Criterion C: Mathematical Process

0    The student does not attempt to use a mathematical strategy.
1    The student uses a mathematical strategy to produce data.
2    The student organizes the data generated.
3    The student attempts to analyse data to enable the formulation of a general statement.
4    The student successfully analyses the correct data to enable the formulation of a general statement.
5    The student tests the validity of the general statement by considering further examples.

Both of these are extremely unlikely. I can imagine a case in which I might award C1 to a student who "knew" how the general statement was going to turn out, and gave it without any actual investigation. But it would mean that he or she was completely clueless about the criterion levels. (If you know someone like this, you might suggest that he read up on the levels before turning in an assignment.)

Understood in the C2 score is the failure to do the analysis that would allow C3. You can see in the tables below how some results have been reasonably organized for the trees he generated at the beginning. However, at the point where he would have to figure out how the probabilities for more tosses than he has made trees for will work, he gets values wrong, and then gives up.

Here the student has gotten correct numerical results up to this point. Now she tries to put her results into a general form. She ends up having difficulty with the meanings of  r and n by having them defined differently in different places.

It's important to note that C4 and C5 here don't follow directly from one another. After reaching C4, you have to get at least D3 (THE general statement) before you can get C5. Sometimes people wonder how you can "enable the formulation of a general statement" without actually getting the statement itself. The work here is a good example. The table appears at the bottom of a page, and the text following is at the top of the next page. The student could have used these together to get the corect general statement, but she doesn't quite put it all together. Rather than actually adding the values that she has found in the table, she uses her idea of how it ought to work, and gets it wrong. Farther down the page (not shown), she was missing how to get the likelihood of mixed outcomes (2 heads and 3 tails, for instance, rather than just 3 tails).

She gives the general statement here, and then uses it on the next page, later checking her results with the calculator command given in the assignment. She has justified the formula stated as she has worked through the parts leading up to this summary. I've skipped the text between the answer to 4 and the work shown checking her formula. Some students, rather than using their own formula, went straight to the calculator command at that point, robbing themselves from the possibility of "considering further examples" and earning C5. Assignments are generally written so that if you follow the instructions in order, you'll have the opportunity to meet all the requirements. Pay attention to what the highest criterion levels say to make sure that you score all the marks you can.