Work I Completed
This week I completed my data science extended response exam. This exam was very similar to the robotics exam, the only difference being the statement and required knowledge. The statement for this exam was surrounding whether big data is intentionally bias due to the data analyst. I felt more prepared going into this exam as I had already completed a similarly formatted robotics exam, however it did not exactly go to plan. I had looked closer at the rubric before this exam, and made a more detailed plan with data bias information. The problem was I had created this plan surrounding my incorrect guess of the statement, which caused issues during the exam.
Partly due to this un-useful plan, and partly due to my tendency to disregard plans during worded exams, I straight up did not have an argument. When I was writing the exam, I thought that it was really good and made a strong point but upon re-reading it, I realized I did not have a thesis. My expression and information was spot on, however I decided to not argue anything for some reason. This is not good for the rubric, and I could lose upwards of 10 marks (20%). This is really quite disappointing, I could write a proper thesis for this exam in 5 minutes, even in my currently delirious state. All the structual elements of a good argument are there, just nothing to tie them together. Hopefully this is understood in the marking process, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I got marked down for this.
Similarly due to this plan, I also did not address the design techniques and technology concepts as well as in my robotics exam. I provided an example, but did not focus on adressing these elements, I merely used it for explanation purposes. I did discuss some techniques and technology concepts through this explanation, but it should have been pin-point focused on that area. I may lose marks in this area as well considering the small blunder I made.
One of the stronger points of this response was the ethics discussion. I believe I made a strong point as to the publics perception of being lied to by data analysts, and backed it up with sourced evidence. I also specifically talked about the statement, instead of my stance (likely because I did not have one), which is what the rubric specifically asks for. I only wish I could add a conclusion to the ethics discussion, as I provided a random closing statement in a mostly unrelated paragraph. This statement can be found below.
“This issue of intentional data bias is seen to have large repercussions for the public and is very relevant today.”
Reflection
Do you think you did well?
All in all, I think I did decently. The issue of having no argument is annoying, however I did have the shell of an argument. The design techniques and technology was worse than robotics, but not terrible, and I believe I had a strong ethical discussion. I am not going to get full marks, but hopefully the result will not mean the end of the world either.
Did you give your best effort on this?
Considering I had a maths exam on the same day, and I had to study hard for that, I believe I gave a good amount of effort. I certainly could have studied more (I did not get to completing the Data Bias work), however doing that study would have given me fewer marks than doing maths study, due to not knowing the statement.
What are your next steps?
Doing my other work past this exam is going to be painful. I am currently writing this journal entry at around 10:30PM on a Saturday, however I stayed up until 3:30AM last night doing the NCSS challenge. Why would I do this? - I was determined to go to the University of Sydney (USYD) and University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) open day today, and the NCSS challenge is due tommorow when I have to do my ANU assignment. I got around 3 hours of sleep last night in exchange for completing 3 NCSS challenge questions of the 13 remaining :/ Now after expending my little remaining energy at the USYD and UTS open day, I am deliriously ranting about how tired I am in this blog post, despite it being totally unrelated to my data science exam. Additionally, I have to back up tomorrow for more NCSS, giving me less time to do my ANU assignment. (Note from awake me - I left this in because it was funny how tired I was)