunity to learn from the experienced professional some tips and tricks of designing high-quality written examination questions. We brainstormed some ideas together and engaged in dialogues about teaching, learning and assessment in Hong Kong. This has not only given me more confidence in fulfilling my project duties but has also given me new insights and perspectives into designing and evaluating summative assessments for Hong Kong students.
Designing the mock examination paper was the most challenging but also fruitful part of the project. This was my first time coming up with an entire mock examination paper from scratch. However, with the support of my teammates, the task did not seem as daunting and demanding. After hours of ZOOM meeting, we produced a mock examination paper all of us were incredibly proud of. It was certainly rewarding to collaborate with other passionate and devoted pre-service teachers. We could exchange different ideas and learn from each other. We have also made new connections and developed new friendships.
Furthermore, we had the chance to mark writing scripts and interact with HKDSE candidates over ZOOM. We provided detailed written feedback on participants’ writing scripts, identified some of their common mistakes, analysed and broke down the writing questions for them and answered some of their burning questions. Through doing so, I have gained a better understanding of the difficulties some of our learners may encounter. This has given me new ideas on how I could facilitate my students when teaching writing lessons in the future. I also had a taste of what it is like grading and cross-checking students’ work as a team. These are all transferrable skills that are beneficial to teachers-to-be like us.
All in all, this has been a valuable learning experience that has allowed me to grow personally and professionally. I would like to thank the Faculty’s School-University Partnerships Office and HKFYG for making it possible.
Lo Siu In
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in Language Education – English
In this project, our team had to design an English writing paper for a mock examination organised by the HKFYG as well as host a feedback giving session on ZOOM. The project not only provided us an opportunity to develop a better understanding of the HKDSE system, but also gave us an insight into common mistakes made by students, how papers are graded, and feedback giving.
Before designing the paper, the HKFYG had arranged us a meeting with the Principal of King Ling College, in which the topics and questions in examination papers from previous years were analysed and discussed in detail. This allowed us to develop a deeper understanding of what teachers should keep in mind during the examination paper making process and what markers should consider during the marking process. For instance, we had to ensure that the instructions and wordings in the paper were clear enough for students to understand the question criteria and what they were expected to include in the writing. We also encountered issues that we didn’t expect, such as the copyright of images used in the paper, which raised our awareness towards copyright infringements in creating educational materials.
During the marking process, we made sure that we would double mark each paper (two markers per paper) to maintain consistency. We also had regular meetings to ensure that we all would follow the same standards when marking their writing. This experience gave us a clearer picture of how the marking process works and common errors that students make. Knowing that this might be the last mock examination that students would take before the HKDSE, our team has given detailed comments to each student. Moreover, we shared last-minute tips that we thought would be useful and pointed out common errors so that they would avoid making the same mistakes in the actual examination.
To sum up, the project was a fruitful experience as it provided us an opportunity to engage in paper making, marking, and feedback giving, which we would definitely keep in mind when teaching in the future.
Yau Chak Lam, Frederick
Postgraduate Diploma in Education in Mathematics
Through working on the “Keep Going - Online Mock Exam” project with HKFYG, I have had a wonderful learning experience and also an opportunity to grow personally and professionally.
When I attended the first meeting in December 2020, I was overwhelmed by the project scale that a full set of Mathematics examination papers was expected to be created by six team members within 1.5 months. As the project proceeded, we got enormous help and advice from vice-principal and teachers, with respect to the difficulty and clarity of questions. We also collaborated with HKFYG social workers on the logistic arrangements of the online exam, particularly the utilisation of online resources for exam script collection and marking. From the experience, I learnt to work with different stakeholders and collaborate with team members to set questions. Dynamic geometry software such as Geogebra was also utilised to draw figures for the exam. Even though the workload was quite heavy, we managed to complete the project as we were all passionate about it and had great belief in teamwork. After the project, I have stronger bonding with my team members, who will be supporting each other in the forthcoming teaching career. My learning can be summed up by four words: perseverance, collaboration skills and friendships.
I am grateful for the fruitful project outcome. Nearly 50 students returned their scripts online and attended the mock examination debriefing session. During the session, we tried to highlight students’ common misconceptions and give suggestions on tackling the public exam. The mock exam aims to serve as checkpoints for students to assess their learning and revisit less familiar ideas. It also hopes to help students gain confidence and get them psychologically ready for the public exam.
The project not only benefits students but also us in terms of creativity and project management. I would like to say a big “thank you” to HKFYG, vice-principals, teachers and all the others who have given us support along the journey!
Yip Yuen Ting
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in Language Education - Chinese
在疫情之下，應屆文憑試考生深受影響，教學方式更改為網上講授，對師生而言無疑是一大挑戰。本學院院校夥伴計劃辦事處與香港青年協會合辦的 “Keep Going網上模擬考試”，正好讓本學院的學生教師參與擬卷的工作，為應屆考生提供模擬考試的機會。
中文教育四年級生葉婉婷指出她有幸擔任是次“Keep Going網上模擬考試”中文卷二其中一位擬題者及組長，由擬題、評改至解卷，感到獲益匪淺。作為文憑試的過來人，葉同學深知應試的苦與樂，明白模擬考試對準考生的重要性，故她認為參與是次活動除了為應屆考生提供模擬考試的機會外，也帶給她一個學習良機。是次活動獲過百名中六學生參與，收到的作文也超過了預期的數量。考生呈交作文後，每份作文均由兩位成員評改，希望透過真摯而嚴謹的點評幫助學生知道其寫作常犯的毛病，以臻完善。
葉同學提到過去她曾為補習學生批改作文，但未曾親自擬卷，因此這是一次意義非凡的學習經歷。由於缺乏經驗，葉同學表示起初對擬卷一頭霧水，幸好得到一位退休校長的指導，慢慢開始認識擬卷的流程，更擔任了其中一位擬卷者。在擬題的過程中，葉同學明白到原來擬定一道作文題目需要很多步驟。從擬題、審題、撰寫擬題理念、訂立評分準則至落實作文題目，當中大有學問。及至評改作文，葉同學更加了解中六學生在寫作上的難點和毛病，希望為將來教學時作更完善的準備。
回顧整個活動，葉同學指出當中的任務並非如想像般沉重，這有賴郭校長的指導、主辦單位同事的幫助，以及成員之間的合作才令活動得以順利進行。她強烈推薦師弟師妹參加該饒富意義的活動，為考生和自己提供寶貴的學習機會。