[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by dr-jimmy)
I think that's quite common for AQA? It does make it easy to cheat though. In my English exam the school couldn't afford to give us the books we were studying so everyone had to bring in their own, and a lot of people wrote notes in and marked pages etc.

It depends on how old you are as to what the rules were when you took the exam. Until a couple of years ago (and I can't remember the exact date now) annotations were permitted and enouraged. At first there was no limit, then the rules stated phrases of no more than about 3 words for quite a while, then it changed to underlining only and now it's nothing at all, so a lot of people on here will have had very different experiences. Inspectors do come in and check, and they aren't the usual invigilators. Certainly in Eng Lit AQA you could have your own copy with your own notes in it for quite a long time. Not any longer. I've obviously only worked in very law abiding schools, and so has my husband.

[Super Mario 64]

Put it this way, if you actually do cheat, you can't go and say 'my teacher told us to'.

You're the one that cheated

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by Ravondo666)
They didn't do that with my AS exam and I had to take my own score in! also the teacher would have told us if they'd do that seen as he's told people to leave indentations of notes in

Did you have an external inspector, then? They sometimes get there at the start of the exam and check the books before they are given out. Better to pre-empt cheating than to catch it in the middle. I don't teach music so I don't know what the syllabus says about annotations, but clearly your teacher has told you this in such a way as to give you the impression that he is conniving at cheating. It's up to you if you want to go this route or not, I think.

[Ravondo666]

There we go anyway..

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by Caitykinss)
Okay, well I don't know the exact reason then, but we take our own Music Anthologies into the exam which were provided by the school at the beginning of the year. Technically, as long as everything is rubbed out, we have what is required for the exam.

Just to point it out - I have rubbed everything out to an inch of my arm falling off, so I am NOT planning on cheating.

I am sure you are doing exactly the right thing.

[Ravondo666]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
Did you have an external inspector, then? They sometimes get there at the start of the exam and check the books before they are given out. Better to pre-empt cheating than to catch it in the middle. I don't teach music so I don't know what the syllabus says about annotations, but clearly your teacher has told you this in such a way as to give you the impression that it he conniving at cheating. It's up to you if you want to go this route or not, I think.

Nope. we brought them from home - got to the exam, pulled the score out my bag and did the exam. no checks. AFter readings people responses i am thinking its a bad idea..

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by Ravondo666)
Nope. we brought them from home - got to the exam, pulled the score out my bag and did the exam. no checks. AFter readings people responses i am thinking its a bad idea..

The practice at my school (which is begining to sound as if it's been missing a trick or two..) used to be for the head of department and a couple of the other English teachers to check the copies the students brought in from home to ensure they didn't have too much/any annotation in, depending on the regulations in force at the time, and the random inspector visits would do the same. They aren't that common, but you can never tell when they might be coming, so it keeps you on your toes.

[Ravondo666]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
The practice at my school (which is begining to sound as if it's been missing a trick or two..) used to be for the head of department and a couple of the other English teachers to check the copies the students brought in from home to ensure they didn't have too much/any annotation in, depending on the regulations in force at the time, and the random inspector visits would do the same. They aren't that common, but you can never tell when they might be coming, so it keeps you on your toes.

well as someone said before, after writing lots of notes in here, there are gonna be things imprinted in that I can't get rid of. Can i be punished for that cos that is something that noone can help and we can't be blamed for it because the school can't afford to give us clean scores.

[dr-jimmy]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
It depends on how old you are as to what the rules were when you took the exam. Until a couple of years ago (and I can't remember the exact date now) annotations were permitted and enouraged. At first there was no limit, then the rules stated phrases of no more than about 3 words for quite a while, then it changed to underlining only and now it's nothing at all, so a lot of people on here will have had very different experiences. Inspectors do come in and check, and they aren't the usual invigilators. Certainly in Eng Lit AQA you could have your own copy with your own notes in it for quite a long time. Not any longer. I've obviously only worked in very law abiding schools, and so has my husband.

This was within the past month, we were told we couldn't have notes by AQAs ruling but my English teacher said a similar thing to the OP's music teacher. I think it's something that would be hard to regulate for the examiner, they specifically said at the start of the exam you would be disqualified if you had any notes in your book but they didn't check. It would have been difficult for them because it was a big hall with lots of people in, and obviously everyone had been subtle with them. Tbh I don't think the notes would've made much of a difference to their grades as you couldn't write a lot of detail, but I wouldn't have done it myself.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by Ravondo666)
well as someone said before, after writing lots of notes in here, there are gonna be things imprinted in that I can't get rid of. Can i be punished for that cos that is something that noone can help and we can't be blamed for it because the school can't afford to give us clean scores.

