Poll: Coursework: good thing or bad?

[Saul B]

Coursework, for those that don't know what it is, is basically work that you do along your course which counts towards your final grade along with exams and the like. I personally think that its pointless as you spend hours and hours of classtime and further time at home writing an essay which might be only 5% of your total mark. On the other hand, exams might be alot shorter (max 3 hours in my case) but are worth around 80% of my grade. I would much rather spend classtime learning exam skills and spending my time at home revising for bigger exams.

 

[FallenRainbows]

I agree I mean its distracting from the overall ability in that subject by spending so much time on one thing.

 

[Wadders]

Its suited for certain subjects, such as Music as someone else said, and History or English, where you have to write massive essays based on books or sources that cant reasonably be done in an exam.

And I dunno where you go to school/college, but in my college coursework contributes to a decent chunk of the overall mark.

I personally prefer it to exams, because you can take time and care over coursework, and do the very best you can. In exams however, you only have a couple of hours to prove yourself in a subject that you may have spent years learning. If you have a bad day, a nasty exam paper, you're fucked. Exams just seems a stupid way of ending an extended period of learning

 

[Valkyira]

Its annoying and very easy to fall behind in. But if you are good in the subject and are organized i'm sure it would be a piece of piss. However i am not organized haha.

 

[Shangrii-La]

I think that in most subjects it's pretty good, art and essay-writing subjects especially. Well, I say good. I mean that it would be a good was to illustrate your skills. It's a complete *****, but a handy one.

 

[Geamo]

I don't mind it that much. I'd prefer that I just don't have one exam where everything is dependant on that day - luck proves the questions, the mindset and how you're feeling that day.

However, it's a double-edged sword. With it spread out over the years, you have a pressure on you near-constantly to keep a high standard throughout the work. It's all relative. But trust me, it's face-grindingly irritating when to get the next grade higher, you need to have done slightly better in all of the work. Either you re-do ALL of them, or try hard at re-doing one really, REALLY well.

 

[SpikeyGirl]

I disliked it because its just so easy to procrastinate until the day before its due in. The fact every piece of coursework I've done has been crap has nothing to do with it.

Though they are bringing in a new kind of coursework to my school called ISA's, they're like normal coursework but done in the lessons so kids can't get their parents to do it. I have a grudge against it because you lost up to three marks for not putting a border around a table. This is three marks out of ten in total.

 

[Saul B]

I have a grudge against it because you lost up to three marks for not putting a border around a table. This is three marks out of ten in total.

Wow really?? Nazi examining board... >.>

 

[RnAoDm]

I could never focus on any sort of homework so my coursework failed miserably. I will not say no to it though as some people produce better work over time and have the dedication to do so, whereas i prefer the exams.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

I would always prefer coursework to make up 100% of my grade so that I don't need to take exams. During coursework and pre-exam times I work at an A grade in my A2s, the moment I take exams I drop to a D/E because I crack majorly under pressure and forget most of what I know.

 

[Theophenes]

Honestly, it depends entirely on the subject, and the usefulness/relevancy of the coursework. Both of those are portions of how you need to grow to understand things.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I prefer exams tbh.

 

[AdmiralWolverineLightningbolt]

coursework's good when it's worth something, mainly because the exam system is very flawed
ie, some people dont work well under pressure but are really clever while others are idiots but just worked really really hard to memorise everything

but in coursework, you have time and a chance to refine it without so much pressure
this is why art is such a good subject, almost entirely coursework (though it's also flawed since they dont judge on artistic skill but rather on making sure youve ticked boxes, has he done lots of research? has he done observational crap? while the painting itself could be complete crap)

 

[Zombie_Fish]

A lot of the courses I'm doing are related to Coursework. About 75% of music is coursework, and about 60% of Product Design is coursework as well. As for whether or not it is a good thing, I agree with AdmiralWolverineLightningbolt:

coursework's good when it's worth something, mainly because the exam system is very flawed
ie, some people dont work well under pressure but are really clever while others are idiots but just worked really really hard to memorise everything

but in coursework, you have time and a chance to refine it without so much pressure
this is why art is such a good subject, almost entirely coursework (though it's also flawed since they dont judge on artistic skill but rather on making sure youve ticked boxes, has he done lots of research? has he done observational crap? while the painting itself could be complete crap)

 

[Good morning blues]

It's pretty different when you graduate high school. At that point, you will only be assigned the amount of coursework that is relevant to your particular discipline - in biology, for instance, you'll have labs to prepare instead of essays to write, and the essays that you do write will just be research reports. I am a communication and political science student, so obviously those are both disciplines in which it's almost impossible to show your grasp of the material outside of an essay (or film) format. In high school, coursework is just something to give you shit to do. My essays are regularly worth 30, 50, and 60 per cent of my course grades, but they're also not piddly-shit easy like they were in high school.

Personally, I'm an A student when it comes to essays and a B student when it comes to exams. I would therefore much prefer the essays even though they will take me longer.