2.9. Practice Examination Process

The exam in the training system is a final test of students in order to assess the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their application, with the aim of understanding the subject and preparedness for a particular profession. Examinations are divided into semester, course and state.

The semester exams are checked for the total study of a subject or a certain part of it during a given semester; for the course exams, the knowledge acquired by students during the study of the whole academic subject is assessed.

On the requirements for memorizing formulas and schemes

There are and sometimes are justified by two extreme points of view on this issue: “all formulas must be known by memory” and “any formula can be viewed in a textbook or reference book, and therefore nothing should be remembered”. It should be explained to students that there are two types of formulas that can be called determinative and computational.

Definitive formulas introduce concepts and are always valid in a certain sense. These include, for example, the Taylor series, a pair of Fourier transforms, the Kirchhoff equations, and several others. Definitive formulas need to be remembered unconditionally.

Computational formulas make it possible to find specific values ​​of the values ​​introduced by the definitional formulas. For example, the computational formula is the expression for the Fourier transforms of a pulse of a given shape (for example, U-shaped). In principle, it is not necessary to know for memory all computational formulas. However, students should be instilled the idea of ​​the expediency of constantly training their memory and, preparing for the exam, memorize all the formulas. Of course, this memorization should not be “photographic,” but meaningful. It means,   that the student should be able not only to write down the formulas correctly, but also to explain the meaning of the input quantities and know the conditions, the limits of its application. Not all “memorized” formulas will be remembered forever. However, the number of formulas that we know at any stage of life’s journey is proportional to the number that we “memorized” during the years of study.

The survey process on the ezmena

Experienced examiners know that in order to make an assessment decision with an “up to half-point” accuracy, it is enough to look at the written text of the student's answer. In cases where the “answer” received by a student is not independent, it is enough to ask only 2-3 questions.

However, this does not mean that the exam can last 3-5 minutes. As a basic guideline, it is advisable to take the following: the exam should last so long that the student is convinced of the correctness of the assessment made to him.

It is necessary to pay attention to some actions that should not be allowed in the exam.

• Exam should be held in an atmosphere of complete tranquility. “Raising the voice” and indignation of a student’s ignorance or “stupidity” are unacceptable.

• You should not turn the exam into a kind of “follow-up” of the student. Undoubtedly, in the process of preparing and passing the exam, there is a deepening and systematization of knowledge. However, this does not mean that a poorly prepared student during the exam should again clarify the material. The exam does not have a similar goal, which is often given to it, especially beginner examiners. This, of course, does not exclude the possibility of some kind of dialogue between the student and the examiner.

• The weaker the student knows the material, the longer the response usually takes. However, one should not exempt the answer from the excellent students on the basis of the fact that “everything is clear”. A capable student who knows the material, wants to be asked, and wants to show his deep knowledge. You should not deprive the best part of the students of this pleasure.

• When interviewing a weak student, the assessment that the examiner mentally makes often fluctuates, for example, between 2 and 3 or 3 and 4. It is unacceptable to ask (especially to announce this to the student) “one more last question”, according to which the final assessment will be given . The exam is not a lottery. One “last” question cannot be a criterion of knowledge.

• A student who received an unsatisfactory grade should not leave the teacher indignant or offended by the “injustice”. An experienced teacher in a confidential conversation tries to find out in a confidential conversation the reason that prevented him from preparing for the exam; recommends that the student take further action; offers help and advice.

Preparing for a response using notes and books

Proponents of the so-called “understanding without memorization” argue that during the exam, students can use all the teaching aids, including their own or someone else's outline. The basis for this opinion is the “foreign experience” and “increase in academic performance”, caused by “emancipation of students' memory and psyche”.

Experienced teachers and psychologists know that this statement is wrong and based on a mixture of circumstances. In addition, an increase in academic performance by increasing the average score on the exam in these arguments is taken to improve engineering knowledge.

Indeed, in a number of technical universities in our country and abroad, we have taken, and sometimes take, exams even now in the above conditions. However, this significantly changes the nature of the questions and requirements for answers to them. The essence of the tasks in this case is not a retelling of the content of the subject in the context of the abstract and educational books, but in solving a creative problem new to the student, the direct answer to which is not contained in the abstract and educational books.

It seems that a similar method of exam should be approached gradually and thoughtfully. The lecturer's simple declaration that the questions asked are creative in nature is insufficient. In addition, there are a number of relationships and schemes that the future engineer should know for memory, regardless of his creative abilities.

State examinations in the main, formative specialist disciplines are held at the end of the course. A commission is appointed to take state exams.

Credits instead of examinations are held in those courses that are dominated by the practical work of students; the main purpose of tests is to summarize workshops, labs, exercises, to assess the mastery of the practical part of the theoretical and applied disciplines of the curriculum.