Not your problem, tbh. Just make sure you've not left anything there that CAN be removed. After that, it's your music department's problem.

[Ravondo666]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
Not your problem, tbh. Just make sure you've not left anything there that CAN be removed. After that, it's your music department's problem.

Ok. and what could potentially happen if an examiner saw it? Cos i don't want to be punished for something like that.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by dr-jimmy)
This was within the past month, we were told we couldn't have notes by AQAs ruling but my English teacher said a similar thing to the OP's music teacher. I think it's something that would be hard to regulate for the examiner, they specifically said at the start of the exam you would be disqualified if you had any notes in your book but they didn't check. It would have been difficult for them because it was a big hall with lots of people in, and obviously everyone had been subtle with them. Tbh I don't think the notes would've made much of a difference to their grades as you couldn't write a lot of detail, but I wouldn't have done it myself.

TBH, notes can be a handicap. In the old days, when there was a phase of unlimited annotation, you'd get kids writing model answers to things they (or, far worse, their teacher) thought would come up, and then copying them out in the exam regardless of what the actual exam question was asking and getting, unsurprisingly, low marks as a result. If you don't know it by the time the exam comes along, you're probably not going to be able to save yourself with a few notes, especially if you spend more time looking for the notes than at the text itself.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by Ravondo666)
Ok. and what could potentially happen if an examiner saw it? Cos i don't want to be punished for something like that.

An inspector could make it the subject of an enquiry, if he wanted. It'd come out that it was deparment policy to reissue books which had had notes made in them, which may or may not be a problem, depending on how it's phrased in the exam rubric for the syllabus. It usually says 'clean, unmarked copies', which would get you into quite a debate about what that means but it's not a debate for students to be worrying aboout. They would need to find out if clear instructions had been given to all candidates to remove notes. If it's clear that you have tried to do that but the indentations in the paper couldn't be removed, then no doubt the department would be told to clean up its act and get some new ones, but it's not something for the candidate to be blamed for. If you've been told that and you haven't tried to remove the stuff that can be removed, then it's you who are cheating.

[Ravondo666]

ok. guess il write notes really hard and then rub them out tomorrow!

[dr-jimmy]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
TBH, notes can be a handicap. In the old days, when there was a phase of unlimited annotation, you'd get kids writing model answers to things they (or, far worse, their teacher) thought would come up, and then copying them out in the exam regardless of what the actual exam question was asking and getting, unsurprisingly, low marks as a result. If you don't know it by the time the exam comes along, you're probably not going to be able to save yourself with a few notes, especially if you spend more time looking for the notes than at the text itself.

Haha, that's very true. In that exam the last question was quite off the wall and unrelated to what we had studied, but not too difficult. Some of my friends used the only quotes they had marked instead of looking for more appropriate ones, resulting in some very tenuous links. So yeah, I can see how cheating could easily become a hindrance.

[morecambebay]

http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

Problem solved.

[Ravondo666]

(Original post by morecambebay)
http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

Problem solved.

hehe, may give these a go although i cant think of many mnenomics or w.e that can help me learn a 40 minute symphony

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by dr-jimmy)
Haha, that's very true. In that exam the last question was quite off the wall and unrelated to what we had studied, but not too difficult. Some of my friends used the only quotes they had marked instead of looking for more appropriate ones, resulting in some very tenuous links. So yeah, I can see how cheating could easily become a hindrance.

My department gave loud and vocal thanks when the exam board banned notes in books, because they were SUCH a nuisance for the reasons you've said and all the problems listed above. Keep a set of clean book for exam use only, lock them in the stock room for the rest of the year, wheel them out for the exam, have a look to see if any kid has written in them during the exam (send a bill home, if so!), lock them away again for another year and bingo! Problem solved.

[dr-jimmy]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
My department gave loud and vocal thanks when the exam board banned notes in books, because they were SUCH a nuisance for the reasons you've said and all the problems listed above. Keep a set of clean book for exam use only, lock them in the stock room for the rest of the year, wheel them out for the exam, have a look to see if any kid has written in them during the exam (send a bill home, if so!), lock them away again for another year and bingo! Problem solved.

That sounds pretty ideal! If only books weren't so expensive.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by dr-jimmy)
That sounds pretty ideal! If only books weren't so expensive.

Yes, true, but as I've said elsewhere, schools are funded for this. It's a question of what choice has been made to spend the money on.