(04-19-2014, 03:12 PM)Psycho_Coder Wrote: We don't take Courses we are given 5-6 courses, plus practicals and other crap shits. Education system in my Country is not well arranged. We are not free to choose courses. Also what is the mode of your exams and what are the type of questions you're given ?.
In my UNIVERSITY we have to give all subjects theoretical exams and write a lot of theory for every answer. We have to learn by heart and then put our load on the exam paper. Practicals are not much focused and no well defined syllabus. I learn the practical concepts and not theoretical. But no one cares what you know or not, everyone see's your CGPA.
For example my CGPA is around 8 and I am a more or less programmer with some concepts. But on the other hand the Girls or people who get 8.5>= marks <= 9.4 or so they don't even know the meaning of a header file. This the standard and my parents think. "Hey you should have studied hard."
Did you get my point ?
That sucks. One of the professors at my University is championing the removal of final exams for programming courses. I dont believe all of them have done so but so far the two coding courses our assessment was based on in-lecture testing and larger projects for the assessment. For example, the programming course I did last semester required completion of 6 different applications to a specific specification.
We do have other courses that require quite a bit of theory and memorisation though. Subjects that I hate even (Information Systems, Systems Analysis, Foundations) These are generally a mix of Multiple Choice, Fill in the blanks, and long answer. These courses also have practicals though. so the final exam is worth 30-40%, in-lecture tests are worth about 30% and practicals are worth about another 30%. So very often, even in these courses you can have just about passed the course without the exam if youve done well.
Our GPA system is /7 - I'm currently sitting at 5.75, and so far this semester I expect to get 7/7 for two of the courses, and no less than 5/7 or 6/7 for the other two. So even if I i get 5/7 for both of the other 2 (hopefully not) my GPA will still be at 5.87/7 or greater. Which while not the top mark obviously, is not that bad imo. (3.5 is a barely passing grade).
But ya- I dont agree with the whole standardized testing concept. Peoples ability to memorize should not be whats tested imo. Sure you should understand the basic concepts but the ability to utilise or find information is far more valuable than the ability to retain raw data for a day or two. I took a course last semester, Information Systems. Got a 5-6/7 (not sure actually). But ask me today and aside from the general overview of the course - I could explain very few of the actual concepts that were taught.
But any ways. Good luck. I have a week off for a midsemester break and I am starting (and finishing) most of my assessment items.