The end of compensation

Raphael

http://www.universityobserver.ie/2013/01/22/ucd-to-abolish-passing-by-compensation/

University College Dublin Assessment is due to announce in the coming weeks that from September 2013, UCD will be phasing out the practice of passing modules by compensation.

JohnnyChimpo

Bout time, Ireland needs more graduates that actually bothered their hole in college. And if you actually try your hardest and manage to fail a module AND the repeats then you were probably never gonna set the academic world on fire.

This will go down well

beardedmaster

I think it's a good move.
That said, however, I do think that the repeat/fail/whatever fees UCD have are astronomical. I've never had to pay them, or pass anything by compensation, but the amount of money one has to pay to have to resit an exam is ridiculous.
Other Universities/ITs don't cost nearly as much, and some have a flat fee that you have to pay for any number of repeats.

TimeToShine

Surely this just means more people paying the extortionate repeat fee? I agree it would improve the quality of the degrees but if they don't lower the repeat fee it's blatant money grubbing.

Maldesu

TimeToShine wrote: »

Surely this just means more people paying the extortionate repeat fee?

Or that maybe they'll work that bit harder at studying rather than partying?

crisco10

I never really did understand the rationale behind compensation. It seems to give people a method for ignoring whole parts of their course. It becomes even more ridiculous when you consider courses that cover a range of areas like Engineering. For example, It seems silly that you can use "over performance" in maths to compensate for your laziness/inability in Thermodynamics.

It just encourages a work ethic that isn't suited to the work place. You can't say to your manager, "Oh, I didn't meet that deadline, but it's ok since I came in 2 days early on that other deadline, right?"

*Results out this week, maybe I could be extolling the virtues of compensation tomorrow.

Muir

I think the resit/repeat fees need to be brought down. I mean, no one wants to fail/do badly in a module, so it isn't really a deterrent. I can understand getting rid of the compensation but not if they continue to charge €230 per exam resit. At the end of the day, if you don't perform well in exams then you have very little chance of a graduate job/Masters after your degree, so if a student has the attitude that they can float by by not learning stuff, well it's their responsibility and it'll catch up on them by the time they finish. I don't think it will improve grades, people will just resit (and there is very little difference between the GPA you get for compensating and the GPA for a resit), so I just get the feeling it's more about money making.

ironclaw

crisco10 wrote: »

I never really did understand the rationale behind compensation. It seems to give people a method for ignoring whole parts of their course. It becomes even more ridiculous when you consider courses that cover a range of areas like Engineering. For example, It seems silly that you can use "over performance" in maths to compensate for your laziness/inability in Thermodynamics.

While I agree with your viewpoint that compensation can be just an excuse for not bothering or just ignoring a subject, a student could genuinely find a certain area extremely difficult. In first year I hated mechanics and thermodynamics (I'm an Engineer) but I loved all the electronic stuff. And my grades reflected that. I never failed anything nor paid a resit but I could see how someone just 'wouldn't get it' Unfortunately to pass such modules, at least I found, it became rote learning just to get by given a complete lack of interest.

That all said however the current compensation system is not an acceptable solution in my eyes. Is there a better one? The fee's are also ridiculous, isn't it €240 now?

[Jackass]

The bit that confuses me is that compensation is pretty standard worldwide.

I know Oxford does it, so it's not like it's a sh*tty college thing, it's pretty common!

El Siglo

Well considering most modules are continuously assessed (Medicine and all those ones have their own standards, fair enough) then you really have to have done fuck all to fail. Passing by compensation is a joke and people did take the piss out of the system.

ironclaw

El Siglo wrote: »

Well considering most modules are continuously assessed (Medicine and all those ones have their own standards, fair enough) then you really have to have done fuck all to fail. Passing by compensation is a joke and people did take the piss out of the system.

I have to agree with you. I genuinely believe its impossible to fail a college exam. I'm not talking about golden weeks or studying for hours, I mean a decent few days work in the run up to them and you'll at least limp by. You literally have to do nothing and try hard to fail given the amount of repeat questions / continuous assessment available.

Maldesu

ironclaw wrote: »

I have to agree with you. I genuinely believe its impossible to fail a college exam. I'm not talking about golden weeks or studying for hours, I mean a decent few days work in the run up to them and you'll at least limp by. You literally have to do nothing and try hard to fail given the amount of repeat questions / continuous assessment available.

Between the continuous assessment, special circs and the extensions there should be no reason to fail if you have put in a bit of work. The only one I got worried about was a 100% exam, which could go either way, but I went to the lectures and paid attention or I'd have been screwed. I can never figure out why people would skip the tutorials when there were percent attached. Easiest thing in the world to do.

tgdaly

Maldesu wrote: »

I can never figure out why people would skip the tutorials when there were percent attached. Easiest thing in the world to do.

Exactly. I've often seen people turn up in the first week and then the last week (Or maybe not even at all) for history seminars. No sign of them in between. Its 10 percent for just turning up and sitting on your ass. Even if you only go to 6 of them you will get 5 percent. I mean it's not that much off an effort to make

TimeToShine

tgdaly wrote: »

Exactly. I've often seen people turn up in the first week and then the last week (Or maybe not even at all) for history seminars. No sign of them in between. Its 10 percent for just turning up and sitting on your ass. Even if you only go to 6 of them you will get 5 percent. I mean it's not that much off an effort to make

you'd almost definitely make more than 5% worth of progress if you spent 6 hours studying in the library rather than attending. There are plenty of people who don't attend because they know full well it's not worth the effort and their time is better spent in the library or studying at home.

Witcher

TimeToShine wrote: »

you'd almost definitely make more than 5% worth of progress if you spent 6 hours studying in the library rather than attending. There are plenty of people who don't attend because they know full well it's not worth the effort and their time is better spent in the library or studying at home.

I'd say the people that don't bother to go to tutorials have their head down in the books in the library or at home alright:pac:

Maldesu

TimeToShine wrote: »

you'd almost definitely make more than 5% worth of progress if you spent 6 hours studying in the library rather than attending. There are plenty of people who don't attend because they know full well it's not worth the effort and their time is better spent in the library or studying at home.

Really depends on the type of subject. While those percentages may not amount to much for some, just going to them can really save some people, esp those who panic during exams. Also useful when you have a difficult subject and you need to hash out some part with other people. If you did Critical Theory you'd suddenly appreciate having a good tutorial, otherwise you'd be in the creek. 5% is fairly small but they can go up to 25% in some tutorials.

tgdaly

TimeToShine wrote: »

you'd almost definitely make more than 5% worth of progress if you spent 6 hours studying in the library rather than attending. There are plenty of people who don't attend because they know full well it's not worth the effort and their time is better spent in the library or studying at home.

Sitting in the library should be no excuse not too go too class. There is plenty of time to do both. People shouldn't think themselves above going to class cause they feel it is a waste of time. Tutorials are set for the students benefit, and is certainly worth the effort