This petitions is for concerned and affected Biol343 students with regards to Examination preparation, unclear questioning and strict way of marking
Given the fact that both our Lecturers were not available for consultation (Only through Emails which was not as effective), no revision session was held prior to exam preparation to sharpen our state of readiness. We believe that we wrote an exam not fully prepared as a result only 9% of the class managed to pass. It has become clear that at this rate, few of us, or if any student doing bio343 will be able to graduate this year. The critical issue that exist is that as students we find the style of questioning, level of marking and standard far too extreme. We undersigned Biol343 students affected or in sympathy toward this predicament request that all students who did not qualify for Supplementary exam be granted permission to write, we request revision on module content for both sections and a revision based on essay writing and marking criteria. This petition is directed to Dean of School of Life Sciences, Biol343 Module Coordinator, Lecturers and to whom it may concern. Views held in this context are of Biol343 common class and does not translate to individuals, respondents are provided a fair chance to submit their views in support or contrary to this context.
Updates
November 10, 2019
The weight of the responses I am seeing hits home because it proves I am not alone in this struggle. It has been exhausting to keep pushing when the doors keep closing, but this momentum reminds me why we started.
14 Comments
The module BIOL 343 over the past few years has become unnecessarily difficult, with great emphasis placed on the vague questioning and extremely strict marking criteria. We as students have to cover vast amounts of scientific literature and we are provided with no direction on how to answer questions. The feedback from the lecturer is uninformative and largely unfair. In terms of essay based questions, partial marks should be awarded and not just ruled out entirely. It is extremely shocking that a module in our final year can have so many underperforming students. To move forward I believe that questions need to become more clear. The marking has to follow a set memorandum or conducted by an unbiased third party.
2019 is not the first year we've seen a low pass rate for BIOL343. Students have been raising concerns with regard to the way this module is assessed, marked and taught for at least three years. The number of incidents where we've found an answer awarded full marks in a test or a fellow student's exam yet marked incorrect on another script is alarming. It is also knowledge that a professor returned 2018 special exam scripts claiming that he was unable to moderate the scripts due to not understanding a question due to ambiguity and lack of memo for Professor Schaler's section. Hence the level at which this module is assessed is extremely unfair, as well as the lack of a memo has proved in inaccurate marking.
this module is too much to handle the lecturers should consider us and make questions clear and understandable
Honestly speaking I went to that exam knowing all the content we had covered in class. But when I looked at the questions I was not sure how to answer or what was required of me. So the problem is not that we haven't studied, we have the knowledge and we understand the content of the module but the way questions are asked in the exam are just very confusing
H for hectic
The questioning style in this module is not clear. It is important for the lecturers to note that English is not the first language for more than 70% of the student in class, it is therefore extremedy hard for many of us to answer questions we're not sure of. Biol 343, has been and still is, a hindrance to Marine Biology students graduating. We therefore ask for leniency when marking
Marking is too strict.
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This petitions is for concerned and affected Biol343 students with regards to Examination preparation, unclear questioning and strict way of marking
Given the fact that both our Lecturers were not available for consultation (Only through Emails which was not as effective), no revision session was held prior to exam preparation to sharpen our state of readiness. We believe that we wrote an exam not fully prepared as a result only 9% of the class managed to pass. It has become clear that at this rate, few of us, or if any student doing bio343 will be able to graduate this year. The critical issue that exist is that as students we find the style of questioning, level of marking and standard far too extreme. We undersigned Biol343 students affected or in sympathy toward this predicament request that all students who did not qualify for Supplementary exam be granted permission to write, we request revision on module content for both sections and a revision based on essay writing and marking criteria. This petition is directed to Dean of School of Life Sciences, Biol343 Module Coordinator, Lecturers and to whom it may concern. Views held in this context are of Biol343 common class and does not translate to individuals, respondents are provided a fair chance to submit their views in support or contrary to this context.
Updates
November 10, 2019
The weight of the responses I am seeing hits home because it proves I am not alone in this struggle. It has been exhausting to keep pushing when the doors keep closing, but this momentum reminds me why we started.
14 Comments
I am 100% behind the petition, the marking of both lectures is unfair. When we answer their questions they want their own answers that when we intergrate other module aspects which relate to the question we are marked wrong or given half. Who doesn't know that high CO2 concentration leads to ocean acidification? The lectures teach us using lectures notes but for exam we are expected to answer using scientific papers which we never done in class. The questions are not clear and most of the class uses English as second language. On the way forward lectures must be straightforward with what they want when asking questions and teach us how we should answer them.
The module BIOL 343 over the past few years has become unnecessarily difficult, with great emphasis placed on the vague questioning and extremely strict marking criteria. We as students have to cover vast amounts of scientific literature and we are provided with no direction on how to answer questions. The feedback from the lecturer is uninformative and largely unfair. In terms of essay based questions, partial marks should be awarded and not just ruled out entirely. It is extremely shocking that a module in our final year can have so many underperforming students. To move forward I believe that questions need to become more clear. The marking has to follow a set memorandum or conducted by an unbiased third party.
2019 is not the first year we've seen a low pass rate for BIOL343. Students have been raising concerns with regard to the way this module is assessed, marked and taught for at least three years. The number of incidents where we've found an answer awarded full marks in a test or a fellow student's exam yet marked incorrect on another script is alarming. It is also knowledge that a professor returned 2018 special exam scripts claiming that he was unable to moderate the scripts due to not understanding a question due to ambiguity and lack of memo for Professor Schaler's section. Hence the level at which this module is assessed is extremely unfair, as well as the lack of a memo has proved in inaccurate marking.
this module is too much to handle the lecturers should consider us and make questions clear and understandable
Honestly speaking I went to that exam knowing all the content we had covered in class. But when I looked at the questions I was not sure how to answer or what was required of me. So the problem is not that we haven't studied, we have the knowledge and we understand the content of the module but the way questions are asked in the exam are just very confusing
H for hectic
The questioning style in this module is not clear. It is important for the lecturers to note that English is not the first language for more than 70% of the student in class, it is therefore extremedy hard for many of us to answer questions we're not sure of. Biol 343, has been and still is, a hindrance to Marine Biology students graduating. We therefore ask for leniency when marking
Marking is too strict.
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I am 100% behind the petition, the marking of both lectures is unfair. When we answer their questions they want their own answers that when we intergrate other module aspects which relate to the question we are marked wrong or given half. Who doesn't know that high CO2 concentration leads to ocean acidification? The lectures teach us using lectures notes but for exam we are expected to answer using scientific papers which we never done in class. The questions are not clear and most of the class uses English as second language. On the way forward lectures must be straightforward with what they want when asking questions and teach us how we should answer them.