Spotted: Procrastination in the Park

With deadlines looming and exams on the horizon, The Tab travelled to Lenton Rec to see who has been using the wonderful weather as an excuse to procrastinate…

After Robert Moher attacked the UoN examination system, The Tab also found out what students really think about these end-of-year tests. Can you really just blag a 2:1 after a year of dodging lectures and nursing hangovers?

Jack Cooper and Co.

Jack Cooper and Co, three mechanical engineering students, were enjoying the sun, despite having a “huge” group project due in on Thursday. They accept that they “will probably be procrastinating” when it comes closer to exam period and reckon that the entire examination process is a “joke”.

“Exams are just bullshitting. The whole system is a joke.” Said Jack Cooper. “We don’t learn very much in lectures and, basically, five days worth of revision will get you a 2:1. If you wanted to properly assess someone you would give them surprise tests.”

An Environmental Engineering student we spoke to agreed: “With exams, what often happens is that you revise for it and then forget it all afterwards. When the system is like this, you are not actually learning anything.”

“Instead, you are just cramming it all in before and then simply forgetting it. They should do more gradual testing over the year.”

These psychology students were taking the chance to get some work done in the sunshine, and they reckon that multiple choice exams are actually a fairer test.

“You can’t blag an MCQ, they deliberately put in answers that are very similar to each other and try to catch you out so that can be very tricky. With essays, not only is the marking really subjective but some people can just start revising two days before and come out with a 1^st. It is really annoying.”

Fabian likes jumping through hoops

Fabian, who studies Spanish and Chinese Studies, reckons that “for the majority of exams you’re just jumping through hoops and learning the exact things you need to learn” but when it comes to languages there are oral exams which you can’t “bullshit” your way through.

“You need to be able to talk in depth about certain topics with native speakers who are experts – if you try and blag that, you’re not going to get anywhere.”

Eric, an Economics student from Venezuela, says you “absolutely” can get a good degree from doing as little as possible throughout the year and finally getting your head down in exam week: “It’s pretty easy this way and you can see why people do it.”

“It would be better if they set three exams per semester. In Venezuela they have a system where there are exams every term, called partials, which count far more towards your final percentage than the small pieces of coursework here. I think this works better.”

What do YOU think? Is the system a ‘joke’? Should there be a fairer way of testing UoN students? Leave a comment below.