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What do you think of CLOSED BOOK exams?!

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They suck. You actually have to remember quotes and/or at least what happened.

Source: Romanian here, all of the exams in this country are closed book (we do not get pages with formulae for maths and science either; we actually have to remember all the formulae!).

Reply 41

Nye2001

I did a closed book IGCSE and I managed to get an A*. I never saw the point in having the book with you.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 42

lemonandlime1

Original post by Vikingninja

Did closed book myself, I sucked at english in general and I still got B. What's even the problem?

me too!! Don't get why they're complaining about learning a few quotes and themes (not like it's word for word the whole book), when we all had to? Like genuinely don't understand what they're complaining about lol

Reply 43

choleCcarknif3r

I'm pretty sure my English Lit exam was closed book. Didn't cause me any issues. I found it like revising for History in that you need to take in key points, rather than a massive list of quotes like people reckon they do

Reply 44

Vikingninja

Original post by lemonandlime1

Last year students complained that an exam was "too hard" to past examples so wanted grade boundaries marked a lot lower... when A level students complain like this its because a mistake made a question actually impossible to do (D1 paper in 2011 I believe as an example).

Reply 45

SummerStrawberry

I don't see any real reason for students not to have access to a copy of the set texts - examiners are looking for the ability to understand and reason with the text; memorisation of quotes, if anything, detracts from this as it encourages a student just to memorise a teacher's interpretation of a text and regurgitate it onto an exam paper.

Reply 46

Ishan_2000

I feel like all this is benefitting is the government, as they are saving a lot of money by not issuing clean copies of the book to each and every pupil. Maybe they could offer the book to those who want it, but not force everyone to have the book with them.

I don't see any other reason as to why students cannot have the book with them, it doesn't help them cheat at all, as they should be clean copies, free of notes. So, it doesn't test them anymore on their analytical English skills, it just tests their memory once again.

Reply 47

daisy.spillane

My English Exams have always been closed book?? Open books would obviously be a lot easier but you just gotta learn the key quotes.

Reply 48

kenny corner

Original post by Good bloke

The only think more ridiculous than complaining that the government has seen sense and turned back the clock to saner times is thinking that the matter could be worthy of sensible debate.

All I ever see you "debating" about here is when it's about "moslems". You, a grown man, spends all that time saying the same things over and over again that will have no real impact in the real world. Whereas in this case, people have a chance to get their voices heard in an issue that directly affects them.

Regardless of your stance on the issue, this is certainly more useful than the 31,000 posts you've made regarding utter nonsense.

Reply 49

kenny corner

I sat my GCSEs last year and I did take it for granted that it was open book. I didnt even read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and still walked out with an A*.

If the government wanted to assess and test core english skills such as analysis, evaluation and all those objectives they claim to test, making it closed book wont necessarily test anything; Its a test of memory and will not give real opportunity to test the written skills and allow students to develop them because theyre so focused on memorising pointless quotes.

Reply 50

Sammylou40

Having done this at old style o level and a level, I don't see the problem. If you've read the book and done the proper study it's not that hard. You don't take books for other subjects into exams, why English?

Reply 51

Xphoenix

Pretty sure you only need a few bits here and there to do well.... you could also follow my teacher's advice- make up quotes that sound right and realistic...

Original post by Gingerbread101

The Government have made new GCSE English Lit exams closed book rather than open book, so you can't take your texts into the exam with you and have to learn the quotes.

A petition with over 100,000 signatures went to the government, lobbying for open book exams to come back and this was the response they gave:
"GCSE English literature content requires students to read the full texts of the books and poems they study. Students will not need to remember the exact words of poems by heart in order to succeed." (Read the full response here)

The House of Commons has been talking to TSR and wants to know your opinions!! :eek2:

Give us your thoughts on these questions before Wednesday 12th April to have your voices heard!

- How will closed book English exams affect you and your mark?
- What do you think about the Government's response to the petition?
- How do you think GCSE English Lit exams should be assessed?
- If you were an MP taking part in the debate, what points would you raise and what would you ask the Government?

:banana:

Quotes

Reply 52

gapyear2018

Couldn't care less

- A level student

Reply 53

HopelessMedic

It's the same for everyone, if the cohort performs significantly lower then grade boundaries will be adjusted (same will the new a-levels).

GCSE's have always been a memory game anyway.

Reply 54

lemonandlime123

It's been closed book for my exam board for years so I'm not affected

Reply 55

_gcx

Study Forum Helper

Original post by Ishan_2000

The exam boards do not know what text you're doing until they mark your script.

They would have to provide every text examined.

Reply 56

username3061054

How will closed book English exams affect you and your mark?
-I will make up quotes
-It will value memory over understanding
-Some people will learn quotes off by heart that turn out to be inapplicable to the question asked

What do you think about the Government's response to the petition?
-It is what you'd expect from them, fair enough on their part

How do you think GCSE English Lit exams should be assessed?
-Open book with harder questions
-Closed book with questions told in advance
-Closed book with very easy questions

If you were an MP taking part in the debate, what points would you raise and what would you ask the Government?
-Open book is worthless without understanding of the story

P.S. I'm year 9 so don't know too much about how exams are/used to be assessed.

Reply 57

rafakl

As long as the questions aren't too difficult I don't really see a problem with having close books.
However, for poetry, I think we should be given a clean copy of the anthology as learning about 14 poems is a really difficult task in my opinion.

Reply 58

Cherub012

Stupid idea. I would have died.

Reply 59

Katzen

If anything, the support the petition has received will only make the government and those involved more in support for the new changes.

The government isn't a friend, especially to students. What the students want, the government will want the opposite of that.

In my point of view, change the GCSE as much as you like but also allocate a good amount of time for those changes to be implemented. The new reforms are rushed.