Exam lengths

thelad95

Does anyone else here think the time allocated for a lot of exams is either too short or too long? For example in biology last year in the mocks I finished the whole paper and I mean the whole paper including extra questions with half an hour to spare and I got an A2. I did the same thing in the real Leaving Cert and got a B1. Then subjects like Economics where you are writing mini-essays for the whole thing is only two and a half hours long?

oncex

thelad95 wrote: »

Does anyone else here think the time allocated for a lot of exams is either too short or too long? For example in biology last year in the mocks I finished the whole paper and I mean the whole paper including extra questions with half an hour to spare and I got an A2. I did the same thing in the real Leaving Cert and got a B1. Then subjects like Economics where you are writing mini-essays for the whole thing is only two and a half hours long?

Completely agree, although I'm going to try and take more time processing the questions in biology this year. Economics is a death. Irish paper 1 is crazy long too as is French. Usually if i know the answer at first glance, the faster i get it out of my brain, the shorter i spend questioning myself.

rainbowtrout

But you clearly knew your stuff in Biology if you could get B1/A2 grade on the paper and answer every question. You didn't have to sit and think about questions. Other students probably did and I'm sure there were people in your exam centre working until the end.

Just because you can get an exam done in a shorter time frame and know almost all of the material does not mean the exam should be shorter. The time allocated is to accommodate all students: those who have to give a little thought to their questions and those who cannot write as fast as you.

thelad95

oncex wrote: »

Completely agree, although I'm going to try and take more time processing the questions in biology this year. Economics is a death. Irish paper 1 is crazy long too as is French. Usually if i know the answer at first glance, the faster i get it out of my brain, the shorter i spend questioning myself.

Our teacher went through the recommended breakdown time for Biology and it was laughable. 15 minutes to read the paper, 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes on the short questions. 2(15)= 30 minutes on the experiment questions, 4(25)=100 minutes on the long questions and then 15 minutes to read over everything again. That seems sensible but I feel like Biology is more like a marathon of quickfire short questions and there are no essay-style Q's. In saying that if you have the DEB biology mock

the questions on Genetics/DNA and photosynthesis require a lot of thinking time and a fair bit of writing.

Huell

Not really, for maths paper 1 i was done in an hour and a half but i was stuck on one question which i got literally in the last 30 seconds :P

thelad95

rainbowtrout wrote: »

But you clearly knew your stuff in Biology if you could get B1/A2 grade on the paper and answer every question. You didn't have to sit and think about questions. Other students probably did and I'm sure there were people in your exam centre working until the end.

Just because you can get an exam done in a shorter time frame and know almost all of the material does not mean the exam should be shorter. The time allocated is to accommodate all students: those who have to give a little thought to their questions and those who cannot write as fast as you.

I agree with you but some subjects like Economics, Geography and History, even if you know your stuff well if you aren't a fast writer you could be in difficulty.

rainbowtrout

thelad95 wrote: »

Our teacher went through the recommended breakdown time for Biology and it was laughable. 15 minutes to read the paper, 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes on the short questions. 2(15)= 30 minutes on the experiment questions, 4(25)=100 minutes on the long questions and then 15 minutes to read over everything again. That seems sensible but I feel like Biology is more like a marathon of quickfire short questions and there are no essay-style Q's. In saying that if you have the DEB biology mock

the questions on Genetics/DNA and photosynthesis require a lot of thinking time and a fair bit of writing.

This may come very easy to you, but some people find the vocabulary incredibly difficult and take time to figure out what questions are asking.

Calvin

Geography is a sucker for this. 2:30hrs to write all that information, geoecology essay(or otherwise) AND/OR draw sketch maps?! Bollox!!

spurious

Not everyone is a fast reader or writer. Good for you that you can all do it within the time, some people can't. It doesn't mean they are any worse at Geog/Bio/Business or whatever, so the length of the exam gives them time to answer the questions.

robman60

Yeah, it's strange, but I guess that's to cater for everyone. Of the four mock exams I've done so far, I've found such variances in time.

English P1: Just about finished
Business: This was an absolute marathon. Only for the fact that I rushed the last two questions, I wouldn't have finished. Three questions instead of four from section 3 would be adequate. I think this was the most difficult business paper I've seen though. Had a lot of evaluation.
English P2: Just enough time. AN absolute marathon, but probably the correct amount of time.
French: Had half an hour to spare, even with a meticulous approach to the comprehensions. Come the actual LC I'll probably give four responses in the written expression section, so I'm glad of the extra time.

SChique00

History is an absolute joke - the only exam I am seriously freaking out over, not only in terms of where to direct my studying but not being able to finish 3 4-page essays and a document questions in less than 3 hours.

I get that not everyone finds Biology so easy to finish well within the allocated time, but surely if it merits 3 hours then History should be the same length? Those 10 minutes would make a world of difference for many students, myself included.

As regards Irish Paper 1, yes it seems exorbitantly long, but our teacher told us that you should spend a fair amount of time planning the structure and flow of the essay - in other words, trying to make it sound natural, and not like a rough regurgitation of notes on the page.