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Preference: Exams or Coursework

NDGAARONDI

I've heard that, depending on your discipline, coursework tends to be marked more harshly than exams. That said, I would still prefer coursework to exams but I'm hoping my degree (Criminology at Durham) will be a mixture of both.

Well of course, it can hardly be expected of you to produce a coursework-level piece of work during a 2 hour exam! Exams are marked MUCH less harshly than coursework in my experience...

Criminology will probably be a mixture of both here....it's essentially Sociology for the first year anyway AFAIK, and having taken Soc module in first year I can tell you that they have summative essays and exams :smile:

Reply 41

grace_

10

Definitely exams. Coursework takes ages to do, you have to write about five drafts and tidy it and resubmit and it takes forever. I think that there's a knack/skill to be learnt in doing well under pressure in exams, but it's something that is possible to learn/achieve after practice. I would far rather have a three-hour exam, on which my results were based, than lots of pieces of coursework on which I could spend as much time as I wanted. (and yes I did just submit an 82-page Statistics piece of coursework that bored me to tears... :p:

)

Reply 42

Crystaltears

12

Exams. I prefer essay exams, but I suppose science exams are easier because you just have to learn the mark scheme.

Reply 43

NDGAARONDI

16

Lell

it's essentially Sociology for the first year anyway AFAIK, and having taken Soc module in first year I can tell you that they have summative essays and exams :smile:

Cheers for that. :cool:

Reply 44

crema

9

Lell

Well of course, it can hardly be expected of you to produce a coursework-level piece of work during a 2 hour exam! Exams are marked MUCH less harshly than coursework in my experience...

Yes definately. I've done some timed essays and have had them roughly graded by lecturers and it seems that an essay that under exams conditions would be roughly 2.1 would, if submitted as coursework, would probably be low 2.2 or a 3rd. Obviously you can't compare the two, in coursework you have tons of time and questions can be quite complicated, in exams you have one hour or even less to write an essay, albeit on a simple question.

Although, if you would be doing a mathematical degree I don't even know if you get coursework. Probably not so the exam would probably be about the same level as your problem sheets, and the answers are either right or wrong so theres not that much space for less harsh grading.

Reply 45

laughingwithpicasso

9

I find coursework enjoyable in that I do not stress out when I do it but I usually get lower marks in coursework than I do in exams.

Reply 46

username94219

20

Coursework through and through.

Hate exams with great passion - worrying soo much with my 3 exams coming up.

In fact my Uni are thinking of ditching Exams for the first year and just having them for 2nd and 3rd yr, however lecturer in Psychology said if they do this, it's not good preparation for the 2nd and 3rd years - but meh I reckon they should ditch them and just focus first year on Coursework/essays.

Reply 47

Mystic

1

Coursework definately... My course has half & half, but luckily only two exams this year :biggrin:

Reply 48

Sanity Panda

OP

General consensus seems to be that coursework is better, that's actually pretty weird! =o

Reply 49

Titch89

14

Sanity Panda

Really?

It's the same for me as well. I think a lot of it is because with exams I'm being tested, but with coursework, I usually have the information in front of me, which I just have to put into my own words.

Reply 50

ayesha2210

3

I hate Coursework. We have to do a 1000 word Plan for Biology which is 3% of the total A level mark. Pointless.

I'd rather just sit Maths/Science style exams which have one definite answer and you just have to use your mind.

Reply 51

Pigeon Explosion

I do sciences, and it's exams all the way for me :biggrin:

it's stressful in the run-up, but it always seems to work out okay. The stress of adding to and re-doing coursework over and over again seems far worse, because it always seems so uncertain.
I've got a pretty good memory for facts, which is probably the main reason why I prefer exams.

Reply 52

britishseapower

14

I use to prefer coursework but after X amount of years of essay writing I just got tired of it and now prefer exams. I don't particularly like revising but I like just being able to do an exam, writing down everything I know (obviously with relevance) and then completely forgetting all about it afterwards. It's the best feeling in the world.

Preference: Exams or Coursework

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