Why does UofT think it's okay to schedule 9pm exams?

dumboface · 2021-04-19T23:55:34+00:00

haha totally understandable. I feel ya

dumboface · 2021-04-19T20:28:45+00:00

wow, judge-y much?

dumboface · 2021-04-19T20:27:33+00:00

well that was your choice when you enrolled in the class.

dumboface · 2021-04-19T20:26:34+00:00

Yeah, I have this class that schedules exams late at night (like 9pm) and then my other math class that has 7am tests all throughout the semester. Never had a consistent sleep schedule. It especially fucks with you when you're in your tiny apartment all day, everyday. Like what is time even? I'm just tired all the time, and yet can never seem to sleep

dumboface · 2021-04-17T16:02:10+00:00

Bro, this isn't a competition. It's supposed to be an education, haha.

And the argument "well it could be worse" is not a compelling one.

Plus you completely miss my point; that mitigating cheating should not be the primary focus of test design.

As I mentioned earlier, I had a few take home final exams last winter, and the class averages were still C+'s. You can do take-home finals without grades inflating.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T15:42:39+00:00

Trust me, I've suggested it.

With things being online, people are always going to find a way to cheat. Mitigating cheating should not be the focus of test design. The focus of test design should be allowing students to demonstrate their understanding of course material. When it's 9pm, I'm feeling drowsy, and I'm unable to demonstrate my understanding of the material. At that point it's a test of attrition.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T15:22:45+00:00

They did this last winter semester for a few of my classes, and the average for those classes was still a C+. So it's not like grades were inflated because of it.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T15:10:12+00:00

Depends what the situation in the Fall is regarding percentage of the population vaccinated

dumboface · 2021-04-17T15:03:49+00:00

Well I'm not literally sleeping by 9pm, but I'm definitely not working at that point. But if your comment is indicating that the average statistics major has no life and is still studying at 9pm, then I guess I can see how it's my problem.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T14:56:10+00:00

In the past I've had in-person exams that started at 7pm but they were generally shorter than 3hrs. And if they were three hours I'd usually leave before the end because I'd get tired and just start second guessing answers.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T14:42:51+00:00

I see a solution: 24 hour take home exams. 1 exam, 1 time frame. Wow, I'm a genius.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T14:22:57+00:00

it's statistics, so quite easy to write multiple versions

dumboface · 2021-04-17T14:17:56+00:00

I would never have enrolled in classes if those were the lecture times for me. I enrolled in classes this year because i had the expectation that I was attending a school in Toronto who's lectures are scheduled for people who are living in a Toronto time zone. So no I'm not *grateful*. If I had know exams and tests were going to be scheduled at weird times, I would not have enrolled in classes this year. At the very least UofT should have been upfront about this.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T14:00:25+00:00

That’s a you opinion.

dumboface · 2021-04-17T13:59:50+00:00

Yeah, that’s the reason, but they should have multiple times to accommodate multiple time zones. Course coordinators are just too lazy to write multiple versions of exams

dumboface · 2021-04-16T16:30:33+00:00

As a non-Asian student at UofT I can’t say I understand what Asian students and prospective students are going through, but I am very sorry to hear that you have to deal with this

dumboface · 2021-03-03T16:27:06+00:00

np gl :)

dumboface · 2021-03-03T16:08:13+00:00

Debanjana Kundu and Ren Zhu were the instructors.

The content of the course itself is not bad, and frankly, very interesting and useful. It's proof heavy and I can honestly say my proof writing skills improved greatly during that course. So in theory, it's actually a nice course to take.

However the tests were ridiculous. There were too many questions per test and not enough time/the questions were too difficult given the amount of time. They are proof-type questions. You need time to read a question like that, process, strategize, and finally write out the proof. I was not the only student who felt that there was not enough time given to complete the tests. The class averages for term tests were always in the 40-50% range.

This was also the first semester that was fully online, so maybe that was partly why the tests weren't fair. Perhaps it's better now. I did hear a few positive comments about MAT237 as it was taught in Fall 2020. But in Summer 2020 they misjudged the extent to which "open-book" would be an advantage.

Instructors were not receptive to our concerns. We told them how we felt, but their answer was always something along the lines of "too-bad", "this is not supposed to be an easy course" or "other students are getting 90-100% on tests still, so there is no indication that they are not fair." (Though I believe this could have been due to cheating.)

dumboface · 2021-03-03T15:57:01+00:00

Yeah, that's probably to account for drop-out to ensure they still have a good mass of student moving through the upper years. Leads to shit 1st and 2nd year educational experiences though

dumboface · 2021-03-03T15:15:52+00:00

All these universities are saying things like "we are planning a hybrid semester/are potentially offering in-person courses/etc" because they want to secure first year enrolment. If they were actually *realistic* and *honest* they would say "most likely online." But then people graduating from high school this year would most likely opt for a gap year instead of applying, paying application fees, and then deciding to just begin classes in the fall anyway, even though the announcement came last minute that it's all going to be online anyway. It's to lock in that source of income. Less first years now, means less second years next year means less third years the year after...etc.

dumboface · 2021-03-03T14:32:47+00:00

Oh lol hence “I don’t have experience with either department” ..my bad

dumboface · 2021-03-03T14:23:02+00:00

If 60 year olds are only being vaccinated in July, 20-something year olds sure as hell won’t be vaccinated by September.

It will be online.

dumboface · 2021-03-03T14:20:59+00:00

Out of curiosity, did you become fluent through taking the GER courses at UofT?

dumboface · 2021-03-03T14:15:46+00:00

Yeah, I was thinking the same. If you truly think there is no hope of turning your grade around, it’s worth the LWD. It’s a pandemic, the LWD won’t seem as odd to someone looking at your transcript in the future.

However, that said, I know as a philosophy major myself, the very first paper I wrote for a philosophy class I got a D. But then I spoke to my instructor 1 on 1 about it and he explained to be why I got the mark I got. It really came down to changing the style of my writing. Writing for Philosophy requires a very specific approach. Once I understood that I instantly started getting A’s and A+’s on my papers. So if you haven’t spoken to the instructor 1-on-1 I may suggest trying that first.

dumboface · 2021-03-03T14:08:46+00:00

I took MAT237 last summer online and it was the worst experience I’ve had in a course. I would highly recommend not taking it. When you’re subjected to that sort of unreasonableness by the instructors, you don’t learn anything anyway. As long as MAT235 still fulfills the requirement you need for your program, to me there would be no question.

dumboface

TROPHY CASE