Ugh in high school grade 12 courses, we call them "diploma" courses here and writing the diploma, it's worth 50% of our mark. YES 50%! So what we do in class is ONLY half of it..so if you do crazy good in class..you still have some sort of chance to bomb it with that one diploma.. It's pretty lame.
Wow that is pretty lame. At least with 40%, you can still pass if you do poorly on the exam. But 50% just seems like too much IMO.
Agreed with the 40 percent final! Plus I think too much focus is put on finals! I mean I'm sorry if I'm studying for the last few chapters that has important information I'm a lot less likely to remember what we did back in the first 5 chapters! Plus then once you get to college you pretty much have to review the entire book and remember the key details.
exams at least in my school are supplemented by projects and hw. so i think it's actually pretty balanced right now i do understand your line of thinking though. the stress does get really taxing after you do this stuff several times a year
Not to mention that just the large amount of students in a public high school means that you're usually just another number, and you're treated like sheep. In a private school, the teacher actually knows your name, and it's a lot easier to go to them when you need help.
WtF... They're just tests =.= Honestly, if we didn't have them, do you really think anyone would care about the coursework? No one claims that exams are a MEASURE of intelligence, but they do measure our knowledge in that subject. Sure, one could argue that sitting in a windowless room for 5 hours is a bit much, but really, do we have a choice? And do the teachers have a choice?
In my college the system is that a certain percentage of the subject is taken from your assignments and class tests, so basically it would help to even out the stress from the final year exams if you have been keeping up throughout the few terms.
I completely agree with this. The exams usually give an excellent boost to the grades. And if you did what you were supposed to and learned the material then the exam shouldnt be an issue.
Most of my teachers in our high school understand that end of semester exams can cause great stress, so they usually give us a lot of class work. By the end of the semester, if you've done really well in class and have perfect attendance, you have an option to exempt the exam. Half of my teachers thought the exams were a joke anyways, and made them very easy.
Wow. I can't even imagine having a final exam worth 50% of the grade. I stress enough over our final exams, and they are worth less than 5%... At our school, only a few classes even have finals, and most of them are so easy, as long as you payed attention in class you are fine. The teachers really don't want us to fail, probably so they don't have to see us again
Exams is the lesser evil for students. Its much much better than of lack of direction for a student. It's not great but its the best we have at present. Though 100 years from now I would be immensely surprised if they still had exams as we have them now. Generally a good exam is not so bad, however, the rote-learned type exams are complete garbage though.
exams are the only fair form of assessment, where you're put into a stressful environment and asked to show your skills. If assessment was largely composed of assignments, everyone would be scoring well, and there would be no clear distinctions between a good student and a great student.
Exams TEST you're knowledge of what your professors taught, So i think exams are a huge part of learning. How else would your professors know if you slept through they're teaching or not. If you truly payed attention to everything taught then you shouldn't have a problem with exams
Call me crazy (and I probably am) but I actually kind of like exams. It's exciting - I always wonder how much of the year/semester/whatever I remember. I've only taken High School Exams though, no college ones yet. I'm not sure how they will differ ^_^
I think exams can easily be fluked. Knowing how the marking system works and taking guesses has got me passes in classes I would have failed if It had been on knowledge and not percentage.
I'm having exams in a few weeks' time, so this topic is relevant to me as well. Coursework is good, but doesn't it need a bit of stamina as well? Actually it very much depends on the topic. For Math and Science, exams will be better. For Humanities, maybe coursework? I'm not very sure... I'm not an Arts student, teehee :X
I don't mind exams, although I never perform to my fullest in them due to stupid mistakes and laziness in checking. Last year all my subjects(Maths, Chemistry, Physics, English) were 100% exam based except computing which was 70% Exam 30% coursework. Year before I had Maths 100% Exam, Physics, Chem, Computing, Business Management and Biology 80/20, German 50/50 and English 33/67.