|
|
Post by serpentheart on Jun 23, 2011 1:58:48 GMT -5
I hate the convention that courses need exams at all. Take away the exam and add another essay, or a journal, or a class presentation, an in-class quiz etc. Every single one of my lecturers think they're pointless, and yet they still have them because it's university standard.
I mean, do you ever really remember the questions in exams? I don't. Cram, write, amnesia. Doesn't sound like a good way to learn, imo.
|
|
|
|
Post by Olive on Jun 23, 2011 7:21:12 GMT -5
I hate the convention that courses need exams at all. Take away the exam and add another essay, or a journal, or a class presentation, an in-class quiz etc. Every single one of my lecturers think they're pointless, and yet they still have them because it's university standard. I mean, do you ever really remember the questions in exams? I don't. Cram, write, amnesia. Doesn't sound like a good way to learn, imo. Honestly, most of my English classes don't do the final. The few classes that have had exams kind of made sense because they were usually survey courses. Half of the exam was a sort of "here's an excerpt, what is the title of the work/who wrote it" or other fill-in-the-blank identifications, and then a brief essay which was usually assigned the class period before, and you were expected to bring it in with you. However, none of these were "final" exams (except one class), but rather tiny little exams throughout the semester. The final is almost always a research/etc. paper, in my experience. |
|
|
|
Post by dewink33 on Jun 23, 2011 21:23:41 GMT -5
I'm a bad English Major because I'm also good at math. That's right, an English major who's good at math. In 6th grade I memorized 26 digits of pi for fun. I still know them.
One of my professors in undergrad scarred me in terms of multiple choice questions because he would pick THE MOST obscure things: "What color was the hat of the main character's cousin's sister in Act 2?" (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, and he got softer as the years went on but man, my first Shakespeare class with him was brutal)
|
|
|
|
Post by serpentheart on Jun 24, 2011 5:49:51 GMT -5
I hate the convention that courses need exams at all. Take away the exam and add another essay, or a journal, or a class presentation, an in-class quiz etc. Every single one of my lecturers think they're pointless, and yet they still have them because it's university standard. I mean, do you ever really remember the questions in exams? I don't. Cram, write, amnesia. Doesn't sound like a good way to learn, imo. Honestly, most of my English classes don't do the final. The few classes that have had exams kind of made sense because they were usually survey courses. Half of the exam was a sort of "here's an excerpt, what is the title of the work/who wrote it" or other fill-in-the-blank identifications, and then a brief essay which was usually assigned the class period before, and you were expected to bring it in with you. However, none of these were "final" exams (except one class), but rather tiny little exams throughout the semester. The final is almost always a research/etc. paper, in my experience. I wish we had that.  It's standard in my university to do a proper exam at the end. In my city the three universities hold them at the showgrounds (gigantic convention type centre with lots of pavilions) at the same time. Exams are just normal across the board. Had my English one today. 3 short answer questions, grammar section, close reading and essay. No questions prepared. It was okay, but annoying to remember specific things from 4 novels and a bunch of poems haha. At least we get past exam papers to practice and helpful hints from the lecturer. Still, it's a stressful learning environment, to me. I would prefer a second research essay over the exam. |
|
andy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 80
|
Post by andy on Jun 24, 2011 6:43:45 GMT -5
I hate the convention that courses need exams at all. Take away the exam and add another essay, or a journal, or a class presentation, an in-class quiz etc. Every single one of my lecturers think they're pointless, and yet they still have them because it's university standard. I mean, do you ever really remember the questions in exams? I don't. Cram, write, amnesia. Doesn't sound like a good way to learn, imo. I prefer exams to essays - exams are less trouble than essays because you don't have to rewrite them 46547567 times, but the work is pretty similar. In most essay-based exams you can get away with a good 2.1 by learning one big thing about every author/text you studied and with a bit of luck, creative rambling and clever research, you get to write about that one big thing you know very well whatever the exam questions are. Plus most exam halls are in a gorgeous 15th century huge building and I love going there. |
