Mark schemes for past papers
James Linwood submitted on
Saturday 21st May 2016
Complete
Hello,
Not sure if this falls under your remit, but can you lobby the uni to provide at least one past paper with a mark scheme for each module? I don't know if this is the case for all subjects, but for computer science and some engineering modules, no mark schemes are given. This is a big problem as it makes it very hard to check your knowledge, especially as often the only resource you have to help you is just a couple slides in one lecture. I understand that some modules recycle their exam papers and use the same one evey year, but surely it can't be hard to produce another 'model' past paper with answers.
This would make revision much more effective, as currently all you can do is try a past paper and not know where you went wrong and how you could improve. This just means you make the same mistakes over and over without realising.
Thanks
Responses
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Students' Union replied on
Monday 23rd May 2016 9:52am
Hi James,
That definitely falls under my remit as VP Education.
This is something that has come up previously and in other conversations I’ve had with various members of the University this year. For some subjects mark schemes aren’t really appropriate as (for instance) with essays everyone’s will be different so there’s no ‘right’ answer. However, I completely understand where you’re coming from as an engineer! The main reason lecturers don’t like to provide mark schemes is because they like to use good questions from previous years over again.
Only last week did I get a paper passed by a University Committee which reforms how assessment and feedback is implemented – I’m waiting until it has been confirmed and approved for the Quality Handbook (where it becomes official that it is to be implemented) before I publicise it. Hopefully, this will alleviate the concerns you have as there is more direction of summative assessment and also feedback on work to make sure students feel like they can adequately prepare for exams. When it has been confirmed I will write a blog and share it on our Social Media. If you feel that this doesn’t go far enough, please do contact me and I’ll raise it with the University in a different way J
Thanks,
Shruti
Actions
Forwarded to Vice President Education
Monday 23rd May 2016 9:30am
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