Fair examinations are a key component of any course. As students of the University of Toronto, we feel as though we have not been adequately evaluated in a couple of courses. One such course being BIOB34. This is an appeal being made in response to the apparent thoughts of the students based on the summer course and final exam for BIOB34, taught by Dr. A. Elia. We want to take action to make our concerns and complaints about this course and the student evaluation heard by the university so that compensation can be established.

We feel that the final examination used to evaluate the students for this course was inadequate and unfair. There were a number of questions that appeared on the final exam that were based on very unfamiliar material or based on information that was not taught in lectures, found on lecture slides, or found in the textbook. Numerous questions were only recognizable and answerable to students who had learned such material in other courses offered at the university, but not in this particular course (BIOB34).

 As for the teacher-student communication, there were many unanswered or late email replies from both the Teacher’s Assistant and the professor, which was extremely problematic and unsettling, especially around exam time. The lack of communication prevented a second tutorial test viewing from being held at an appropriate time. This viewing was held only after the summer term and final exam period had ended, which is evidently non-beneficial to the students. Consequently, the lack of responses via email did not give the students a breakdown of the final exam until just two nights before the exam.

Although a normal distribution curve is required for any course offered here at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, and although the class average was high going into the final exam, a final exam that doesn’t justly test the material covered and taught in this course should not be the method used to level out the grades. For the reason of an unfair final exam, compensation is required. As students, we have the right to be evaluated fairly and be tested on information that comes directly from what is taught in the required course material such as the lectures, lecture slides and textbook, in the case of this course. Many of us have spent the entirety of our summer studying for endless hours and have paid a significant amount of money to catch up or get ahead in our studies, and have spent a considerable amount of time preparing for this evaluation. We feel that the validity of this examination in particular should be reviewed, and appropriate action such as a reduction in the weight of this examination, or a significant bell curve should be implemented.