Random: What are you doing right now?

[mrwiseman]

How can you be happy about it... If it were for me I'd make classes last a million years just so I don't have fucking finals... They are like torture for me, because I have to memorize stuff and don't have my computer with my tools and resources to do them.

[Ogreasy]

Schools over in 4 days, whatever happens, happens.
Keep in mind I'm only in 8th grade and only have high school finals in two classes.

[One Classy Bloke]

Getting those final exams done is what makes the course worth it. Plus, you get more time afterwards. I don't know what the exams are like over there, but surely something sticks in your mind.

[Xellos]

I like exams actually, at least mine. They're always easy. Like yesterday, the teacher left for like, half an hour, so we all cheated off eachother. Plus it was an easy exam to begin with.

Most of the rest aren't hard either, and I rarely study for them, it's just that I have to act like I'm studying >_<

[mrwiseman]

The ones I have are much harder, some of them I can't pass without studying a lot, and require good memory which I don't have. You may try to cheat, but if you get caught, you are in big shit, so very few people take such a big risk.

And exams do not make anything worth anything. They are an obsolete pedagogical system that is still applied becuase it's easy, quick, and cheap, but is by far the worst, and proves nothing. Exams never reflect your real knowledge of a matter in real life situations because:

1. You are nervous, and study under pressure and stress. This means you aren't at your best. Some people is not affected greatly by this (like myself), but others may be experts, and get screwed in the exam.

2. Most of them are subject to memorizing skills, which, in science matters, are fairly useless, and do not reflect your real knowledge. Remember Einstein even forgot where did he live, and had mediocre grades. Memory is good for law, philology, etc., but not for engineering. Consider a simple example: person A, who knows you should use the -mdG switch to compress better with RAR, and person B, who knows you should use the largest possible dictionary size to compress better with RAR. Person A compress faster with RAR. Person B needs to read the help to see how to set the dictionary size. Now both get a job, and have to use ACE. Person A does not know how to reproduce -mdG. Person A didn't even understand what it did. Person B knows you should use the largest possible dictionary size to compress better; so he/she reads the help again, and gets the job done.

3. They are far too short, far too limited, and far too simple. You cannot tell if somebody is able to fully design a block by asking him/her to outline it or to fully design a table. The real thing is so much different, because everything interacts and happens at the same time. Never compare real life problems to theoretical problems. Ever. And if exams were longer, people wouldn't give 25% of their normal capacity because of exhaustion and stress.

4. They don't represent real life situations because you don't have Internet and phone access, nor you have time to relax and think and people to discuss things with. Think about this: you are approximating a function for an engineering project. You decide to apply the Runge-Kutta method. Will you trust your memory and risk your job and the lives of the people that will use your product, or you'll take a look at a book for the proper formulas? All you need to know is WHAT can you do with WHAT, that's the work of an engineer. You aren't some sort of living Encarta. And now I ask, why Runge-Kutta? Are there better methods? Faster-processing methods, in case a computer will have to do it in real time? How do you know what you know is the best way to do this? Why not search the Net to see what tools do you have? This makes the difference between a good product, and a great product; between an ok engineer, and a great engineer; and sometimes, between keeping your job or not.

4. They are subject to luck (especially test-like ones) and cheating.

5. They depend on your communication skills. They ARE definitely useful for real life, but you may still be a better engineer than exams show if you cannot express yourself too well, especially under heavy time pressure.

6. And worst of all: they make students to study for exams, rather than for life. You learn stuff just for the final day, and may happily forget everything after that, because it won't matter. So somebody who learnt everything for the day and passed with 100% will get his/her title and be completely useless, while somebody who actually pays attention to classes and works on his/her own, and gets the real knowledge, the essence behind the matter, may not pass becuse he/she does not know the exact formula to integrate a complex function, something the other person did without even understanding what the heck was he/she doing.

So no, exams don't make anything worth anything, nor prove anything at all; they are just something you have to get done to get your title, which doesn't make anything worth anything nor prove anything either, but is something you have to get done to get your job, which is the fucking real thing.

<font color="#101010" size="1">[ May 27, 2004 11:27 AM: Message edited by: -Wiseman- ]</font>

[Nevan]

Oh well, at least I don't have to do exams for awhile.

Just got home from work. It wasn't that bad, quite easy actually. I've traveled over 200 miles in the course of seven hours.

[Ogreasy]

I kicked my French exam's ASS!!!!
Cheer me on as I dance and urinate about!
Oooh Oooh!
Oooh Oooh!
Oh ya!
Je suis la Uber!!! (I am the uber)
Je suis la uber! ( I am the uber)
Tu est Pwn3d!!! ( You are owned)
Quest-ce que?! (What?!)
Quest-ce que?! (What?!)

*dances, pees, dances, pees,*
I'm gonna eat some water now!

[One Classy Bloke]

...calm down CBA.

IRT Exams: Thats very true, but these days we have coursework now. That stuff really pisses me off. It goes on for fucking ages and you have make sure it's all good. It's very annoying when you want to do stuff, but you got this work hanging on your shoulders. I feel it's much better to get it all over with in one inaccurate dose.

Then you get to relax, and play games to hell.

[Cataferal]

Im currently enjoying temporary freedom from exams by playing Ninja Gaiden trilogy on the SNES. Im anticipating the arrival of the latest in the series tomorrow, via post, courtesy of amazon - it was that or Disgaea; i hope i made the right choice.

Also just finished my latest musical composition, "Skipping through the dungeon" (a new project ive started).

<font color="#101010" size="1">[ May 27, 2004 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Ogreasy]

Auugh! I think I just spryayyed Germcide into my ye!!! Gqahah Crap...

I'm flushing it with water, hoping it goes away... I think I'm gonna be fine... I'm crying, lots of tears coming out... I guess thats good gettin that bad stuff otu of me...

Oh, I was using Germicide to clean my Trombone mouthpiece BTW. I love my trombone.