|
|
|
Post by Eternal Lobster on Jun 24, 2011 21:35:52 GMT -5
I hate the convention that courses need exams at all. Take away the exam and add another essay, or a journal, or a class presentation, an in-class quiz etc. Every single one of my lecturers think they're pointless, and yet they still have them because it's university standard. I mean, do you ever really remember the questions in exams? I don't. Cram, write, amnesia. Doesn't sound like a good way to learn, imo. I prefer exams to essays - exams are less trouble than essays because you don't have to rewrite them 46547567 times, but the work is pretty similar. In most essay-based exams you can get away with a good 2.1 by learning one big thing about every author/text you studied and with a bit of luck, creative rambling and clever research, you get to write about that one big thing you know very well whatever the exam questions are. Plus most exam halls are in a gorgeous 15th century huge building and I love going there. Well aren't we lucky  Dodger and I had an essay final in our old, 50's highschool-esque English building. It was VERY humid out and probably 90+ degrees. And the heating was on in the building. Did I say the fucking heating was on? BECAUSE IT WAS. I don't know WHICH IDIOT decided that it was okay to run the heat during finals week but I hope he died a horrible death. Preferably a hot, humid one. Our prof was able to nab a fan for the room, but GODS that truly was torture. Especially in a tiny room PACKED full of people. |
|
|
|
Post by serpentheart on Jun 25, 2011 6:05:00 GMT -5
Haha yeah I wish ours were held in a 15th century building. That would be nice. Just a modern cement exhibition hall set up with crappy little desks and metal chairs for us.
|
|
|
|
Post by KatjevanLoon on Jun 25, 2011 9:29:13 GMT -5
I prefer exams to essays - exams are less trouble than essays because you don't have to rewrite them 46547567 times, but the work is pretty similar. In most essay-based exams you can get away with a good 2.1 by learning one big thing about every author/text you studied and with a bit of luck, creative rambling and clever research, you get to write about that one big thing you know very well whatever the exam questions are. Plus most exam halls are in a gorgeous 15th century huge building and I love going there. Well aren't we lucky Dodger and I had an essay final in our old, 50's highschool-esque English building. It was VERY humid out and probably 90+ degrees. And the heating was on in the building. Did I say the fucking heating was on? BECAUSE IT WAS. I don't know WHICH IDIOT decided that it was okay to run the heat during finals week but I hope he died a horrible death. Preferably a hot, humid one. Our prof was able to nab a fan for the room, but GODS that truly was torture. Especially in a tiny room PACKED full of people. Oh jeez, sounds like the idiots at my school. During late spring semester, summer semester, and early fall they blast the heat in the buildings. During winter? AC is on. What is this I don't even. |
|
andy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 80
|
Post by andy on Jun 25, 2011 12:54:42 GMT -5
Haha yeah I wish ours were held in a 15th century building. That would be nice. Just a modern cement exhibition hall set up with crappy little desks and metal chairs for us. It's so pretty that it's rumoured that the building was the inspiration for Hogwarts because it's a lot more impressive and big than Edinburgh castle and Edinburgh uni doesn't have any buildings that old (except the union, which is tiny and not that castle-like). It's even more Hogwartsy and gigantic from the inside than this picture shows -  But if it brings any comfort most of the other teaching buildings on campus are ridiculously ugly 60s cement blocks. :/ |
|
|
|
Post by Eternal Lobster on Jun 25, 2011 15:30:52 GMT -5
I feel like we need a English Major Building thread where we can complain and show off our campus. I am really tempted to bring a camera to class Monday and take pictures.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 25, 2011 19:53:51 GMT -5
