Rant Finals

[Gamingphreek]

I am extremely annoyed with how colleges structure finals.

As of right now I had an exam that ended at 5 last night. I had an exam this morning at 10AM, I have another exam at 3PM, and another tomorrow at 10AM.

When IN THE WORLD does a college expect you to be able to study for all that. I didn't qualify for an exam change. So as it stands, I studied immensely for my first exam (Graduation in 2010 hinges on it), and then began studying for the next exam. Now; having taken that with no more than 3 or so hours of studying, I have to go to another exam in 2 hours.

Furthermore, I am a CS major. What is the point of an exam!?!?!?!? When is an employer going to sit me into a room with a desk, slap a piece of paper in front of me, give me a pencil, and say write the code for this, this, this, and this and give some random definitions?!? All with no code references?? I have an A on every project, HW, and lab in the class, yet I fail the tests like no other...

-Kevin

 

[ViviTheMage]

boohoo?

college ain't meant to be easy.

Let me add that a typical final should be an accumulation of what you learned over the semester...not a quick cram session....

At my school I was able to change SOME finals if it was too close to other finals.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

you had the whole semester to study. there is no new content on the final.

 

[BoomerD]

They modified the finals schedule about half-way through the semester here, and if we had finals that conflicted with others, we were allowed to make arrangements with the professor to accomodate that conflict.
That DIDN'T mean we needed more time in between finals to cram for the next one however...

 

[Juked07]

0/10

 

[TecHNooB]

Yet there are people who come out with 4.0s. Which means you can do better! Study hard

 

[venkman]

CS finals should simply be....

"Make a program that does this very complicated thing, you have three hours to get a working program in my inbox."

Go Go Go!

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
you had the whole semester to study. there is no new content on the final.

You're supposed to study the whole semester.

 

[Injury]

If you were paying attention up until now you wouldn't need to cram, you'd only need a brisk read for a few hours before the exam to refresh yourself.

Additionally, a lot about college is preparation for real-world situations. God forbid you get out in the real world and have 4 or 5 small projects due in the same week or so span.

Finally, if this was truly a problem your post would have told us that you talked to each of your professors about the situation and asked to take the test with another section or attempted made alternate arrangements. No matter what any professor says, they can ALWAYS accommodate you if you give them a good enough reason to do so.

 

[badkarma1399]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Furthermore, I am a CS major. What is the point of an exam!?!?!?!? When is an employer going to sit me into a room with a desk, slap a piece of paper in front of me, give me a pencil, and say write the code for this, this, this, and this and give some random definitions?!? All with no code references??

I've actually heard of employers doing this on several different occasions during job interviews.

 

[Mizugori]

Originally posted by: badkarma1399

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Furthermore, I am a CS major. What is the point of an exam!?!?!?!? When is an employer going to sit me into a room with a desk, slap a piece of paper in front of me, give me a pencil, and say write the code for this, this, this, and this and give some random definitions?!? All with no code references??

I've actually heard of employers doing this on several different occasions during job interviews.

that's crap. i've had several CS jobs and it never goes further than informal questioning, which is done verbally.

to the OP, any decent college will let you apply for a retake if your finals are unreasonably close together. speak to a dean.

 

[CRXican]

what a cry baby

That's more than enough time. Most of my thoughts were posted already.

You shouldn't have to study for more than a few hours max per each final. If you don't know it by the time finals roll around you're pretty much screwed anyway.

 

[dbk]

Originally posted by: Mizugori

Originally posted by: badkarma1399

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Furthermore, I am a CS major. What is the point of an exam!?!?!?!? When is an employer going to sit me into a room with a desk, slap a piece of paper in front of me, give me a pencil, and say write the code for this, this, this, and this and give some random definitions?!? All with no code references??

I've actually heard of employers doing this on several different occasions during job interviews.

that's crap. i've had several CS jobs and it never goes further than informal questioning, which is done verbally.

to the OP, any decent college will let you apply for a retake if your finals are unreasonably close together. speak to a dean.

VT has a deadline to reschedule final exams for reasons described by the OP. Too bad, so sad.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: CRXican
what a cry baby

That's more than enough time. Most of my thoughts were posted already.

You shouldn't have to study for more than a few hours max per each final. If you don't know it by the time finals roll around you're pretty much screwed anyway.

Yes because my post implied crying :roll:

You do realize that I don't have a "few hours" to study. Do you also realize that I'm not as some random community college doing this degree. I'm at Virginia Tech - one of the top Engineering Schools in the nation.

The averages on my assignments outside of tests throughout the year are A (Beating the class average). On the tests for in major courses, the class average hovers around a 68-69. I am normally just below that.

Saying study more or you should be studying throughout the year is negligent. Sure, if I had 1 or 2 classes a semester I would be able to do that. Having 5 classes a semester (3 credits each) doesn't allow for much free time in the college of engineering. Additionally, this is what? 17 weeks of material with 2-3 classes/week. It isn't something that you just "brush up on". Memorizing isn't everything you need an intricate knowledge of that material...

I'm not saying this should be easy. I welcome the challenge and I strive to learn more each day - but, given the placement of these finals, I simply don't believe I was allotted adequate time to prepare for each one when they are mere hours after the previous final.

I've actually heard of employers doing this on several different occasions during job interviews.

I have never ever ever heard of that. IF they did, it would be something to the extent of create and implement a full binary search tree. I don't have the JavaAPI to look at, I don't have a compiler. All I have are some vague instructions on what they kind of want me to do. I could do that if I had code reference; without it though, it is basically, I hope you remembered incredibly pointless code unique to this...

