As a college student, is the idea of your final grade being based off of just a midterm and final very stressful? O 'Malley argues in his essay "More Testing, More Learning" that professors should give out more quizzes and assignments to reduce the stress and procrastination students face before midterms and finals. Although this might be helpful for a high school setting, it would not be completely efficient at a college level. This is because frequent testing takes up a significant amount of students and professors time, are added stress throughout the year, will not fix a students procrastination, and having high stake tests prepares students for their future. Some of O 'Malley 's ideas seem reasonable and would help students while others are an inconvenience for the professor and students.
O 'Malley suggests in his essay that professors should give weekly quizzes or review worksheets. The average, full-time college student takes five or six courses per semester. If every professor assigned one in class quiz or long assignment to be completed out of class each week, among other assignments the student would be completely overwhelmed. The student would have to spend so much time
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It would be better for a students mental health to have to deal with a lot of stress due to an assignment less often. Also, when the passing of a class is determined by one or two tests, this prepares students for even bigger tests worth even more when they leave undergraduate school and start graduate school or apply for a competitive job. Having your grade depend on two tests can be very stressful but, this is preparing students for there future. They will begin to get used to high stake tests and learn how to prepare for them which is a necessary skill. Dealing with stress and getting work done on time and to the best of your ability is very important for a future after
Many students face at least one important test in their life. And if that particular student is one of the many that experience test anxiety, this can affect the students test scores. Test anxiety can be caused by the lack of preparation by the student, but it could be caused by the fear of failure as well. Students have so much resting on college and their ability to do well, such as a good paying job to be able to support themselves. Test anxiety causes nausea, light-headedness, and it could even cause the student to have a panic attack. Students that have severe test anxiety do not have a fair advantage (ADAA,
Psychology test do not have to be a stressful thing; test scores can go up with just a few changes by the professor. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink explains that Motivation 3.0 Autonomy is giving a person the freedom to do things in their own way which produces better result because Motivation 3.0 “presumes that people want to be accountable-and making sure they have control over their task, their time, their technique, and their team in the most effective pathway to the destination” (105). Psychology professors should consider giving their students more autonomy with regards to test taking so that the students can choose the method that best fits their learning style. Professors can do this by giving the students options on what style of test they want, where they would like to take it, and how long would best fit them.
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
In “More Testing, More Learning,” Patrick O’Malley presents his argument in the essay of why taking major exams at the end of a student’s course harms them more than it does the student any good. O’Malley states that, “Although the last*minute anxiety about midterm and final exams is only too familiar to most college students, many professors may not realize how such major, infrequent, high-stakes exams work against the best interests of the student psychologically and cognitively.” (483) With taking midterms and final exams O’Malley claims that it puts too much stress and too much importance one the one or two days of these major tests than in the students entire term. His argument is that with less tests given to the student takes away from
Not only do students focus on a single test, but are the teachers and stress causing the students to feel stressed? It has been proven that theses standardized te...
Students and teachers both can have anxiety about testing. Teachers can be worried about the students’ performance on a test – a test that does not measure a student’s intelligence unless the student is good at taking tests. A student might be a gifted musician, artist, or athlete, but if they do not pass a standardized test, they are considered unfit for most colleges. Moreover, since the test is so important and they do not want to fail, students might be nervous while taking this test and because of this, they might not perform as well as they could. Also, a student’s self-esteem and self-worth can be lowered if they do not do well on a standardized test. This can be for two different reasons. One, a student might have thought they had done better on the test and the results could not be what they expected and they could feel like a failure. This can cause a student’s self-esteem to be lowered. Two, they might become worried about their future if they don’t receive a high score. There are many students who have the pressure of their family to do well and if they do not, they might become depressed. Even President Obama thought that standardized testing was not a good way to do things. Taken from an article written by Jonathan Glover (2016) of The
Standardized testing should not be held so high in students’ lives. Students’ have enough to worry about with most of their parents going through divorce and learning how to juggle after-school activities, homework, jobs, and still have time to socialize with their peers (an important part of development). Pupils who are susceptible to or who already have mental disorders need to be considered too, they should not be placed under such intense pressure. The tests are overhyped and because of this they provide the appropriate setting for young people to begin the dangerous cycle of anxiety, depression and self-doubt. There should be school nurses and guidance counselors who are aware of how to properly handle stressed out students during this time so this cycle can be stopped. They are at the best time of their lives and are feeling the worst because of tests mandated by the state even though these test are used more to evaluate teacher...
We all know taking high-stakes tests are stressful but for a portion of students it makes them physically and mentally weakened, “Children are pressured to not only demonstrate their knowledge but to represent the effectiveness of their teachers and their schools. Teachers are reporting children throwing up, losing control of their bowels, and increased commitments for psychiatric and anxiety issues.” The evidence comes from real teachers that have to help these students through testing. An example like this clearly shows that these tests damage students, either mentally or physically which is never good for anyone. In light
through the grades, the emphasis on testing grows stronger until there is literally no other way to
Moreover, by giving students daunting state mandated tests they are intimidated and begin to stress. In addition, lack of preparation further stresses the student. Stressing over a standardized test only affects the student and not the state administering the test.
There is added pressure to schools to get better scores which adds pressure to the educators and the students. The added pressure can cause health problems with the students or the educators. If health problem come from the stress of the tests it could negatively affect the student’s ability to learn (Pros and Cons, 2013). The test itself is a problem as well. The test is supposed to be unbiased based on the grade level but in most cases the test is not. As much as they try...
In More Testing, More Learning by Patrick O’Malley, O’Malley proposes many different solutions to the problems with exams, and test taking for college students. Throughout the story he references that the education system should implement frequent exams and quizzes. Instead of one big final exam causing huge amounts of anxiety for students. He claims that having one big exam isn’t in the best interest for the students. In fact, he believes that it hurts the student long-term and psychologically. Frequent exams and quizzes would be designed to help the students. He also believes that it would help the student develop into better frequent study habits.
A high school class and a college class are conducted in different ways. In high school, teachers exercise control over the flow of information, while college professors encourage the student to seek out pertinent information. Throughout the year, a high school teacher will remind the student of upcoming due dates and assignment requirements. If a student misses a test or homework assignment, the teacher will provide missing notes or study guides so that the student is kept up to date with the rest of the class. For example; when I was in high school, I missed a week of school to go on vacation with my family. My mother spoke with my teacher before we left and he agreed to let me turn in my homework when I returned to class. Furthermore, my teacher allowed me to make up the single quiz that I missed during my absence. Neither the late homework, nor the missed quiz reflected in my grade. A college professor would have made me choose between a good grade and a vacation with my family. In contrast, the college professor...
There are multiple causes when it comes to stressed out students. First consider where the pressure is coming from for students to get good grades. Parents and teachers tend to be the main suspects. Parents want to see their kids succeed in everything they do and grades are no different. Some students see a bad grade as them failing their parents because their parents believe in them so much (Weissbourd, 2011). Teachers have multiple reasons why they want to see their ...
“I will be so glad when this semester is over because school is stressing me to the max.” This is a quote that quite a few college students are familiar with and have probably said themselves. College can be a fun but also stressful time for students. They are focused on making sure they attend class and get passing grades so they can be successful and hopefully succeed in the next chapter of their life. Researchers at Columbia University and the University of San Diego conducted a study conducted a study to determine how stress negatively affects academic performance and enrollment. They were surprised by the nearly 25% of students polled in the National College Health Assessment that said they experienced poor grades or dis-enrolled from a class as a result of stress. (College Students Report Stress Affects Academic Performance, 2011).