Seen exams and disabled students

studentphil

This is becoming more of a fashion now for seen exams that are made available say a week before the exams. But how does it work for disabled students, do they get (I assume a different paper) to everyone else made available to them eariler in line with if it is 10/25/50% extra time they get in exams? Otherwise this exam would put them at direct disadvantage as they would not have equal real working time to prepare for the exam as they work slower given they are disabled.

[Deleted User]

What the hell is a 'seen exam'? There doesn't seem much point in giving anyone an exam question when its not in an exam setting.

I get sharp looks by my dyslexic girlfriend for thoughts like this... but why should anyone get a time/point benefit in an exam due to a disability? You don't get it at work - project deadlines are not moved due to disabilities.

studentphil

ringo_24601 wrote: »

What the hell is a 'seen exam'? There doesn't seem much point in giving anyone an exam question when its not in an exam setting.

I get sharp looks by my dyslexic girlfriend for thoughts like this... but why should anyone get a time/point benefit in an exam due to a disability? You don't get it at work - project deadlines are not moved due to disabilities.

Simply because disabled people often write slower and take lower to process the questions than none disabled people. The idea of seen papers is to mix essay and exam, you have time to think about the questions before hand, but you have to write the answer in timed conditions.

dmg24

You don't get it at work - project deadlines are not moved due to disabilities.

I think you will find that they may be, if the particular disability requires it. Employers are required to make reasonable adaptations for the disabled.

Phil, I think this is one where it depends on the individual circumstances. The word disabled covers a myriad of conditions, and so a longer time to see the paper may not be suitable or relevant to some people (would make me even worse!). However, in certain circumstances I can see your point, if time taken to assimilate the information is longer, then it would be fair for the candidate to receive the paper earlier.

Rikki

When taking my psychology exams those who were dyslexic were give an additional 15 minutes at the end of the exam.

studentphil

There is a clear case that disabled students who have slow writing and or processing at a slow speed there is a clear disadvantage if you don't have longer to work on the seen element.

Gingernutmeg

At my uni we have seen exams and I have a number of friends who are both physically disabled and have various learning difficulties. They receive the exam at the same time as everyone else, but adjustments made depending on the extent and type of their disabilities - extra time in the exams, scribes, separate rooms, marking that takes some account of their difficulites. My uni has very good provision for disabilities and my friends who have used the service have nothing but praise for the assistance they've been given.

It would be incredibly patronising for someone to get a 'different' exam just because they were disabled in some way ... Even if this was done to help I'm sure that a lot of people would feel that they were being stigmatised rather than helped. Surely if some students get different questions there's no real way of comparing the marks, which would ultimately mean, if taken to the extreme, that they've taken a 'different' degree that can't be compared to that taken by the rest of their class? I can see the point that some students will take longer to prepare, but where do you draw the line at extra time? And anyway, anyone with a bit of common sense will go and look at past papers, which should be available in the library, to work out the kinds of things that are going to be asked. Also, in a seen exam your ability to structure a good essay is often being tested as much as your subject knowledge - again, this is something that you should be learning throughout your course and not just in the few weeks before an exam.

studentphil

I know people think disabled people get it soft but I can only speak for myself and writing for 3 to 4 hours for me is very physically painful and I am a very slow writer compared to other people. Simply without adjustments I would be unable to take exams.

If you are physically fit then writing for 4 hours and sat at a tiny desk with a bad chair is not so bad, but not for everyone.

aurora_borealis_2

studentphil wrote: »

I know people think disabled people get it soft but I can only speak for myself and writing for 3 to 4 hours for me is very physically painful and I am a very slow writer compared to other people. Simply without adjustments I would be unable to take exams.

If you are physically fit then writing for 4 hours and sat at a tiny desk with a bad chair is not so bad, but not for everyone.

Why can't you type? You're very good at that

cupid_s

I think the general idea for giving people more time is they are slower at writing in exams or possibly need more time to check spelling and grammar.
In our department people with disabilities who get more time have little problem with the actual processing the information so could prepare for the exam just as well in a week as anyone else.

I wouldn't think people would be allowed to get the paper earlier, I suppose they have to draw a line somewhere or all disabled students would have to have longer deadlines for all work (though this isn't necessarily a bad idea, just impractical possibly?) and have different questions for the seen exams which would open up another set of problems.

If you have a week or more to prepare anyway it should be long enough for everyone regardless of disability

studentphil

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

At my uni we have seen exams and I have a number of friends who are both physically disabled and have various learning difficulties. They receive the exam at the same time as everyone else, but adjustments made depending on the extent and type of their disabilities - extra time in the exams, scribes, separate rooms, marking that takes some account of their difficulites. My uni has very good provision for disabilities and my friends who have used the service have nothing but praise for the assistance they've been given.

It would be incredibly patronising for someone to get a 'different' exam just because they were disabled in some way ... Even if this was done to help I'm sure that a lot of people would feel that they were being stigmatised rather than helped. Surely if some students get different questions there's no real way of comparing the marks, which would ultimately mean, if taken to the extreme, that they've taken a 'different' degree that can't be compared to that taken by the rest of their class? I can see the point that some students will take longer to prepare, but where do you draw the line at extra time? And anyway, anyone with a bit of common sense will go and look at past papers, which should be available in the library, to work out the kinds of things that are going to be asked. Also, in a seen exam your ability to structure a good essay is often being tested as much as your subject knowledge - again, this is something that you should be learning throughout your course and not just in the few weeks before an exam.

I see that point. There does still seem a disadvantage if you have less planning time if you work slower than other's and that does seem unfair.