So when I was first entering college, I was under the impression that my grades would be determined by 1 or 2 tests in each class during the semester and nothing else. Well – for some classes this is true, but, for the most part, your class work, homework, and the whatnot factor into your grades as well. Don’t get me wrong though, tests are a huge part of your grade and basically can determine whether you pass or fail a class in one fell swoop.
At Lehigh University, we have what are called 4 o’clocks. Basically, instead of having midterms, we have 2 designated periods during the semester where a lot of classes (mostly freshman classes) have tests at 4 o’clock (big surprise!). There are also finals at the end of the semester, but that was pretty much expected (so 3 test times in total basically) As you get into your higher level classes though, these tests end up happening mostly during classtime. So even if the test doesn’t occur at exactly 4 o’clock, the time at which you have many of your tests do is within the week or two when 4 o’clocks are going on. (What you see above are some of my notes sprawled out and messy. I haven’t exactly been studying as much as I should have though…)
So, while I have never been fond of test-taking, I don’t actually think they’re as bad as some people make them out to be. Sure, some may be excruciatingly challenging, but there really isn’t a better way to gauge whether or not a student has been keeping up with learning the material in class. And while test-taking situations are never realistic (you don’t have access to any material during it, unlike the real world where you can solve problems using any reference), as long as your professor isn’t a douche, the tests are usually pretty reasonable. And trust me when I say I’m no study-nut or super-genius cause I’m not. I rarely score 100’s and I never pull all nighters – I think people who do are kind of silly (or just really smart if the do the former without the latter).
Oh – on a last note, the only tests I do have problems with are the SAT’s, GRE’s; basically any standardized test that isn’t administered for a course. These tests are just unreasonable and don’t give a measure of true intelligence at all. And if you think I’m just bitter cause I didn’t score well on my SAT’s, that’s wrong because I scored pretty fairly in my opinion. I just don’t like those kinds of tests or their formats at all. And that’s that.
