Final exams

After one week without thinking about academic activities, I feel comfortable to talk about it, then I've decided to write a little bit about exams here in Brunel.

First thing I have to say is that it is totally different from exams in Brazil: format, expectations, environment... The biggest difference is the fact that exams here include all the content of the year (while in Brazil it is split into three smaller exams).

Also, here we have too much pressure about this and the environment is so serious that we feel scared for only see the room! To give you an idea about that, we have to leave all our belongings (including even coats) in a specific place in the room, we can only have a bottle of water (label has to be removed) in our desks, besides basic material (pen, pencil, eraser...). The answer book is very similar to those we use in tests to get a public job, in Brazil.

Besides that, the exam structure itself is also much more complex. The questions (at least in my modules) are much more reflexives, rather than direct use of concepts or definitions. We have to apply the knowledge for the whole year to examples, study cases (sometimes previously distributed to us) or problems from real life. I can not gie you an example of this, because I've already forgot everything that occurred in those days! Haha

Another thing which is different is that although all lecturers had explained well what was expected from us in exams, after finishing them I didn't have a clue about how well or not I did. I think this is mainly because these were my first exams in this format and I don't know exactly how they will be assessed or how flexible lecturers are with answers.

I'm not sure that my performance will be as good as I wish it was, but I'm sure that I did my best.

See you!

After a storm a calm comes...

Or in my case, the opposite. After three gorgeous holiday weeks, it's time to prepare for final exams.

Source: http://www.rsmsr.nl/tips-and-advices-for-bachelor-2-trimester-2-iba-exams/

In two weeks I'll be going crazy in a room, and now it's revision time. Ok, I confess, for some modules it has to be a little bit more than only a revision, but that's fine. In this mood, I've decided to talk about how my module are going to be assessed here in Brunel.
First thing that I should say is that assessment here is very different from Brazil (at least most universities, I guess). Grades here follow a scheme of letters (from F to A) rather than numbers (from 0 to 10). Each letter ranges from minus to plus (A- to A+, for instance) depending on the performance the student has, of course.
Secondly, even we have courseworks which count for the final grade, the exams evolve all the content of a module, which is the most significant difference, as in Brazil we have the topics split into 3 exams, along the year. And I have to say that it is scary for me, too much content in a single exam!
Finally, another difference is that exam structures vary a lot. For example, in one of my modules, I will have four questions. If I answer correctly only the first, I'll get a D; if I answer the first and the second, I'll get a C; a B if the first 3 are corrected and all rights would give me an A. That's very strange for me, as if I would be able to answer questions 2, 3 and 4, they would not be considered as I didn't completed right the first one. That's terrible!
The nicest things are that most lecturers explain quite well how it will be the exams, which sort of questions we can expect and also that 5 of my 6 module had a coursework which counts for the final grade. In fact, in three of them I've achieved at least a D- in the module, independent of how I'll perform in the exam.

I hope I don't get mad until there!
See you.