Yes….another blog post about school.  School has been consuming much more of my time than usual these past two weeks because I have had midterms!  Which has meant two weeks of catching up on the whole semester.  The way midterms are administered at Thammasat was very interesting though, and something I personally would love to see implemented at UofR for final exams.

Midterms at Thammasat are scheduled just like finals at Richmond: one week is set aside with no class (usually) and three-hour midterms scheduled throughout the week.  Students are required to wear full uniform to midterms.  When you show up the day of the exam, the classroom is closed, but there is a class list outside with a corresponding number next to each name.  The numbers are completely randomized, and are not known until before the exam.  Once you walk into the classroom ten minutes before the exam, each place has an exam and answer notebook already set down, with the place number right next to it.  So after entering the room you must gather your necessary exam materials (pens, pencils, calculator, ID card, water, etc…) show the proctors that your cell phone has been turned off, and place your bag at the front of the classroom.  Then you find your number and corresponding seat, and can start the exam.  The places, however, are set far apart so that there is no possible way to cheat on the exam, which personally I find fantastic.  In one exam, we even each had our own table.  On the whiteboard at the front of the room is projected a countdown for the time left of the exam, and for the last half hour, last fifteen minutes, and last five minutes, an automated voice reminds you of the time left.  Two proctors monitor the exam and continuously walk around the classroom in and out of every aisle to make sure there is no cheating.  You are not allowed to use the restroom, and once finished, you leave your exam on the table and leave the room, while the proctors come and collect your completed test.  The only downside in this system is that the professor is not there to answer questions about the exam.  I would love to see this system implemented at Richmond for final exams.

Now that midterms are over, however, I am off to Myanmar (Burma) for five days! I will leave you with a photo of me in my Thammasat uniform:

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Samantha in Thailand, Spring 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.