Exams

Lionmonkey · Sat 07/06/2008 11:08:47

For nine months, since the start of this school year, everyone was trying to frghten me and the rest of my class with one thing: 9-th grade final exams. We were constantly reminded that soon the hell will start and we shall stand in all our helplesness in front of the Great Exam.

We've done a couple of them already. The whole thing will oficially end at June 19-th. What can I say? They're easy. Don't get me wrong, The tasks aren't for kindergarteners, it's just easy to cheat. The Cheating Communication is/ great, unnoticed and helpful. The main thing, we were told about the Exams was that there is no way to cheat. Well guess again. It's not like I can't do a thing in there by myself, but if I am unsure about something, I can just ask somebody for help at any time.

Well, you couldn't cheat at the Language Use Dialog Test (for Englis and Latvian), but since:

a)You just have to talk with your partner, then talk to the examining teachers.

b) I do best in non-First Languages.

c) You are given a huge amounth of time to prepare.

d) You could choose your partner at English. (Everyone wanted me).

,they were fairly easy.

So now I'm thinging: Maybe all the exams are actually easy to cheat. Maybe other people just scare you, so you prepare better.

Share your experiences.

ildu · Sat 07/06/2008 12:46:10

I don't get it. Are you contemplating cheating or what is this whole topic about?

In Finland the biggest (only significant exams) are the matriculation exams on 12th grade that officially end high school. It's almost impossible to cheat, though it's probably not that difficult in smaller less strict schools. Anywho, at least in our school if you even attempted to speak to anyone you were thrown out, which means you have to come back in 6 months. I didn't personally see anyone being thrown out, but I didn't notice or hear about anyone cheating either. Cheating in the high school I went to (which happens to be ranked as the best school in our country) was completely tabu in the eyes of the students. Each exam takes 6 hours, during which you can't say a word, stand up (unless you want to go to the bathroom), or even look around, really. Seating is also determined randomly.

Jon · Sat 07/06/2008 13:33:51

I've just finished my exams, which were pretty tough. But I don't understand why you are cheating, or even thinking about cheating. In my exams rules were much stricter, if I were to say anything to a person next to me I would have my paper ripped up.

Mr Flibble · Sun 08/06/2008 02:51:18

A friend of mine saw someone cheating in an AS exam, and the school is gearing up to screw that person accordingly. However my friend's father, a lawyer none the less, is harshly discouraging her from giving a statement. His logic is frail and infirm, seemingly based around the concept of "the guy will lie anyway".

It makes me sad, these are the people who allegedly uphold the law...

But yeah, on a vaguely related topic, cheating in exams is an unfair practice and I really don't like to see people doing it. I'm slogging through AS's at the moment with admittedly relative ease (anyone from the UK will agree here, there's a fair amount to learn but very little of it is in any way complicated) but I wouldn't cheat. Besides, there's.. very little you can do to cheat (for example) in an English Literature exam.

R4L · Sun 08/06/2008 03:29:48

Heh, you think 9th grade exams are bad? Wait until 10th grade, where you have to remember everything you learned last year, PLUS the stuff you have to learn in 10th grade. 11th grade is the worst though.

Lionmonkey · Sun 08/06/2008 11:28:47

I think, we cheat more like for fun and adrenaline. It's also great for improving relationship between you and your classmates.

radiowaves · Sun 08/06/2008 12:23:58

I have always been somewhere in the middle in exams scoring. 9'th was the easiest, 12'th was.. harder but well managable, no way you could fail those....

Hammerite · Sun 08/06/2008 12:39:37

Quote from: Lionmonkey on Sun 08/06/2008 11:28:47
I think, we cheat more like for fun and adrenaline. It's also great for improving relationship between you and your classmates.

Do you go to a school for terminal morons or something?

Phemar · Sun 08/06/2008 17:38:20

Dude, please don't cheat. It's just not fair on everyone else.

R4L · Sun 08/06/2008 18:14:04

And, if you get caught, you'll have some nice zeros on the most important exams.

vertigoaddict · Mon 09/06/2008 03:02:33

I just completed my exams (except for IELTS, which in itself is NOT an exam, but a test) I'm in the 12th grade, going to 13 soon.

The only complaint I really have, is that there isn't much time, so little, that you find you've 'over-prepared' and waste too much time on the first question or remember even more important answers AFTER you've completed the exam.

It'll only get harder, buckle up kid.

I hear in Japan, it actually gets EASIER at one point, because the hard work's already been done earlier. Ahh, the world has so many different school systems and teaching styles.

I travelled a lot as a child and missed quite a chunk in my education (different countries, different systems, different levels of education) so I was BOMBARDED with information *sigh*

shitar · Mon 09/06/2008 06:55:30

Quote from: Hammerite on Sun 08/06/2008 12:39:37
Quote from: Lionmonkey on Sun 08/06/2008 11:28:47
I think, we cheat more like for fun and adrenaline. It's also great for improving relationship between you and your classmates.

Do you go to a school for terminal morons or something?

Well if you want to start an actual debate on the topic, some psychologists will say that cheating is actually very integral in student development during the high school years as it prepares you for a business-competitive environment (job/workplace). Essentially they would argue cheating is a form of grouping. But I dont think that was referring to standardized tests and such :/

Tuomas · Mon 09/06/2008 07:37:19

Oh man I'm so glad I'm done with marticulation exams. My bro and my girlfriend have been struggling with them this spring, and I so wouldn't want to take part ever again. It's so stressful. and everyone expecting the most of you and forcing you to study. Not that I did, we spent all the available nights at a bar, but still. Well, both of these did pretty well, and the next thing is uni then.

I'm writing this now, and leaving soon, well, in a hour towards Helsinki for my entrance examinations for German linguistics and study of culture. Wish me luck

I'm pretty calm myself, and optimistic. The old tests seemed pretty easy, and I've slept well and studied pretty good too. Anyway, cheating's no option at this point. I don't know any of the people there, and besides, I can't risk losing this place just because of some stupid piece of paper. Of course, it would be ridiculously easy to cheat, but then, who'd win eventually. I'd hate to study German if I had to cheat to get in. To me that'd mean I really don't know the language enough.

Mr Flibble · Mon 09/06/2008 09:30:32

As part of my revision dodging exercises, I remembered this topic and I wanted to share something I found very heartening.

I freakin' love modules.

Because of the way marks aggregate over multiple modules, I calculated that I can afford to do... rather poorly by my own standards, and I'll still manage to get an A. Of course the other side of this story is coursework, which is a life saver and allows for marks to drop slightly in exams if close to full marks were obtained in said coursework. Which, it being coursework, they will have been. So take heart, fellow A Levians, your uniformly scaled marks shall make ye free!