That's when you need to be more inventive about strategies used.  Provided I have a practical assistant who can understand medical jargon, then I can complete clinical/practical exams in the same time as anyone else.  (Although unfortunately I have to put it into plain English, which takes longer).

 

I was thinking about this when I looked at my exams recommendations the other day - 100% extra time would not be appropriate for (e.g.) vivas.

 

On 21/05/07, George Bell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

And would this abolition of time limit apply to students
following a medical carear?

"Well sorry about all the blood on the floor, but I still
need more time for my examination".

Extreme case, but there are many valid reasons for
maintaining a reasonable time factor.

George.

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their
support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Gerard Conroy
Sent: 21 May 2007 22:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: thoughts on exam length

It would be worth considering just what a timed examination
is for.

Any examination should allow a student to display their
knowledge. Setting a
time should be an attempt to say that if a student knows his
stuff then the
time is easily adequate to complete the examination. Extra
time may be
necessary for some students because they need this to
display their
knowledge, how this extension is arrived at is mysterious,
for instance
every student with dyslexia is supposed to have the same
needs.

If I were to set an examination in which someone could
obtain a higher mark
by having more time would tell me that I have failed in
setting the
examination, either the student knows his stuff or not and
no amount of
extra time will change this. This leads to the natural
conclusion that my
examinations should not be time limited at all, students can
have as much
time as they want to complete it. This would then be
inclusive in that if a
student needs more time for whatever reason then they have
it, no labelling
of students would be necessary.

I would advocate that no examination should be time limited.
(Obviously there may be some subject for which timing and
speed is
important, but I suspect this is fairly rare).

I have never yet heard a good academic reason for the
standard three hour
examination. However I have heard an administrative reason,
you can then fit
two examinations into the same room on the same day.

Before changing the time of examinations one needs
reflection on what they
are intended to achieve.

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