I have been thinking about why students are tested in university. I think that a lot of the time they seem so life-threatening and so useless because when I study for tests, I don't really learn much. I find that I learn more when there are projects or essays since I could at least claim skills such as team work, creativity, writing, scientific literacy, research and so on. But with tests, it's just I know how to memorize. However, I have taken a course with MCs that were quite difficult and it actually disciplined me.

I know tests, esp MC are easy to handle with grading and also there is no need to hire TAs, but I really question its purpose in upper level courses since there usually aren't as many as first year. I get it for first year cuz there's way too many ppl and maybe even second year since many programs have courses that overlap. But in third year, I think tests should not be the dominant form of assessments. What do you think?

Originally Posted by AnimeGamer31

I have been thinking about why students are tested in university. I think that a lot of the time they seem so life-threatening and so useless because when I study for tests, I don't really learn much. I find that I learn more when there are projects or essays since I could at least claim skills such as team work, creativity, writing, scientific literacy, research and so on. But with tests, it's just I know how to memorize. However, I have taken a course with MCs that were quite difficult and it actually disciplined me.

I know tests, esp MC are easy to handle with grading and also there is no need to hire TAs, but I really question its purpose in upper level courses since there usually aren't as many as first year. I get it for first year cuz there's way too many ppl and maybe even second year since many programs have courses that overlap. But in third year, I think tests should not be the dominant form of assessments. What do you think?

Why is there no need for hiring TAs? How useful they are or aren't to you really depends on how their hours are allocated by their supervisor, what they are tasked to do each week, and how willing they are to go above and beyond to help their students.

Depends on who writes the test. Joe Kim is excellent at writing multiple choice exams because his questions cannot be crammed for, and usually require a deeper understanding of the course material. There are even "trick" answers to discern those who studied from those who didn't. Language classes are like this, as well.

Often I am so sleep deprived and high off of caffeine that I almost immediately forget the course's material following the exam. Hell, most of the time I cannot even remember what I wrote down after the test, multiple choice questions or no.

Is it a poor form of assessment? Probably. The thing is: the schools are not there to cater to individual learning needs - they are there to train future workers "efficiently" by the masses. And with the way this country is headed, with an increased emphasis on entering university right out of high school (colleges or other forms of post-secondary educational institutions are almost taboo now), don't expect any meaningful reform any time soon.

Originally Posted by herBs

Why is there no need for hiring TAs? How useful they are or aren't to you really depends on how their hours are allocated by their supervisor, what they are tasked to do each week, and how willing they are to go above and beyond to help their students.

You may have misunderstood me, I meant if a course is solely based on MC, then there is no need to hire TAs to help the prof with marking. I was trying to think of pros for just using MC tests. But I did have a course that was solely MC based with TAs and they were there to help provide support. I understand that TAs aren't just there for marking, but they usually are needed when courses had essays, short answers, tutorials, labs and so on.

Originally Posted by Grover

Depends on who writes the test. Joe Kim is excellent at writing multiple choice exams because his questions cannot be crammed for, and usually require a deeper understanding of the course material. There are even "trick" answers to discern those who studied from those who didn't. Language classes are like this, as well.

Often I am so sleep deprived and high off of caffeine that I almost immediately forget the course's material following the exam. Hell, most of the time I cannot even remember what I wrote down after the test, multiple choice questions or no.

Is it a poor form of assessment? Probably. The thing is: the schools are not there to cater to individual learning needs - they are there to train future workers "efficiently" by the masses. And with the way this country is headed, with an increased emphasis on entering university right out of high school (colleges or other forms of post-secondary educational institutions are almost taboo now), don't expect any meaningful reform any time soon.

You may want to look at what was in your caffeine pills, cuz i dont think anyone can get high off of too much caffeine. Hyped up maybe, but definitely not high lol

Originally Posted by JayJackson69

i dont think anyone can get high off of too much caffeine. Hyped up maybe, but definitely not high lol

A "high" can take on more meanings than one, like when a sprinter experiences a runner's high from the endorphins flowing in their brain.