Written by Redwan
06 May 2015
Let’s all face it – no one really likes exams. May that be the internal quiz, the long essay-type ones or the strict finals. Life would have been much more fun if you could just breeze through your classes or courses without having being tortured by tension!
Well, true in most of the cases. But let me tell you, once you are a student in Sweden, you get to experience the ‘other side’ of examinations. Now you might ask, “What other side?” Well, in my definition, it’s just the different types and modes of exams that you get to do here. Today’s post is about the different types of exams you face here in Linnaeus University or Sweden in general.
Here, you will be surprised to find a variety of assessments and the logic behind it being structured that way. Let’s check out a few of them (WARNING – I am going to put my nerd cap on for a while!!):
- Take home exams – Often you are given few days to complete a final exam. You get to do it home, take your own sweet time and complete it within the stated deadline. The reason is that the course wishes to evaluate you fully on your understanding and give you the opportunity to express yourself, usually backed up by proven and published academic papers.
- Oral exams – A final oral exam sounds pretty cool! Depending on the courses, it’s usually an open discussion between a panel of professors and the students. The idea is to give you time to open yourself up and continue discussing with the flow. It’s has nothing to do with by-hearting. Understanding and interest in the topic is all that matters.
- Online exams – Its where the professors upload set of questions or a link, which you have to answer usually within the same day. They can range from 5-6 hours and thus allow you ample time to plan and present yourself. You can also take breaks or do the exam with a Fika!
- Written exams – Everyone of it is aware of this one. You go to the exam hall, sit, dig your brain for answers and write them down. Well its nothing much different here as well but the time you get is usually quite nice. 4-5 hours depending on the course is pretty solid for someone requiring time to do well. The professors want you to show your full knowledge and not force you to race against time!
Apart from these common ones, there can be many more. That however, depends on university to university. But regardless, I can say that it’s not always monotonous as one ought to assume. But this isn’t very unexpected here. Why?
Because this is Sweden and they always keep things cool! 😀