I prefer exams to essays - exams are less trouble than essays because you don't have to rewrite them 46547567 times, but the work is pretty similar. In most essay-based exams you can get away with a good 2.1 by learning one big thing about every author/text you studied and with a bit of luck, creative rambling and clever research, you get to write about that one big thing you know very well whatever the exam questions are. Plus most exam halls are in a gorgeous 15th century huge building and I love going there. Well aren't we lucky Dodger and I had an essay final in our old, 50's highschool-esque English building. It was VERY humid out and probably 90+ degrees. And the heating was on in the building. Did I say the fucking heating was on? BECAUSE IT WAS. I don't know WHICH IDIOT decided that it was okay to run the heat during finals week but I hope he died a horrible death. Preferably a hot, humid one. Our prof was able to nab a fan for the room, but GODS that truly was torture. Especially in a tiny room PACKED full of people. Correction! The heating system was broken and, thus, pumping heat throughout the building. Everyhting else was entirely true. Especially the bit about our professor (of Canada) stealing a fan from another room. The entire room clapped. I feel like there was a hug involved, but that might just be my imagination. |
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 25, 2011 19:54:48 GMT -5
I feel like we need a English Major Building thread where we can complain and show off our campus. I am really tempted to bring a camera to class Monday and take pictures. Do it do it do it do it do it. Make sure to take a picture of the Conference Room. That's my favourite place in our building. |
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 25, 2011 19:55:55 GMT -5
Haha yeah I wish ours were held in a 15th century building. That would be nice. Just a modern cement exhibition hall set up with crappy little desks and metal chairs for us. It's so pretty that it's rumoured that the building was the inspiration for Hogwarts because it's a lot more impressive and big than Edinburgh castle and Edinburgh uni doesn't have any buildings that old (except the union, which is tiny and not that castle-like). It's even more Hogwartsy and gigantic from the inside than this picture shows - But if it brings any comfort most of the other teaching buildings on campus are ridiculously ugly 60s cement blocks. :/ WAIT. ONE. MINUTE. DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU GO TO UNI IN EDINBURGH?! AKA MY FAVOURITE CITY IN THE WORLD (I still love you Chicago!)?! Ihateyoualittlebit. Also, I am immensely jealous. |
|
|
|
Post by Eternal Lobster on Jun 25, 2011 20:12:14 GMT -5
Well aren't we lucky Dodger and I had an essay final in our old, 50's highschool-esque English building. It was VERY humid out and probably 90+ degrees. And the heating was on in the building. Did I say the fucking heating was on? BECAUSE IT WAS. I don't know WHICH IDIOT decided that it was okay to run the heat during finals week but I hope he died a horrible death. Preferably a hot, humid one. Our prof was able to nab a fan for the room, but GODS that truly was torture. Especially in a tiny room PACKED full of people. Correction! The heating system was broken and, thus, pumping heat throughout the building. Everyhting else was entirely true. Especially the bit about our professor (of Canada) stealing a fan from another room. The entire room clapped. I feel like there was a hug involved, but that might just be my imagination. I still maintain that they were purposefully doing it!! And if it was broken then they should have moved finals to the library or something. |
|
|
|
Post by Olive on Jun 26, 2011 12:02:19 GMT -5
Hmmm... all of our finals are just held in whatever classroom that course used for the semester. A.K.A. 60's era rooms. We had a lot of really gorgeous old-ish (1900s) buildings on campus, but they just keep tearing them down and rebuilding... sigh.
Ah well, at least one of the administrative buildings is riot-proof! >.>
|
|
It's standard in my university to do a proper exam at the end. In my city the three universities hold them at the showgrounds (gigantic convention type centre with lots of pavilions) at the same time. Exams are just normal across the board.
Dodger and I had an essay final in our old, 50's highschool-esque English building. It was VERY humid out and probably 90+ degrees. And the heating was on in the building. Did I say the fucking heating was on? BECAUSE IT WAS. I don't know WHICH IDIOT decided that it was okay to run the heat during finals week but I hope he died a horrible death. Preferably a hot, humid one. Our prof was able to nab a fan for the room, but GODS that truly was torture. Especially in a tiny room PACKED full of people.
