Just two and a half years ago, it was not only normal, but expected, that part of your school life would involve sitting in a hall with your peers; silent, timed and tested on the year’s content. Now I find myself amongst disgruntled students who feel it unreasonable that open exam periods across departments are being cut down.
Pre-COVID, open exams were seen as an ‘easy way out’ that defeated the entire purpose of an exam. Post-COVID, we find ourselves not only hearing, but telling, a different story; open exams are a more conclusive way to demonstrate your academic ability.
I am a History and Politics student and, last year, like many others, my course involved 24-hour online, open exams as part of the summative assignments.
Having a 24-hour window in which I could research, write, and edit essays meant that I could have multiple drafts, each one better than the last, and take breaks to ensure that I could continue to eat, sleep and rest as if it was a normal day which alleviated unimaginable amounts of pressure.
This year, however, the Politics department have reduced the exam periods from 24-hours to just four. Despite the twenty hour decrease in the time we have to complete our exams, the exam requirements remain the same; two essays, complete with referencing and bibliographies.
In articles written by students themselves, along with reports on online exams (the one by Kerryn Butler-Henderson and Joseph Crawford is very interesting), online examinations where students are given ample time to submit the best work they are capable of producing are favoured far more. Longer online exam periods not only allow students to submit work that is of a much higher quality, but also reportedly come with less assessment anxiety – two hugely positive side effects of a forced and unexpected move away from traditional exams.
Within the Politics department, we have not been given a definitive answer as to why our exams have been reduced so drastically in such a short period of time. After speaking to many students within the department, the general consensus is that four hours simply is not enough time to produce and submit work that we are proud of, especially considering that our academic careers have been devoid of traditional exams for over two years.
Has COVID ruined our ability to take ‘normal’ exams? Perhaps it has. The solution to this, however, is not to throw us back into exams that look more traditional for the sake of moving back to what used to be the norm. I pose the question of whether or not we need a solution. For me, and many others, the 24-hour online exams are the most fair way we have been assessed in our lives. Just because it took a pandemic to get us here, does this mean we need to go back?