There are a lot of differences between South Africa and the US, so it comes as no surprise that the way Rhodes University implements final exams is remarkably different from how Hobart does. As I write this piece, I am right in the middle of my final exam period here at Rhodes, so I thought it might be interesting to compare the pros and cons of the two different approaches. Of course, I have not really experienced the spectrum of exams here at Rhodes, nor have I received grades for the exams I have taken. With that said, I do think I’ve experienced enough of the Rhodes system to understand and critique it.
Back at Hobart, the exam system is relatively straightforward. Exams occupy the final week of the year, account for approximately 20% of your final grade, and you get three days free of classes to study before the exam period begins. Not every class at Hobart is required to administer an exam and I have never heard of a class having more than one final exam, but students will also have final projects due during the exam period. Rhodes, on the other hand, does things very differently.
The exam period here at Rhodes started about 13 days ago, and will be over in a week and a half. This essentially means that I have a month to take 5 exams for three different classes, as well as an entire week without class before exams begin, which students are supposed to use to study. This is a very long time, but when you look at how important an exam is to your final mark here, it’s not hard to understand why the university gives students an entire month to study. It does vary by class, but the typical exam at Rhodes counts for 80 percent of a student’s course mark. You also have to earn a ‘DP’ (duty performed) from the department by submitting satisfactory work over the course of the academic year. The DP basically acts as a ticket allowing you to take the final exam. Your exam decides if you pass or fail a course here, so the pressure to do well on these exams is real. The exams that I have taken so far at Rhodes have not been much more difficult than the ones at Hobart have been (knock on wood), but because I had seven straight days of no class to study for an exam that I knew was incredibly important, the exam itself became insanely intimidating.
Each system has its advantages and disadvantages. I think the Rhodes approach acts as a better measure of a student’s ability to perform under pressure and study for exams, but I also think that the Hobart approach does a much better job of testing what the student actually learned over the course of the year. Here at Rhodes, it is totally viable to not attend classes, hand in poorly-written assignments to earn your DP, cram the information that you know will be on the test and then forget it all the moment you turn in your exam. You would get good marks and earn your degree, but you might not actually learn much. The staff also cannot put all of the material from a semester of class on a three-hour exam, which means that I sat through weeks of classes that I essentially received no examination on or credit for attending. Additionally, something like sleeping through an alarm or waking up sick on the day of your exam could actually cause you to fail your course. One bad day of exam-taking at Hobart can hurt your grade, but because the exam only counts for about 20% of your grade, you could, theoretically, do poorly on the exam and still pass the class because you did good coursework. Rhodes provides no such safety net: if you fail your exam, you’re done.
Look, I don’t mean to disparage the Rhodes system or sound like I know everything about how to best administer exams. With that said, I really do think that placing more emphasis on coursework and less on the actual exam would help students at Rhodes to get better marks, feel mentally healthier and actually learn more about their subjects. Again, this is just my opinion. I’d love to hear some thoughts from Rhodents on the benefits of using the Rhodes exam system.
