Are US students being "overtested" ?

International Students
1

<p>In several European countries, e.g. Germany and the UK, students qualify for a degree after passing a series of comprehensive degree examinations and normally submitting a graduation thesis or final project. In historical universities like Oxford for example, preliminary exams for B.A. students are normally taken at the end of the first year while final degree exams are then taken only at the end of the third year, right before graduation. Natural sciences and engineering students, who are usually studying instead for 4-year degrees, may be required however to take final exams at the end of every academic year in addition to maintaining a satisfactory record of lab assignments. In any case though, even in the most demanding courses (like 4-year engineering for example), a UK student in the aggregate has to take no more than 30 written exams (i.e something between 5 to 8 papers/year) to qualify for an initial degree. </p>

<p>In the United States by contrast, bachelor’s degrees are not awarded based on comprehensive exam results, but rather by earning a minimum number of required credits (or academic units). Performance is individually assessed for each class the students takes in terms of a letter grade. Contrary to what happens in Europe, classes are normally offered on a semester basis and performance assessment is continuous, based on handed-in homework, midterms and final exams. Depending on the classes taken and the corresponding credits earned, a student may qualify for a degree in one or two major areas of concentration, or, alternatively, in one major and one or more minor areas. Overall, assuming a student typically takes 5 classes per semester and each class has typically two midterms and one final, it is pretty common for an American undergraduate to take as many as **120 written tests ** before being awarded a 4-year BA/BS, not to mention weekly problem sets/homework assignments, lab assignments, and other required class projects. </p>

<p>Superficially then, it looks like US students are “overtested” compared to their counterparts in Germany and the UK for example. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that US degrees are “better” or “deeper” than British or German ones; they just use different assessment models. I guess each model has its pros and cons. A student who doesn’t have to take any formally assessed exam for another one or two years runs the risk of “slacking off”, although that is normally avoided in Oxbridge by the system of tutorials/supervisions, which requires students to turn in written work every week or so, even if not formally assessed for academic credit. On the other hand, the obvious downside of “overtesting” as in the US model is that, in addition to being overly stressful for students, it risks turning preparation for tests/exams into an end in itself whereas, in reality, learning should be the focus and test results just a consequence of how well a student has learned the material or not. </p>

<p>Anyway, I wonder how US and international students on this board feel about this topic.</p>

2

<p>College in the US is less about gaining highly specialized knowledge in one branch of a subject and more about a well-rounded education. With that in mind, it makes sense to require continual work (and the aggregation of credits) instead of a comprehensive final exam in one’s major.</p>

<p>As you already pointed out, American students have to work continually while German students do not. Let me share some statistics with you. I am taking a one-year linear algebra class for math majors right now at a German university. About 300 students signed up for the class, 130 passed the midterm exam, and 110 are allowed to take the final written exam (only ~50% will pass it) based an their performance on the weekly problem sets. Why do so many math majors fail linear algebra? Imo, it’s not because it’s so hard (the problem sets are way harder than the actual exam) or because these students are not capable of completing a math major, but because most students copy each other’s solutions to the problem sets and then have no clue about the stuff once they have to take an exam. If we were to take several smaller tests throughout the year and if the instructor and TAs started to penalize obviously copied answers, I would expect significantly more students to pass introductory courses. I think American colleges do a better job supporting and guiding their students than German universities.</p>

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<p>thats y i think that american universities are generally considered superior to international ones.</p>

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<p>The US approach makes far more sense to me. Can you imagine studying for 4 years, failing, and that’s it? In the US you at least know that you’re failing early in your career.</p>

5

<p>Oh well, in Germany you know that you are failing as well… you would have to take an exam of some sort at the end of each semester in most classes (usually pass/fail), and if you fail too many you would not even be allowed to take the final “comprehensive exam”.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, I took a total of 26 tests during my first year. My second semester I had a teat every week since I am a science major. It sucks but I think this method of assessment produces better students. I also had numerous problem sets, group projects and lab reports I nearly turned crazy though.</p>

7

<p>How is 120 tests over a period of four years a lot? It’s really not.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I’ll have about 10 classes/year on average. So that’s just about 3 tests/class which sounds just about right (2 midterms and a final). I don’t see how this is highly stressful at all.</p>

9

<p>Well if you have 30 tests in a 15 week semester you have 2 exams per week. of course you don’t get such an even distribution, nor do you get 15 weeks. I get 13 weeks and all 30 tests come in 4-8 weeks in the middle plus finals. It’s painful sometimes.</p>

