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German higher education
Jan. 20th, 2011 08:09 pmI am getting more grasp on how German higher education works, when chatting with interns, interviewing candidates, and listening to stories told by my wife and her friends. One difference which strikes me most is how exams scheduling is organized.
In Soviet-style universities, and I think it is still the case, it was after the semester there was a block of "zachety" - lightweight exams, pass or fail, going on every day. If student passes them all, he can use several days before the first exam to refresh the knowledge. (Some use this time to study from scratch). Then there is a special Q&A session with professor, and on the following day there is an exam. Then few more days are free to be used for preparing for the next one. This sequence repeats 4-6 times. When it is over there are holidays and next semester starts.
This scheduling implies that there is always some time for prepare for passing an exam. A lot of students exploit the system by studying hard all the time between exams, having no sleep, memorizing a lot of things just before the exam. This process repeats for each exam. It is well known effect however, that healthy sleep is a prerequisite for the data to be transferred to long term memory. This hardly ever happens with students who prefer to study hard in the last few days before an exam. "Passed exam, forgot everything next day", as a common saying goes. Cheating on exams and helping others is prohibited but considered ethical.
Studying before the exam does not work in a German university. On the next (or same) day of normal a study, there is a first exam. It is not uncommon to have a lecture on X, then on Y, and then exam X, where material from the last lecture is used for some of the questions. Next exam is on the next day, and so on. Cheating on exams and helping others is considered unethical.
When I told my German colleague about this scheduling difference, he confirmed that the purpose is to make sure students are using long term memory rather then short term one when taking exams.
In Soviet-style universities, and I think it is still the case, it was after the semester there was a block of "zachety" - lightweight exams, pass or fail, going on every day. If student passes them all, he can use several days before the first exam to refresh the knowledge. (Some use this time to study from scratch). Then there is a special Q&A session with professor, and on the following day there is an exam. Then few more days are free to be used for preparing for the next one. This sequence repeats 4-6 times. When it is over there are holidays and next semester starts.
This scheduling implies that there is always some time for prepare for passing an exam. A lot of students exploit the system by studying hard all the time between exams, having no sleep, memorizing a lot of things just before the exam. This process repeats for each exam. It is well known effect however, that healthy sleep is a prerequisite for the data to be transferred to long term memory. This hardly ever happens with students who prefer to study hard in the last few days before an exam. "Passed exam, forgot everything next day", as a common saying goes. Cheating on exams and helping others is prohibited but considered ethical.
Studying before the exam does not work in a German university. On the next (or same) day of normal a study, there is a first exam. It is not uncommon to have a lecture on X, then on Y, and then exam X, where material from the last lecture is used for some of the questions. Next exam is on the next day, and so on. Cheating on exams and helping others is considered unethical.
When I told my German colleague about this scheduling difference, he confirmed that the purpose is to make sure students are using long term memory rather then short term one when taking exams.
