With midterms finally out of the way and finals quickly
approaching, students deserve every possible advantage to improve
their chances of attaining top grades. It is thus a good thing for
students to have access to the midterms and finals of their classes
from previous quarters.
But many professors attempt to prevent their tests from leaving
the classroom. Professors should allow students to keep their exams
and use them as study materials, even if it results in the
archiving of exams for future students.
Many professors do not redistribute tests to their students
after the exams have been graded. Yet denying students the right to
take their tests with them and re-evaluate their errors after they
have been marked defeats the whole purpose of academia. Students
must have more time to examine these tests than 15 minutes allotted
in a professor’s office hours. Learning should not stop once
students have completed their exams. Rather, students should be
allowed to take their tests with them, correct them and study them
further. Such a small step helps to encourage life-long learning
and improvement.
Once students have completed a course, they should donate their
old exams to the Student Activities Center. Many organizations,
such as fraternities, sororities and cultural groups, keep files of
tests for various courses offered at UCLA.
Access to these donated files, however, remains restricted to
members of these organizations. The new Student Activities Center
possesses a small archive of former testing materials donated by
students. UCLA students should encourage the growth of this
resource by contributing as many exams as possible.
While faculty members are rightfully wary of the potential
abuses of such a system, they must also acknowledge the need for
such a resource. Overcrowded lecture halls make it difficult for
students to interact with professors, let alone truly understand
the professor’s expectations. Even tracking professors down
for office hours can prove daunting. The decline of discussion
sections accompanying lectures fosters little interaction between
students and teaching assistants. Such disservices to students
hinder the quality of academics and retention of material.
By providing students with additional resources, such as access
to past testing materials, students may feel less frustration and
stress.
Robert Glidden, a first-year mechanical engineering student,
believes “(tests should be) on file because the quarter
system moves fast, and you are not going to be able to get used to
a certain professor … so having the old tests on file means you
can get some practice before actually taking the test. Some
professors I have had are not clear on what exactly they want you
to know.”
Su-Yee Chu, a third-year electrical engineering student, agrees:
“I would be able to know how the professor tested instead of
trying to guess how he tests and what he tests on. Usually we have
to wait for the first midterm before we realize how he
tests.”
Additionally, general education courses, typically considered
easier than upper division courses, often surprise students. This
is especially common because most GE students are in their first or
second year of college and may not know how to study the material
presented to them. And often, students just want to complete the
required course without doing too much damage to their GPAs. But
professors do not always discuss the test format or give useful
example questions, making it difficult for students to plan their
studying.
In such a situation, students may go to lecture, take copious
notes, do homework assignments and study, but their efforts still
may not be enough to attain good grades. Students often need more
guidance, and some professors go the extra mile for them, knowing
how lost some students feel. Some professors generously provide
students with study guides, sample questions or even a selection of
questions that they may be tested on.
But students not provided with such materials also need a way to
test their knowledge, and to make sure they are on the right track
to success. They deserve access to old exams.
In order to ease the faculty’s fears of abusing the
system, it becomes imperative for professors to change their exams
every quarter. It is not asking too much of professors to revise
their tests ““ frankly, this type of interaction between the
professor and the material should be expected. New test questions
and new testing formats help professors determine if students have
learned the required material. Keeping an archive of earlier
versions of tests, however, remains relevant because students gain
an opportunity to test their knowledge of the subject matter.
Paganini is a third-year geography and political science
student. E-mail her at cpaganini@media.ucla.edu. Send general
comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.