One word exam questions and multiple choice questions on 2nd year

r.mac_2

studentphil wrote:

they still have sort of like project work instead of proper of research and exams like you do on any other course-- so it is a bit of a cop out.

sort of like project work - not in my opinion. You had to know the answers or you didn't pass. If you didn't learn the course from start to end, you generally couldn't complete the MCQ's. You have no sight of the paper before hand so you really had to know your stuff. Oh- and as they are negatively marked, you cann;t just guess as you risk loosing marks.

instead of proper research and exam- As i said in an earlier post, where they were used on my course they were accompanied by other assessments too - both an essay written out of exam conditions and essay and problem style questions under exam conditions.

so it is a bit of a cop out- I still disagree:rolleyes: there are many degrees where you have to know things and be ablt to recall them immediately - bang. people have already cited science subjects, but many arts subjects require this skill too.

studentphil

tr3mor wrote:

What degree do you do?

Philosophy and that is very strong on the traditional academic things of essays and research.

r.mac_2

studentphil wrote:

Philosophy and that is very strong on the traditional academic things of essays and research.

I can see why you don't like the idea of MCQ's. Philosophy has very few right or wrong answers and is often an assessment of argumentation skills.

Just because a degree subject has some element of MCQ's in them I wouldn't say that they were not traditionally academic (which you have sort of implied) - I am thinking in particularly of Medical and Law degrees

Philosphy is an interesting subject and I hope that yous degree goes well. :T

studentphil

r.mac wrote:

I can see why you don't like the idea of MCQ's. Philosophy has very few right or wrong answers and is often an assessment of argumentation skills.

Just because a degree subject has some element of MCQ's in them I wouldn't say that they were not traditionally academic (which you have sort of implied) - I am thinking in particularly of Medical and Law degrees

Philosphy is an interesting subject and I hope that yous degree goes well. :T

I just think how much harder it is in to get a 2.1 in philosophy, extensive research and original ideas are needed to get a 2.1 compared to a how much more straightforward learning stuff for MCQs is.

Colxfile

On the subject of one-word exam questions, there's a funny urban legend that goes like this:

A philosophy professor issued his final exam to his class. On the blackboard, he wrote his question out:

"WHY?"

Before telling his class they had 2 hours to finish and start writing.

Scarcely a minute later, one student got up, handed in his paper and left. His answer?

"BECAUSE."

tr3mor

studentphil wrote:

I just think how much harder it is in to get a 2.1 in philosophy, extensive research and original ideas are needed to get a 2.1 compared to a how much more straightforward learning stuff for MCQs is.

Rubbish. Maybe you should have a look at these MCQ papers first before having a go at them.

As I said before, many of my friends failed a multiple choice programming exam which they'd have passed easily if it had been a written paper.

Also bear in mind that you likely have half the number of modules, and probably a quarter of the contact time, as people doing a computing degree. At least that's the case at my university.

pboae

Neither are necessarily easier, but I think essays are much easier to blag than MCQ if you are unsure of the subject matter.

OH had one module of his undergrad (Psychology) degree asessed solely by MCQ. It was negatively marked and all the answers were correct, but one was more correct than the others. A lot of people ended up with a negative score on that paper. If it had been an essay they would've got some marks for any one of the other 'partly right' questions.

studentphil

tr3mor wrote:

Rubbish. Maybe you should have a look at these MCQ papers first before having a go at them.

As I said before, many of my friends failed a multiple choice programming exam which they'd have passed easily if it had been a written paper.

Also bear in mind that you likely have half the number of modules, and probably a quarter of the contact time, as people doing a computing degree. At least that's the case at my university.

I accept that a computing degree is more like School where they teach you and you work through examples in lab classes. I accept that reading lots of articles is not going to make you good at real life computing. Maybe the subjects are too far apart to compare.

r.mac_2

studentphil wrote:

I just think how much harder it is in to get a 2.1 in philosophy, extensive research and original ideas are needed to get a 2.1 compared to a how much more straightforward learning stuff for MCQs is.

I still don't agree with you Phil!!! You are implying that subjects which use MCQ's as part of their assessment method are not as 'difficult' as degrees which are purely essay based. :eek:

I really don't think that you have thought that comment through - medical students face MCQ's as part of their assessment, as do Vetinary students and Law students.;)

studentphil

r.mac wrote:

I still don't agree with you Phil!!! You are implying that subjects which use MCQ's as part of their assessment method are not as 'difficult' as degrees which are purely essay based. :eek:

I really don't think that you have thought that comment through - medical students face MCQ's as part of their assessment, as do Vetinary students and Law students.;)

I am saying MCQ require less thinking and more learning facts and things from books