Interview: These students still have to sit three hour exams and aren’t happy about it

After a year of disrupted learning and most exams online next term, Cambridge University has announced a package of exam mitigation measures this year. Some departments have taken this a step further, extending the usual three hour exam time in recognition of the problems students may face sitting them in their rooms instead of in an exam hall. Departments including English, MML and Law are now giving their students up to 24 hours to submit their work. However, students studying Natural Science, PBS and Economics are among those that will still have the usual three hours to complete their exams. The Tab spoke to students facing the prospect of 3 hour exams and to those that had 24 hours last year to find out about their experiences.

An exam environment away from the exam hall?

Many students are concerned about maintaining exam conditions in student accommodation. Matilda Head, a second year student studying PBS – one of the subjects sticking with three-hour exam windows – told The Tab: “I think this is one of my biggest issues with the online exams and a short time window. I live in a really big staircase right in the main court of college, and it is LOUDDDD.

“On any given day you can expect people screaming about Mario Kart games, running around drunk, throwing rugby or cricket balls around etc., and I know that obviously you can ask your floor to be quiet but it’s almost a given that there will be some kind of distraction. Plus, the fact that you’re working in your room is distracting in itself in comparison to a blank and empty exam hall.

“I think the strict time window when you’re in a residential setting is really really harsh because distractions are kind of inevitable.”

It seems that those studying medicine, another subject with three-hour exams this year, are facing similar problems. When speaking to The Tab Cambridge, a first year medic said that they have been told that their exam length will likely not be extended, although they are still waiting on official guidance to confirm this.

Student accommodation is not the same as an exam hall (Photo credit: Author’s own image)

They described the considerable logistical issues of online exams, which means that certain exercises take longer: “Next term we have to write scientific essays and a big part of that is drawing diagrams and obviously we’re going to have to type the essays and what I’ve found difficult […] is that you have to write the essay, then draw the diagram and crop it, format it and insert it in the right place. If you were handwriting that, you wouldn’t have any of these issues.”

The student also said: “It’s a completely different vibe sitting the exams at the desk you’d always sit at and I do think the adrenaline rush that you get sitting in the exam hall contributes [to your performance]. And my Wi-Fi isn’t great – there might even be people doing it without Wi-Fi – and if your laptop crashes or isn’t functioning, you’ll get penalised…”

Savan Mehta, a third year NatSci, seconded this, emphasising the stresses surrounding poor WiFi: “If the Wi-Fi goes down […] it would be good to have extra time, not for the exam itself but just to alleviate some of the stress surrounding questions like, “Can I submit the exam? Will I be able to email it on time?””

Student wellbeing

When asked about the impact of three-hour exams on students’ general wellbeing, Matilda said: “The short time to do exams has me thinking that the department doesn’t really have student wellbeing at the forefront of its plans. I get that academic rigour etc. is important but when other subjects are allowing longer periods then it makes it seem that those who are enforcing the three hours don’t have as much thought for the issues that students are experiencing right now? That definitely is quite demotivating and demoralising.”

Matilda added: “If we did have a 24-hour period for exams it would take a lot of stress out of the exam period. Both because it would put less emphasis on staying focussed for those three hours in a high-distraction prone place like student halls, and also because it would mean more time to work on the exam, meaning less pressure to be revising to the max during this really stressful time of Covid and during a year when learning in general has been really interrupted.”

Having a longer exam window does seem to be really beneficial for student wellbeing. Anisha Bakhai, a third year MML student, was given between 24 hours and four days to submit her exams last year, and she explains how having this longer time window had a positive impact on her mental health during the pandemic: “People can’t concentrate or focus in home environments because it is not always a space designed for studying – its kind of a safe space I suppose […] I think really the university should be as lenient as possible in every way.

“Sticking to these really strict time limits despite these really trying times and circumstances is inappropriate […] at the very least there should be 30 minutes or even an hour [extra time].”

Anisha also spoke about how having longer helped alleviate problem with screen stress during the exam period: “Every 25 minutes you should be able to look away from the screen or walk around because its not good for your eyesight and gives you headaches.”

Anisha Bakhai says having longer to sit exams last year benefitted her wellbeing (Photo credit: Anisha Bakhai)

Different departments – different policies 

We also asked students about their opinion about different policies on exam length between departments. Matilda said: “I find this especially unfair, if there was a uni-wide mandate for exam conditions then at least there wouldn’t be this gaping disparity between subjects. I don’t see how it could ever be fair that one person gets three hours to do an exam and another gets 24, it just doesn’t seem to make sense, and I feel like it’s trying to imply that some people’s degrees are easier or harder than others.”

A first year medic added: “Everyone’s going to be graduating with a degree from Cambridge but it would have been easier for some.”

A permanent change? 

After the positive experiences of many students who had longer to sit their exams last year, the MML department has acknowledged the benefits of longer exams, with or without a pandemic.

Anisha explained how helpful this was to her last year: “Truthfully there is so little point in translating something without access to dictionaries or any reference material because it’s a completely artificial exercise, which would never ever be asked of you in a real world situation.

“So being able to translate and to use dictionaries and reference materials and to justify reasons for my decisions, with a deadline of three days – which was so much closer to real life – was so much more of an enjoyable and accurate task that would prepare me if I should choose to be a translator in the future.

“The MML department I think have acknowledged this – my DoS sent us an email saying everyone had done absolutely phenomenally in the exams, and as a result the Faculty are thinking of changing the format of future exams to really take into account the lessons that have been learnt from that change in approach.”

Could this also hold true for other Arts and Humanities? Anisha adds that: “For literature – which obviously applies to more subjects – being able to look at notes, quotations and previous essays was enormously helpful because again, memorising quotations and the names of critics, having to write three essays in three hours seems impossible.

“In fact, it almost seems like they made it deliberately impossible for you to produce your best work. And again, it’s so much closer to real life in the sense that if you’re writing your dissertation.. or something to be published, you’re never stripped of access to your resources or to your notes.”

A silver lining 

However, out of the students that still have to sit three hour exams, those that have been told about these arrangements in advance appreciate the transparency, even if they feel dissatisfied about these arrangements.

Savan told The Tab: “I think it was probably a good thing that the university came out with it early instead of going back on […] having longer exams, because it did mean I was revising for the exams as I would do normally, so I guess it’s a good thing”.

However, for many students that is not enough. Concerns about technology issues, distractions at home or in student accommodation and being treated differently to those studying other courses continue to weigh on students’ minds.

Matilda said: “You like to think that the people ‘higher up’ care about their students’ wellbeing but it kind of seems otherwise at this point.”

When contacted for comment, a university spokesperson said: “Even in normal times, exams and assessment can be a cause of anxiety. These are extraordinary times, and there is support available for all of our students. If you are concerned about your work or assessment, please talk to your Tutor or Senior Tutor.”

The Psychology department said: “Students with approved adjustments to examinations, including time allowances, will be accommodated in the PBS examinations as usual”. 

The PBS, Medicine and Natural Sciences Departments have all been contacted for comment. 

Featured image credit: Author’s own picture and  pngimg.com, licensed under CC BY-NC

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