A key challenge that I am facing is the reliance on a written exam to assess knowledge in the Applied Biology unit I lead on Block 1 of Year 1 of the course. Exams are arguably not one of the most effective methods to assess students’ knowledge (French, Dickerson and Mulder, 2024) but are an established and fairly common way of assessment in most science courses.
On one hand, exams are one of the assessment methods used globally at all levels of education, and for most students in Year1 exams are the most familiar way of assessment; most of us will have had years of written exams in our formative years of education (Point to Point Education, 2018). Despite what pedagogical stance any academic has towards exams, exams will arguably always be something that people will be familiar with and will know what to expect, what is needed from them and how to revise for one. Exams also, in their simplest form, do not require the students to possess any research or enquiry skills – which most students in Block 1 of Year 1 of a university course will not have developed yet – but can rather simply assess knowledge acquisition, if this is required.
On the other hand, for exactly the same reasons, exams are fairly mono-dimensional. For this Applied Biology unit, this is a high stakes assessment as it is holistically assessed with one exam, which puts students under pressure and causes quite a bit of stress.
To mitigate the effects from these challenges, I have included a mock exam within the curriculum that simulates the exact same conditions that the students will be under during the summative exam. This includes the use of the same device (laptop/tablet), in the same rooms, using the same online quiz format and under normal exam regulations. This approach seemed to help minimise stress stemming from unfamiliarity with university processes, and gave the students an opportunity to face emotions provoked by an exam situation and reflect on how to deal with them on the day of the summative exam. Within the curriculum, there are also embedded seminars showing the students how to answer various types of exam questions and what they are required to do (e.g. explain, outline, discuss etc.), which have been effective as shown through the students’ approach and answers in the summative exam.
Separately, our current format of exams (online quiz taken under invigilation on campus), as with all exams, does not allow for comprehensive feedback to be given to the student. Many of the questions used are machine-markable (MCQs, drag and drop, diagram labelling etc.), and the rest are medium-form essay type questions. For the former, there is minimal feedback that can be provided besides whether and where a student made mistakes. For the latter, I strive to provide at least a few sentences of feedback on where the student could add more detail. Contrary to different types of assessment, whether they are oral or written, there is not enough ‘space’ for feedback on writing skills, thinking, rationale etc., but rather feedback is focused on ‘right or wrong’ answers. To mitigate this, I also create space in the form of a discussion session for students to look at their exam papers and discuss their feedback with the marker (myself in this case!), which has been found to be most valuable for the students (Harris, 2017).
The assessment method for this unit is not something that I can currently change, hence all practices have been geared towards minimising the challenges from an exam type assessment. Student feedback has so far been positive when asked about the exam workshop effectiveness to minimise their stress and familiarise them with the exam process. Nevertheless, I recognise and agree with the notion that traditional exams are not the best tool to assess a person’s abilities and knowledge, and this has informed my selection of assessment types in other units where I have more control and agency on the final decision.
References:
French, S., Dickerson, A. and Mulder, R.A. (2024) ‘A review of the benefits and drawbacks of high-stakes final examinations in higher education’, Higher education, 88(3), pp. 893–918. doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01148-z.
Harris, N. (2017) Six steps to improving your examination feedback. Available at: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learning-hub/view/six-steps-to-improving-your-examination-feedback (Accessed: 11/03/2025).
Point to Point Education (2018) The UK’s Exam System Explained. Available at: https://www.pointtopointeducation.co.uk/blog/uks-exam-system-explained/ (Accessed: 11/03/2025).