CBA 2 Information & Guide
In 3rd Year, Junior Cycle students are expected to complete their second Classroom Based Assessment (CBA) in maths.
On this page, we will detail what this CBA is, how to approach it and how it will be assessed.
Additionally, members gain access to examples of completed CBAs.
Note: Any statement in quotation marks below is taken from the official guidelines.
2023/24: Current 3rd Years are only required to complete a minimum of one CBA. Details here.
What are CBAs?
In total, Junior Cycle Maths students are officially assessed in four different ways:
- Classroom Based Assessment 1 (CBA 1) (2nd Year)
- Classroom Based Assessment 2 (CBA 2) (3rd Year)
- Assessment Task (AT) (3rd Year)
- Final Examination (3rd Year)
Only the last two count towards the actual final grade of each student – 10% for the assessment task and 90% for the final examination.
The primary purpose of both CBAs, on the other hand, is to build up an understanding of the ability of each student. This information is beneficial to teachers, parents/guardians and the students themselves as it provides information as to how closely their expected level of achievement will match with their actual level of achievement.
What is CBA 2?
CBA 2 involves creating a report about a statistical investigation.
Specifically, the description of this CBA is as follows:
“A student will, over a three-week period, follow the statistical enquiry cycle.“
What is the “statistical enquiry cycle”?
The statistical enquiry cycle is composed of the following four parts:
1) Design an investigation. Students should “formulate the statistics question” based around a particular topic. (Examples of such questions are shown in the next section.) Then, “students should clearly identify which collection method is appropriate for their investigation.”
2) Choose the data to collect. Students “need to decide on appropriate variables, for example, age, gender or hours spent on homework, to answer the question.”
3) Gather and represent the data. Students should collect the corresponding data in a suitable manner and then “endeavour to find patterns or relationships in their datasets by summarising their data both numerically and graphically”.
4) Interpret the data. Finally, students should “analyse the data by comparing distributions visually using multiple graph types”.
What are some examples of what I could write about?
- Are boys or girls better at guessing the number of M&Ms in a jar?
- Do I breathe faster, slower or at the same rate when I’m sleeping compared to when I’m awake?
- On average, do I live further from or closer to school than the other students in my maths class?
- Do significantly more Irish people watch the World Cup if Ireland have qualified?
Important: We strongly discourage students from using any of the examples above and instead recommend creating their own statistical investigation based on their own interests!
What format do I write my CBA in?
As with CBA1, it can “be presented in a wide range of formats.”, including a written report, a poster etc.
On the next page, we provide a template for those students who wish to present their CBA in the form of a written report.
What possible grades can I receive?
There are the same four different levels of achievement as was found with CBA 1:
- Exceptional
- Above expectations
- In line with expectations
- Yet to meet expectations
How is my grade determined?
This will depend on how well you do in each section of the statistical enquiry cycle discussed earlier.
This is outlined in the Features of Quality table below.
| Section | Features of Quality |
|---|---|
|
Define an investigation |
|
|
Choose the data to collect |
|
|
Gather and represent the data |
|
|
Interpret the data |
|
Do I have to type up my report?
As with CBA 1, this is not necessary.
However, in regards to visualising your data, “Ideally students should also be familiar with appropriate use of technology to sort and display data.”
Who grades my CBA?
Both CBA 1 & CBA 2 are graded by your teacher.
The assessment task (AT), on the other hand, will be graded by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), the same body that grades your final examination!
Are there any other important things that I should know?
Yes!
Here are a collection of other points from the official guidelines that we feel are important to consider:
- “[The CBAs] are assessed at a Common Level.”
- “It is encouraged, but not required, that students collaborate with classmates…”
- “Each student must contribute to the work of the group.”
- “Students should clearly identify which collection method is appropriate for their investigation.”
- “Students should display an awareness of the importance of avoiding bias…”
- “Multiple approaches can be taken to displaying and describing data…”
- “They may use a variety of graphical displays such as stem and leaf plots, histograms, bar charts, etc.”
- “They should also summarise the data collected numerically using measures of centrality and spread such as mean, median or mode and range.”
- “They should recognise that all findings from the analysis of samples must be interpreted with uncertainty…”
- “Students must work individually to compile the report of their investigation…”
- “If a typed or hand-written report is the format of their choice, the total length of a written report would typically be in the 650-800 words range (excluding reference list and research notes), but this should not be regarded as a rigid requirement.”
Do you have any sample CBAs that I can look through?
Yes! Members gain access to all of our sample CBAs on the next few pages that you can use as inspiration.
