THE UK SYSTEM OF EXAMS. FINALS

In England most examinations are written in all types of educational establishments. In most cases a pupil or a student during his or her examination has a series of questions, but he/she doesn't have to answer all of them, it is only necessary to answer a certain number of questions to qualify in this or that subject.

In certain subjects, that require a well-developed oral speech skill (such as modern languages) there is also an oral examination (usually called simply an oral or 'a viva' in non-formal style). In certain subjects, such as chemistry or physics, there are usually practical exams, simply called the practicals.

In schools there are usually two types of examinations:

School examinationsare set to check the pupils' progress. They are checked and marked by the staff of the school concerned and usually set at the end of the school year. Some schools prefer to hold such examinations at the end of each term, though this practice is not so widely spread. Examinations at the end of a term are usually called end-of-term examinations. However, the examinations at the end of a year, though being officially called the end-of-year examinations, are usually called Summer exams.

Public examinationsare set and marked by public examination boards. Those who pass these exams are awarded certificates which are officially recognized as qualifications for entry to further and higher education, and, also, for various jobs. The pupils may be awarded the following certificates:

The General Certificate of Education (GCE),introduced in 1951, replaces the School Certificate and includes two stages: ordinary level ('O' level) taken at 15-16; and advanced level ('A' level) taken at 17-18. Higher educational establishments usually require an 'A' level.

The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), introduced in 1965 for those, who find the GCE too difficult. It is taken at 15-16. Its grade 1 is equal to GCE 'O' level.

Examinations at colleges include

• College/internal examinations (to assess the students' progress)

• Public/external examinations (for qualifications)

• Degree examinations (in colleges with higher education courses). Unlike in universities, they are held not by the colleges, but by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). Sometimes they are also called 'the finals'.

Examinations at universities include

• Sessional (sessionals) are held once a year at the end of a session to evaluate the students' progress. Their result does not affect the students' final qualifications. Sometimes these exams are held in the middle of a session (mid-sessionals);

• Final/degree examinations (finals) are very long examinations, very carefully set and conducted. The degrees are awarded on the basis of the marks received during these examinations. Usually there several examiners from the university concerned and one external examiner (outside examiner). In the case of modern languages the traditional type of degree examination is 8-10 written papers (approximately three hours to complete them) and an oral examination.

2.b Explain the following concepts from the text.

Let's Make It Fair

Alternative methods of student assessment may work better than traditional exams, argues Sally Brown.

The exam season is here again and hard-pressed students and acade­mics are once more asking if there aren't any better alternatives to tra­ditional exams. Since modularisa­tion, administrators have been frantically trying to timetable twice as many and those hiring out church halls for exams are contemplating doubled income.

At the same time, many of us working in assessment are questioning assumptions that exams are the fairest and most efficient methods of assess­ment. Madeleine Atkins, in a review commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Council of standards in 34 sub­ject assessments, suggests: "Many lecturers were far from expert, accurate or reliable when assessing students' work."

Stephen Ncwstead, president of the British Psychological Society, has also been considering the reliability of exams. He is worried about inconsistencies between disciplines, gender bias and cheating, and cites serious problems of inter-tutor reliability with, for example, two experienced markers differing by 70 per cent for the same piece of work.

This tends to explode conventional wisdom that time-constrained exams are ideal. Even when they achieve consistency and reliability of marks, they only assess a limited range of students' knowledge and ability. We can usually be sure that we are seeing the students' own work, but certainly not the best they can do. At their worst, traditional exams require stressed students using unreliable short-term memory to respond to often badly written questions under strict time constraints. What chance then to demon­strate logical argument, the application of theory to realistic contexts and a holis­tic approach to what they have learnt?

At the University of Northumbria, we are exploring the impact of innovative methods of assessment on students and staff, and we believe it is possible to use alternative forms of examination. Aca­demics are often asked to prove that their new methods work well, yet there is little convincing evidence that the old ones are fit for purpose. The challenge is to demonstrate to traditionalists that new methods can be equally rigorous.

Lecturers throughout the country are developing different kinds of exams which include:

• in-tray exercises where students receive a dossier of papers and a variety of tasks to work on in the exam room. They can work on sorting out what is really important from potential red herrings, and to cope with the unexpected in a way that simulates real practice.

• open-book exams, where students can have access to texts or formulae sheets and then work on questions of interpretation or analysis. These reduce the reliance on rote-learning and test instead what students do with the information.

• takeaway papers, where the questions set can be worked on at a more relaxed pace. Many students are used to using wordprocessors for coursework and find it difficult to write fast under exam conditions. Takeaway papers also permit. access to reference sources and can produce more thoughtful and polished work.

• case-studies, where the exam questions are based on scenarios or case materials provided before the exam, so they can apply knowledge in new ways to practical examples.

• multiple choice questions or short answer questions, forming all or part of an exam paper, so :that students can write briefly and demonstrate an understanding of a range of topics. Multiple choice questions have a poor reputation, because people think they can only assess low-level skills and are open to guessing, but we only have to look at the sophisticated and taxing questions used by Open University courses to see that this need not be true.

Students are always open to new ideas. A computing student using open book exams says: "We can concentrate on what we're here for; learning things rather than simply memorising. I like the way you can concentrate on actually understanding the material instead of trying to memorise lots of facts ... the ideas are what you need to learn."

I'm not suggesting we abandon con­ventional exams altogether, but that we broaden the range, since any single assessment method disadvantages some students. We may have a long way to go. though, to convince the diehards that any­thing else can ever be as rigorous or as fair as they claim traditional exams to be.

I brought back a cartoon from New Zealand that sums up my argument. It shows an elephant, a penguin, a monkey a goldfish, a seal and a dog standing before a examiner who is saying, "For a fair selection, everybody has to take the same exam; please climb that tree!'

The Independent

3.b Explain the following concepts from the text.

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