Exam Season: Online or In-Person?
Fredericton, NB – The end of the year is usually associated with the winter season but for students of St Thomas University, their main concern is the final-exam season.
St Thomas resumed in person classes this semester after spending the entire of the previous academic year in the virtual classroom. This proved to be a benefit to some students who excelled in this format, whereas others found it lacking in some areas. There are some classes that continue to be online in the current semester and these also have online exams.
The shift of moving back to in-person exams is proving a challenge for many students, especially the ones who were completely online last year. This adjustment is proving difficult for them because some of them have not even had an in-person, final exam in over 18 months.
Juandi Santos is a second-year student and he shares these sentiments. He says, “Well I did my midterm. I had a midterm test about a month ago but that’s the only in-person test that I’ve done and before that I haven’t done one since Covid hit, since March 2020.” He does not have any issue with the in-person exams but he does think that there was not enough integration of in-person exams before the final to get him into the right frame of mind to do his best work.
He and many other students across campus also have fears of their performance in the exams. He added, “I know for a lot of people, and for myself, it affected out grades, yeah.” The anxiety and harsher time constraints are the two major factors that students are struggling to cope with.
There are some students who have the opposite feelings. James Brennan, a first-year student, is excited about his in-person exams and even stated that as a reason why he chose to come to St Thomas.
Brennan believes that the environment in the exam room is beneficial for him. He explains, “When you’re moving to a different space it’s different mentally so you’re surrounded by people who are doing the exact same thing as you and that’s a bit of motivation that’s added and you’re in the proper, test-taking environment.” He does, however, have sympathy for students like Santos and does not wish to be in their position.
The university has said that they will continue to assess the Covid situation in the province and there is a chance that classes could be online again if the case numbers show a massive spike. It would then be another year of adjustment for the students who have gone through two years of different exams, along with the new students who will be exposed to this different method of test as well.
