Don’t!

It sounds so easy. “Teachers will give estimated grades, based on mock exams and coursework.” Yet picture the typical teacher, who’s given her class a mock exam, in which they have not done too well, because they don’t tend to. The expectation, usually realised, is that over the last three months of the course, reality will set in, revision will be done, concepts will be absorbed at last and in a few well-taught weeks, E grades will turn miraculously into B grades, C’s into A’s and some we suspected of being rather capable, but have never really shown it, will amazingly reach A*. Now those three months have been taken away. Students, having had their exams cancelled, are demotivated, feeling abandoned and yet anxious about the grades their teachers will give, before they had the chance to shine.

Coursework in maths has always been problematical. Sure, we set example sheets, but many students will get help on them, often from tutors like me, and the work they have produced on their own is often rather weak, because they haven’t had the benefit of revisiting topics taught just the once.

What students should do in this situation is another matter, perhaps material for future blogs.

It’s tempting for teachers to set new tasks for students to do at home “on their own”, for a better assessment to take place. It’s tempting for students in these circumstances to get help because it can’t be detected and it’s tempting for me and my fellow tutors to give that help, perhaps at a price. To all this, because of the scope it opens up for cheating, our inability to detect it, and the high gains on offer, all I can say is “Don’t!”