Help me to understand the bias against coursework.

It seems that the general impression on these boards (and other forums in England) is that coursework makes a course less demanding, less worthy.

As an "international" student, I'd like to know why.

Thanks.

Reply 1

DarkMagic

17

I think it's because it's easier to get a good mark in coursework. You can get help from your teacher, friends and books, and you also have more time to research the topic and plan your answers. Exams require you to have done the work in advance and be able to put it on paper quickly.

Reply 2

Cremated_Spatula

15

Original post by DarkMagic

I think it's because it's easier to get a good mark in coursework. You can get help from your teacher, friends and books, and you also have more time to research the topic and plan your answers. Exams require you to have done the work in advance and be able to put it on paper quickly.

Or temporarily memorise the information at least.

Reply 3

Assan

OP

19

Original post by DarkMagic

I think it's because it's easier to get a good mark in coursework. You can get help from your teacher, friends and books, and you also have more time to research the topic and plan your answers. Exams require you to have done the work in advance and be able to put it on paper quickly.

Yeahhhh...I don't see it.

First, I never got any help with my coursework... That seems like a British thing, lots of handholding.

Moreover, I agree with the second poster... Exams cater to academic bulimics: cram, regurgitate, repeat. Coursework seems like an equal - if not better - test of understanding, analysis, and argumentation than a winner-take-all exam.

Just me, though.

Reply 4

999tigger

19

Original post by Assan

Yeahhhh...I don't see it.

First, I never got any help with my coursework... That seems like a British thing, lots of handholding.

Moreover, I agree with the second poster... Exams cater to academic bulimics: cram, regurgitate, repeat. Coursework seems like an equal - if not better - test of understanding, analysis, and argumentation than a winner-take-all exam.

Just me, though.

It suits some people more amd it gives the candidate more control, hence if you put the work in you should get a higher mark. It also improves exam performance if yu already know you have marks in the bag.

Reply 5

Zargabaath

21

Exams tend to be harder and put you under more stress, so I think people wrongly equate that to them being a better judge of ability.
Then people also joke about it, because it's just a funny point in student culture.

But really, I think for most careers, coursework is a more true-to-real-life measure of ability.

Reply 6

doodle_333

19

I think subjects with lots of coursework aren't necessarily respected less purely because of the coursework but because they tend to be (you automatically think) subjects like social sciences, english etc which just aren't seen as academically rigorous compared to STEM subjects. That said, a lot of STEM subjects include coursework, it just often takes a different form to the essays you immediately think of.

There are advantages and disadvantages of coursework. Really, it is more realistic to the workplace to be able to research and think about what you're doing rather than hand write something really fast while under a lot of pressure. However, it also means that you could, in theory, get lots of help and spend an unrealistic amount of time on the coursework in order to improve your mark. Exams show you can remember at least some key facts and that you can generate something decent even under a time constraint.

Help me to understand the bias against coursework.

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