-Kevin

Edit: My exam was 5 minutes too late to be eligible for reschedule. I'm a Junior in College, I know how the system works :roll: (First exam was 10:05, had a second exam, and then the third began at 10:05 the next day instead of 10 - Not within 24 hours -_- )

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
boohoo?

college ain't meant to be easy.

Let me add that a typical final should be an accumulation of what you learned over the semester...not a quick cram session....

At my school I was able to change SOME finals if it was too close to other finals.

This. If you've been keeping up with the class during the semester, it should all kind of fall into place for the final. Maybe spend a few hours going over the earlier material to refresh your memory, but if you're cramming, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
boohoo?

college ain't meant to be easy.

Let me add that a typical final should be an accumulation of what you learned over the semester...not a quick cram session....

At my school I was able to change SOME finals if it was too close to other finals.

This. If you've been keeping up with the class during the semester, it should all kind of fall into place for the final. Maybe spend a few hours going over the earlier material to refresh your memory, but if you're cramming, you're doing it wrong.

That is impossible and impractical. I have never heard of someone only studying a few hours for a final and then getting an A on it in any respectable school and class.

For instance in my Computer Organization class: We have gone from MUX/ADDers in HW, to Finite State Machines, to ALU and Circuits, to Binary Opcode, to Assembly, to C, to Data Structures in C.

That isn't something that you get an opportunity to practice all year - and it isn't something easy where you remember it and everything works. You try creating a 16bit ADD or Multiplexer on the spot and tell me how it goes...

-Kevin

 

[Epic Fail]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Saying study more or you should be studying throughout the year is negligent. Sure, if I had 1 or 2 classes a semester I would be able to do that. Having 5 classes a semester (3 credits each) doesn't allow for much free time in the college of engineering. Additionally, this is what? 17 weeks of material with 2-3 classes/week. It isn't something that you just "brush up on". Memorizing isn't everything you need an intricate knowledge of that material...

OK then, if you can't just brush up on these exams, what is a few more hours between exams going to do for you?

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Furthermore, I am a CS major. What is the point of an exam!?!?!?!? When is an employer going to sit me into a room with a desk, slap a piece of paper in front of me, give me a pencil, and say write the code for this, this, this, and this and give some random definitions?!? All with no code references??

I always thought the same thing.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Saying study more or you should be studying throughout the year is negligent. Sure, if I had 1 or 2 classes a semester I would be able to do that. Having 5 classes a semester (3 credits each) doesn't allow for much free time in the college of engineering. Additionally, this is what? 17 weeks of material with 2-3 classes/week. It isn't something that you just "brush up on". Memorizing isn't everything you need an intricate knowledge of that material...

OK then, if you can't just brush up on these exams, what is a few more hours between exams going to do for you?

If you have a day or so in between exams - you can devote the time to going through previous homeworks and actually doing the problems. Going to the teacher for ones that you can't quite remember.

Not being able to even have a time to go to the teacher for problems or questions isn't giving a student a fair chance in my opinion.

-Kevin

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: frostedflakes

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
boohoo?

college ain't meant to be easy.

Let me add that a typical final should be an accumulation of what you learned over the semester...not a quick cram session....

At my school I was able to change SOME finals if it was too close to other finals.

This. If you've been keeping up with the class during the semester, it should all kind of fall into place for the final. Maybe spend a few hours going over the earlier material to refresh your memory, but if you're cramming, you're doing it wrong.

That is impossible and impractical. I have never heard of someone only studying a few hours for a final and then getting an A on it in any respectable school and class.

For instance in my Computer Organization class: We have gone from MUX/ADDers in HW, to Finite State Machines, to ALU and Circuits, to Binary Opcode, to Assembly, to C, to Data Structures in C.

That isn't something that you get an opportunity to practice all year - and it isn't something easy where you remember it and everything works. You try creating a 16bit ADD or Multiplexer on the spot and tell me how it goes...

-Kevin

I just finished a class on this! Good stuff. Exempt from the final

 

[Epic Fail]

Dude, I am sure you get reading days after your last day of classes, use it...

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I have 2 finals today; I just got back from one. Quit crying; you should have been studying for the past week. I'm finishing my first semester and I've learned that I can't study like I did in high school (look through the textbook the night before, do fine) and ace a college exam.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Dude, I am sure you get reading days after your last day of classes, use it...

As I said - I studied for 3 days for the first exam as I was struggling in that class while doing fairly well in the others.

I'm not saying that not agreeing with the exam format will get me anywhere and I still put everything I have into it. I'm merely arguing that as a CS major, programming projects are more practical and are a much more accurate reflection on a persons knowledge of the subject.

-Kevin

Edit:

I have 2 finals today; I just got back from one. Quit crying; you should have been studying for the past week. I'm finishing my first semester and I've learned that I can't study like I did in high school (look through the textbook the night before, do fine) and ace a college exam.

Once again, where does it say that I am upset? I feel that I have presented a very clear and mature argument.

Additionally, are you an engineering major? Makes a very large difference!

Finally, if you read any of the thread, you would see that I started studying the minute I was able to on reading day (This past thursday). We had classes up until that point so studying was reserved for doing HW and completing the finishing touches on semester long projects.

-Kevin

 

[joesmoke]

Consider it practice for a demanding, high paying job.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Wow, you're in for a rude awakening if/when you hit corporate america. 'Hey, we have to have this... in 15 minutes.'