Exam Time

Even in Uganda, some things about life at a university cross cultures. Exams for one. Thursday evening I gave my first final exam. The process was a bit more formal than my CSU experience, but it's basically the same.

Well, one thing that's really different is that the exam counts for half the student's grade. It's the school, maybe even the national policy. That part I don't care for, but it's outside of my control. The exam is three hours long as opposed to the two hours at CSU. I basically gave the same type of test, although I did add an extra essay question. The students tend to write VERY long essays.

The students had to show their validated registration and their picture ID to take the test. The campus administrator came around to check each one. It was interesting to say the least. By the end of the semester I figure I know my students, so I wasn't worried about someone sitting in for a real student. I'm not great with names, but I know faces.

Being my usual self, I also spent the last week and a half correcting all the assignments, or at least most of the assignments, from the semester. Some day I have to learn to correct as I go along. It's a much better practice. I was able to return all the assignments before the exam. That was a good thing.

I'm in the middle of correcting the final exams in their official booklets which are kept on file for several years. Can you imagine CSU keeping all the students' final exams on file for any length of time, let alone several years? I can't. It seems a bit over the top. Oh well, they certainly take this test stuff seriously.