Bored of Studies is an Australian

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

targeted at students in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. It is prominent among students for its Student Assessment Modeller that calculates approximate

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is the primary criterion for domestic student entry into undergraduate courses in Australian public universities. It was gradually introduced to most states and territories in 2009–10 and has sinc ...

(formerly

Universities Admission Index The Universities Admission Index (UAI) was used in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, as the primary criterion for entry into most undergraduate-entry university programs. It was a number between 0 and 100 (though thos ...

) or

Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank The Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) was the national Australian tertiary entrance rank, administered by Universities Australia (previously called the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee). It was a percentile ranking, designed ...

results, and for hosting study notes for the

Higher School Certificate courses. An extensive student community has evolved around its

forum Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses * Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

, which is frequented by school students, teachers and a growing number of

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

students. The site's name is a parody of the NSW Board of Studies, the former governing organisation for the Higher School Certificate (HSC).

History

The website was created on 5 March 2002 by four former HSC students who had completed their HSC in the previous year: Mark Czajkowski, James King, Tim Cheng and Ian Keong. Regarded as the successor to the popular "hscboardz" and "uniboardz" forums and the "hscstuff.cjb.net" resource library, the site's founders claim that because they were the first to sit a newly revised HSC

syllabus A syllabus (; plural ''syllabuses'' or ''syllabi'') or specification is a document that communicates information about an academic course or class and defines expectations and responsibilities. It is generally an overview or summary of the curric ...

, they were able to clearly see the lack of information that future HSC students would face. A desire to help address this lack of information was a prime reason behind the founding of Bored of Studies. The site is owned and operated by iStudy Australia Pty Ltd, based in the

Sydney CBD The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often refer ...

Influence and criticism

Bored of Studies has become an increasingly popular site for HSC students, with a membership of over 400 000 and more than 15 million monthly hits. It is often recommended by teachers as a valuable resource containing past papers and practice essays. It has been suggested that an official bulletin from the NSW

Universities Admissions Centre The Universities Admissions Centre (UAC, pronounced ) is an organisation that processes applications for admission to tertiary education courses, mainly at institutions in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. A not-for-profit com ...

(UAC) did much to popularise the site around the state. There has been concern that the extensive subject notes available on the site could lead to

cheating Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate cr ...

among students. In 2005, a student's attempt to gain access to his raw HSC examination under

freedom of information laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...

drew controversy when the request was refused by the government. This followed the previous successful attempt by James King, one of the administrators on the Bored of Studies website, to obtain his raw marks. The information sparked debate about the standard of student responses that were given pass marks, with the then Federal Education minister

Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...

defending the students' right to know their marks.

Recent developments

In 2006 Bored of Studies launche
Biki
(Bored of Studies Wiki), a

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

collection of HSC notes, information and resources using the

MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...

software to allow contributions. Biki was later closed "due to prolonged inactivity and outdated resources". Also in 2006, 'Premium membership' was introduced giving paid members access to additional content and features. The site was hacked in June 2010 and recovered in August of the same year, resulting in it being reinterfaced for better security and member navigation.

References

External links

*
Bored of Studies: VCE sub-siteCommunity forumBiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bored Of Studies Education in New South Wales Education in Victoria (Australia) Internet forums Internet properties established in 2002

History

Influence and criticism

Recent developments

See also

References

External links