A Conversation for Exams
Exams from Hell
Researcher 189798 Started conversation May 22, 2002
As a student currently subjected to the hardest exams yet for me - GCSE's I would like to say my piece on this subject. I thought I'd help balence the argument here.
During an exam you can't help wondering if theres a better way of being tested these things. There are definatly faults in the way exams are carried out and I thought I'd highlight these points
1. Space
a) tables - to small not enough room for everything especially on exams with seperate answer and question books.
b) Exam halls - Draughty, and echoy - its very eerie listening to the b*****d ejudicator* clip-clop along the floor, peering at your answers. Music and German listening exams echo around the roo drastically reducing audiobility.
c) spaces provided on paper - What if I go wrong - will the examiner take note of my asterisk
2. Sounds
Random sounds can be really off-putting, especially on recorded exams. We have some kind of ventilation system in our exam hall and the fans clatter with the most ear peircing noise. Its simply off putting
3. Time
Should time really be an object in all these exams? You've got enough to worry about without having to check the clock every 10 minutes to see if your still on track.
4. The Questions
a)trick questions - Why do they have to make the questions so cryptic? Sometimes you get the feeling that the examiners are out to trick you, and thats not a nice thing to have on your concience.
b)finickety* questions - There are lots of questions where you have to answer with the correct phrase, even if you fully understand it. Examiners give marks for certain aspects of what you say but the don't always specify how we should answer the questions and, indeed what area of the criteria we should be considering. Its no suprise that our little minds are confused by these questions as they've tried to cram 2 years of work into spaces of 1 hour and 30 minutes,
So I guess you've worked out - I'm not an exam person. Not to say that I havn't ever had a good exam - I just think they could be planned and structured a whole lot better. I feel I could perform a lot better under less pressure and I really don't see why testing students should be so intrusive and threatening.
Luckilly next year I'm doing a national diploma next year which is coureswork based so after these next few weeks of hell I hope I'll be in bliss.
* = probably spelt incorrectly - I'm not the best speller in the world, sorry folks
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