[Year 12 SofDev] Exam pseudocode marking - effectiveness or efficiency?

[Paragreen, Chris J]

Hi all,

In an exam situation, I think correctness is more important than efficiency. Provided the student is following the rules of pseudocode (begin/end use of indentation etc.) and the logic is correct, they should be fine.

Chris
From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark
Sent: Thursday, 4 August 2016 1:26 PM
To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List <sofdev at edulists.com.au>
Subject: [Year 12 SofDev] Exam pseudocode marking - effectiveness or efficiency?

Hi all

In the SD sample exam, B2, students are asked to write pseudocode.
I expect the marker would want to see an answer like this:

Begin
   If Student in Student Details File Then
      If Competition_Score >= 50 Then
         If Competition_Score >= 95 then
            Award [cid:image001.jpg at 01D1EE56.548B52B0]  ​"High Distinction"
         Else
            Award [cid:image001.jpg at 01D1EE56.548B52B0]  ​ "Pass"
         EndIf
      Print “Certificate” Award
   EndIf
End

It got me to wondering. If - instead of the 'else' a student wrote something like

Elseif Competition_Score >=50

which also would work (but would be redundant since the second IF construct already tested for this) would the student be penalised?

It's good to see SD exams recently recognising and testing students' ability to optimise code, but is optimisation and efficiency a criterion in assessing students' pseudocode?

Regards,
Mark

--

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com<mailto:mark at vceit.com>
http://vceit.com

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