In defence of ‘traditional’ exams

You might think that students will be celebrating the news that universities could be moving away from ‘traditional’ exams in favour of “inclusive assessments,” which include open-book tests and take-home papers. They shouldn’t. 

I was one of the unfortunate Covid crop of undergraduates who didn’t sit a single exam during their time at university. Yes, I avoided the last-minute nerves about what was going to be in the exam paper – and I saved time not needing to cram during last-minute revision. But the truth is that avoiding exams devalued my degree, so much so that I didn’t bother going to my graduation ceremony.

I was supposed to graduate with a degree in geography from the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 2023. But during my time as a student, two calamitous events occurred: one an act of God, Covid-19; the other, the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB), which meant that none of my coursework was marked.