Well in exams its down to content. At least at my uni we get as I said 8 topics, 2 questions from the 8. We are taught 10-12 topics which means that to cover your own back, you need to revise 4-6 topics well, this I believe is better to know 4-6 in depth topics rather than have a general knowledge, general knowledge is great of a subject but what differs a degree from a high school education is "thinking outside of the box" developing ideas and finding flaws in the ideas of fellow academia, these are skills that will be much more useful than the standard 1+2=3 (ie ideas that are in a box, a set of rules that you have to keep too.)
Im sure if you ask jerome now who is taking his GCSEs in Britain he is going to be rather pissed off that he has to learn a pile of bollacks, that doesnt let him think. Sure he can learn it and look at him he gets As because he remembered a chapter from a text book, but critically speaking he can do jack shit. At my university at least we are encouraged to take an incredible "critical" approach to the way we look at things, we learn the rules and boundries, then we can see whats good, bad and what can be changed.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by SI
The presentation of an essay is as important, if not more important, than the actual contents or ideas behind it. If I had to write an essay about software, I'd probably fail because my handwriting is crap, and I'm not good at writing sentences correctly the first time around. The backspace on my keyboard is my greatest friend.
|
Writing essays in exam conditions is completly different, you have one hour to show off, and in that one hour you have to try and do what you can, its not about presentation its about content. I could walk into an exam, put loads of fancy words on the page, beautiful handwriting and articulate grammar and spelling. But I dont, I go in scribble my answers down on the page in a way that the examiner can understand and hope for the best mark.