Seeing as it's exam time here in good ol' Scotland, I thought I'd give a breakdown of what these consist of here.
In the States, classes are interrupted for one week of spring break, then resume. Students are given one day off ("reading day") and then exams start, and the period lasts about a week or two. Not so here. Here, we get 4 weeks off for Easter Break, then return and exams begin immediately, spaced out over about 4 or 5 weeks of time, from the end of or mid-April to the very end of May.
In the States, classes and grades consist of attendance policies, papers, midterms, quizzes/tests, and in class participation. Here, our tutorials assign us one to two papers which, while they do factor into our final mark, hardly matter. Same with attendance - it affects our grade, but not by much. The tutorial grade may suffer greatly from just one absence, but the tutorial grade is factored into the overall course grade with the lecture mark. The lecture mark is based 100% on the final exam. Depending how heavily tutorial grades weigh in - which differs from course to course - some exams are worth 90% of a grade, although the usual is about 50-70%.
So basically after having 2 weeks off to travel, I return to realize that I am expected to ace exams which cover the entire semester of lectures and are worth a very, very significant chunk of my overall grade. Eek.
My English Lit. exam is the 26th of April; History of Art is on the 27th. Then I have two or three weeks till my last one, Natural Hazards, on May 18th. Talk about not knowing how to evenly space these things. The only GOOD thing about this is that, while with HA I'm nervous due to my inability to memorize artists and dates specifically for random paintings selected, I am rather good at talking about symbolism, theory, and concept, so both EL and HA should be okay. As far as NH goes, I have an outline of a mock exam from the profs, and basically I can answer all the questions on it, so I feel pretty confidant about it.
The grading scale is different here as well. A 40 is a passing grade. A 50-59 is a C, a 60-69 a B, and a 70-79 an A. 80s and higher are nearly impossible to receive on papers, as this puts them in the "publishable" category, but on exams it is possible to get an 80-100. In NH I need about a 50 overall to pass (I am taking it pass/fail at Stetson's standards) and I'd like between a 60 and 75 in EL and HA, but I'm not holding my breath for anything higher than a 64, which is about an average B.
I figure, next year I will be a senior. I'd be pleased with B+s across the board next year because I've worked hard on my GPA so much, I feel I deserve a LITTLE bit of slack.
Also, my classes and living situation have worked out nicely to my liking for next year, so I am in a good place...I just have to survive finals here first!
And maybe...MAYBE...get to London and/or Paris before I leave for the States in 5 weeks.
This time has flown. It feels like none of it has happened, and also like just yesterday I was dazed about public transportation and heavy Scottish accents. I hope I can actually absorb and remember all I've learned, seen, and the people I've met when I leave here. Luckily some of my favorite people from this trip are American, and now that I'm a savvy traveler, visiting them should be easy! I just can't wait to plump up my bank account...and I wish the dollar would hurry up and get stronger. Geez.
All for now - back to studying.
-A-
