Heartiest Dedication

To all my beloved students, ex-students and future students,

The final exam is around the corner. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in all your papers. May you get the letter-grades you've been working for, this semester.

To my COIT students, sect 1, 19 and 20, the semester has been exciting and rejuvenating. I'm so glad that we met, even only for a short 15 weeks. You're so cheerful and talented, and I hope you do something about it. It's been memorable indeed.

TO EDSoc. members, and 15 brilliant students who were involved in my Phd research, you can definitely beat the challenge of employability. You'll get that job you want, soon.

To everybody:
Now, you may want to continue this goodwill thread to wish your friends and everybody in this blogging community best of luck in the coming exam.

Take care everybody:) You can do it, so do it wonderfully.

Pn Zue

Do we Need Final Exams?

In those days, there were only final exams. Teachers covered the syllabus within the timeframe of a year (equivalent to 10 months) and we sat for the exams to test our understanding + memory. hmmm..at the end of the year. Then, we had concert and prize-giving day at school. I really enjoyed being a child...the only talk about exams was the 100% final exam in October - hey, I was born in October, so this deserves some attention also:)

There were two types of perception among us then. First, studying was like a long distance event in sports. You would have to study consistently to maintain stamina, and grasp the subject matter as they come along. Nevertheless, there were also students who relaxed throughout the beginning of the year, and only studied intensively one or two months before the exam. Still, the results were more or less or even better than the first group of students who diligently studied throughout the year. Well - perhaps it's the strategy being employed - tuition classes, past year exam papers, etc!

Back then we had "Penilaian Darjah Lima" which is equivalent to UPSR now for Primary 6. Same thing prevailed. And what happened in Primary six without standardized exam? That was a year of fun and fortune...but children nowadays have to continue the battle till the last day of Primary six.. the same goes with SPM...in school, teachers had to remind us that Form Four is not a "honeymoon year" - start studying seriously, or you'd be left behind...

For undergraduates, the scenario is so different with regard to the nature of assessment and evaluation in the university setting. The final exam still comes around, but without the predominant 100%. Perhaps it's 40%, 50% or in some courses, 60%. The rest of the portion is distributed to the cumulative assessments. In other words, every effort students make in their attempt to fully grasp and understand the course throughout the semester counts. Now, students who wait till the end of semester to open their books and work on assignments will bear the consequences - some may stumble and fail.

Isn't this good, that we have such a system in place to reward diligence and constant pursuit of success? As a lecturer, I find it rewarding to be able to acknowledge my sudents' continuous effort for success. For more difficult subjects, trying out your understanding of the concepts and applications little by little via the tests can be a steady preparation for the final exam paper at the end of the semester.

But I can be wrong here in several ways. May be, students don't like to be tested every other week or month. Or, may be they are only ready to be tested at the end of the semester when the loop is complete, and when all doubts have been answered. Or - can it be the last-minute syndrome that undoubtedly brings about its own implications?

Nevertheless, let's return to our discussion topic - when we can have effective cumulative assessment in place to check students' continuous understanding as well as improvement, do we still require a final exam that kinda summarizes the whole semester's pursuit? Without it, will students have the tendency to forget or abandon the earlier topics? As much as this is the concern, do remember that the course as a whole is a triangulation of inter-related topics. If topic 1 supports topic 2, and topic 3 consolidates topic 1 and 2, how can students afford to forget the earlier topics - right?

Guess, this is a point to ponder.