Anyone else not happy with semesterisation?

fh041205

Well, not semesterisation as such, but the exam period. IMO there should be two, one at Christmas and one in May. A few of my courses finish next week but I won't be examined on them for another 6 months. I'm not happy with that at all.

I'm in JS maths and while it is possible to have to sit 12 two hour exams, in practice the most is probably 8-9. I'll be sitting 9. Three 3 hour exams and 6 two hour exams. Isn't that a bit much? I'm curious as to what other students think about it because I intend to contact the education officer about it and express my displeasure at some point.

Personally, I think it defeats the whole point of semesterisation. I'm not giving out about having to sit 9 exams, but it would be far easier if it was split half and half.

timmywex

Id much prefer have 2 exam periods aswell.

But with trinity always starting later than other colleges, it would mean putting them exams on after christmas, which i wouldnt like at all!

Also there would be problems with people doing schols aswell

Jammyc

Yeah, I would be in favour of 2 exam periods.

Finish a module next week and have no similar module next semester, but an exam in may. Should be interesting.

amacachi

I'm happy with just the one set of exams.

Craguls

Jammyc wrote: »

Yeah, I would be in favour of 2 exam periods.

Finish a module next week and have no similar module next semester, but an exam in may. Should be interesting.

Ah maths methods, I'll miss my almost daily scheduled free time, on the plus side I can stop hogging one of the two copies of calculus for the life sciences....

dabh

fh041205 wrote: »

I'm in JS maths and while it is possible to have to sit 12 two hour exams, in practice the most is probably 8-9. I'll be sitting 9. Three 3 hour exams and 6 two hour exams. Isn't that a bit much? I'm curious as to what other students think about it because I intend to contact the education officer about it and express my displeasure at some point.

Well the Education Officer ought to have a particularly well-informed perspective on this issue, given that he completed first year in UCD after they went modular, before transferring into second year here.

dan719

dabh wrote: »

Well the Education Officer ought to have a particularly well-informed perspective on this issue, given that he completed first year in UCD after they went modular, before transferring into second year here.

Really? I never knew that.

OT I think semesterisation has been a bit of a disaster in general. People are fed up with college, illness rates seem higher than this time last year (could be down to the swine too, or Bono) the BESS exams in reading week were a joke, people on grants are running out of cash and so on. Basically after 11 weeks everyone is pining for time off. I remember the Cambridge prospectus talking about the intensity of the eight week terms, and this was given as a reason why students were not allowed take part time work during the year. Similarly talking to people over there, everyone seems wrecked after each term. I think we took for granted that we would be able to add four weeks to the length of the term without it having a huge impact on student welfare as well as the actual delivery of courses and exam structure. It will be interesting to see the response to the new library regulations for schol. candidates, especially from final year students.

In your own situation Fionnan, it is a joke, but I don't understand why the courses are not simply taught as year long courses in the first place. Just make them broader like we did in first year.

Mark200

Does anyone know what the story is for passing the year?

I know, for CS anyway, it used to be that you had to pass every subject to pass the year, or else at least get 30% in one subject and pass the coursework and the other subjects to pass the year.

But in UCD with their semesterisation they just have to get a certain amount of credits, as far as I know.

C.D.

This is actually something I campaigned for last year (SS Engineering). In fact, all the lecturers felt the same in the Mech Eng. department, but ultimately the Head of the Engineering School decided that there would be no exams at Christmas time due to funding constraints (i.e. the cost of holding exams and paying for the external examiner to be present 2x a year).

antiselfdual

dan719 wrote: »

In your own situation Fionnan, it is a joke, but I don't understand why the courses are not simply taught as year long courses in the first place. Just make them broader like we did in first year.

All the year long courses are still there, just now for the first time there is the option of only taking the first half of the course (which is basically just sort of semesterisation by numbers). It's a bit pointless (just like semesterisation in general).

bythewoods

Medicine is semesterised.
I've got exams worth 50% of the year to sit next week, it'll be horrible.

If we fail them however, we have to repeat them and can't compensate with better results in the Summer.
Also, you need 50% to pass, which is a load'a balls.

TBH, I'd rather have them all at the end of the year.

Jonathan

bythewoods wrote: »

Also, you need 50% to pass, which is a load'a balls.

Seems reasonable.

snappieT

Mark200 wrote: »

Does anyone know what the story is for passing the year?

I know, for CS anyway, it used to be that you had to pass every subject to pass the year, or else at least get 30% in one subject and pass the coursework and the other subjects to pass the year.

But in UCD with their semesterisation they just have to get a certain amount of credits, as far as I know.

When I was in third year CS, this exact same situation came up. It ended up being that you were allowed to compensate for no more than 10 credits worth of courses. Since semesterised courses are only 5 credits a piece, you should (and we were) allowed to compensate for two.

Check.

Groinshot

bythewoods wrote: »

Medicine is semesterised.
I've got exams worth 50% of the year to sit next week, it'll be horrible.

If we fail them however, we have to repeat them and can't compensate with better results in the Summer.
Also, you need 50% to pass, which is a load'a balls.

TBH, I'd rather have them all at the end of the year.

Seeing as you havent left the 24 hour study room since last saturday you should be okay

bythewoods

Groinshot wrote: »

Seeing as you havent left the 24 hour study room since last saturday you should be okay

It's a great place to enter the chillout zone and go on facebook though. And boards, apparently.

There's about 3 of us in here at the moment...

fh041205

bythewoods wrote: »

If we fail them however, we have to repeat them and can't compensate with better results in the Summer.
Also, you need 50% to pass, which is a load'a balls.

I'd take that tbh. Its better than whatI have at the moment. Incidentally, does anyone know the story with compensation. I believe you can compensate in a set amount of credits (10 I think). I had intended to ask in the Maths dept. but meh.

dabh

fh041205 wrote: »

I'd take that tbh. Its better than whatI have at the moment. Incidentally, does anyone know the story with compensation. I believe you can compensate in a set amount of credits (10 I think). I had intended to ask in the Maths dept. but meh.

Definitive source for this information is the College Calendar. The Calendar is available online: there is a link from the TCD Local Home Page (bottom of middle column). Relevant page for Maths students is M28.

JS students have to get an overall pass mark (at least 40%), and they must also get pass marks in modules totalling at least 40 ECTS credits.

Requirements for Freshman students are more stringent: they must pass overall, must pass in modules totalling at least 40 ECTS, and they must attain a mark of at least 35% in each module.

This information is also set out on the School of Mathematics website. There is a short but comprehensive list of regulations on

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/undergraduate/mathematics/regulations/index.php?file=jsmath

You can navigate to it via the 'Undergraduate' navigation button, followed by the link to 'Moderatorship in Mathematics', followed by the 'Regulations...' link. The regulations for Freshman students are also set out on the corresponding web pages.

Students in other moderatorship programmes should bear in mind that regulations such as these vary substantially between moderatorship programmes: there are no College-wide norms when it comes to compensation requirements and the like.

Podge_irl

dan719 wrote: »

I remember the Cambridge prospectus talking about the intensity of the eight week terms, and this was given as a reason why students were not allowed take part time work during the year.

Mind you, all their exams are at the end of the year as well.

lucernarian

How long has that college calendar for 09/10 been online?? I think our virtuous administrators in the Treasurer's Office (I'm nearly sure they have to write up Calendar every year) left it until rather recently to inform students and staff as to the exact regulations governing the current year.

I had checked in November and had found no such information.