10

<p>120 tests for four years = 15 tests per semester, not 30.</p>

11

<ol>
<li><p>well, you’re not a math major… 30 tests per year, 15 per semester. granted 5 of those are guaranteed at the end of the semester and the other 10 are probably close to each other as well.</p></li>
<li><p>the classes where there is only 1 midterm and the final are hard enough… i much prefer being tested more often on less material. and most professors don’t put anything on the final that wasn’t on a previous test (alternatively, you should be able to do well enough if you know all of the material from the old tests) so you have MUCH less to study.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>there are people who prefer only having a final. i am definitely not one of those though haha.</p>

12

<p>Well, in short, US system is (as Barium said) based on ‘‘Well-roundedness’’ and UK/German System(s) is/are based on ‘‘Academic-ness’’…
And, 120 tests in 4 years are not too much in anyways…</p>

13

<p>What I hate about education in my country is not lack of exams (we have 6 each semester and up to 12 final tests that serve as admission to exams) but the lack of flexibility. I would say that the education is too well-rounded. Being English language major, you have to study everything possible. I ended up spending 30 min a day on subjects I need and hours on economy, psychology, philosophy and others. And the worst is you can’t choose your curriculum, everyone does the same…</p>

14

<p>In the UK and Europe, much of what we call “college distribution requirements” and definitely things like “Freshman College Writing” are done in the last year of high school. Once you get to college, you are working on courses in your major. It’s somewhat like a U.S. master’s degree. For example, you don’t start college with an undeclared major.</p>

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<p>My big gripe with US education lies in the high school system. In this system, student’s aren’t tested on weekly psets, but are given busywork in each of their classes every night. Imo, this is very pointless, and there should be just a weekly pset to do which covers all the material introduced in classes.</p>

<p>I also think that the material is stretched out much too far. Some classes(like AP Chemistry) could easily be covered in a semester, especially with an honors class taken before it. In my AP Chemistry class, we spent around 2 weeks on a <em>SINGLE</em> topic, like acids/bases. This is ridiculous, imo. The material could be covered in a lecture format in 2 classes, and then students could complete a comprehensive pset covering all the material(maybe 10 very hard questions, or about 2-3 hours of work). In most of my classes, teachers rarely check homework, or if they do, they just glance over it for completeness.</p>

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<p>I dont remember the topics from the last semester. id fail badly.</p>

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<p>The U.S. (and Canada maybe?) are the only countries that have the ‘undergrad’ system. Everywhere else - Europe, Latin America, etc. - people go straight into their intended professional course of study right after high school. So, if you want to go into medicine or law, you go straight out of hs. It makes sense then that even if you are doing something in humanities or social sciences, your studies are much more focused. </p>

<p>In France, anyone can get into medical school who has passed the bac. But staying in med school is another thing … a ridiculously small percentage of the original entering class actually graduates. </p>

<p>I think it’s more a question of how much time and money you have to spend on 4 years of general study/fun/“finding yourself.” I’m not bashing the American system, I’m just saying that in other places, a lot of people don’t have the luxury of doing that.</p>

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<p>120 exams in 4 years doesnt soudn like much. thats just 4 exams a month. ----1 exam a wweek</p>

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<p>No, American college students are not tested too much - high school students are, however.</p>

<p>And in reality, I don’t know of a single college class that tests twice per week. Maybe a little “quiz” or something like that (which is hardly considered a “test”). Often some classes will only have a midterm and a final, perhaps with a written paper thrown in as well, three grades and that’s it.</p>

20

<p>I think Europe has it right when it comes to education past high school. The US system is somewhat of a BS “see what you like” approach. You should(in my opinion) go to college knowing exactly what you want to study, and be committed to it for three-four years. This gives you two advantages: you get more for your money, and you are able to take graduate level courses sooner. There are better ways to “see what you like” than spending $30k-$50k for a school. You could get an internship at a company, you could volunteer, you could research what you are interested in.</p>

<p>The point of going to college for most, let’s face it, is to get a good well-paying job. If college wasn’t a necessity for most well paying jobs, do you think people would go to higher level education? Probably not. Education is intended to skill you for your profession. If you want to be an engineer, it’s meant to teach you how to build things. If you want to be a humanities major, it’s meant to teach you about works of literature and how to write better. A lot of schools tout “being a more well rounded person.” This does not require spending $50k a year on a school. It can just as easily be achieved by reading more, talking to intellectual people, and by living life. </p>

<p>If someone doesn’t know what they want to study, they should take a gap year and get a job, think about what they want to do before blindly spending $50k a year not having a clue what they’ll get out of it.</p>