Hannah Sweitzer, graduate physical therapy student
“Yes. In grad school, you don’t have to recall anymore. It’s all applied, so you have to take the information that you’ve learned and you don’t just spit it back out. They give you cases and scenarios, and you have to apply what you’ve learn to figure out treatment plans.”
Amanda Lenard, junior biology major
“I think it depends on the test. I don’t think standardized tests are [effective], but for our labs, where you do the hands-on type stuff, I think those are effective.”
Isaac Azulay, graduate international business student
“Sometimes, yeah, because if you actually study the material and you really want to learn, a test can be a good way to measure if, you know, it’s worth it or not. But I feel like, right now, with the internet, you know, a test just became like a barrier for the student rather than something for the student to actually study.”
Kamaria Johnson, sophomore athletic training major
“I don’t think it’s an effective way because there’re a lot of people that have nerves when they get into tests, so even if they do know it, they’re going to forget it because it’s get to a point where you study… in a certain atmosphere, a certain environment, and then you get into the test environment. It’s way different. Your brain’s not used to it. Your body’s not used to it, so you just freeze up. So, no, I don’t think it is. I just feel like school is now based on ‘you have to take a test to pass a class,’ and you could know everything in that class, but you could be a horrible test taker, a horrible quiz taker, and then you fail.”
Rahul Sinha, sophomore psychology major
“Tests are ineffective. I just don’t feel like…it’s the proper way to assess someone or someone’s knowledge or what they know of the information. I feel like discussions would be more, or like something hands-on, something more…verbal-related would be more effective. A lot of tests are biased because…it’s what the teacher wants to put on the test. So…let’s say you know something, but the teacher puts something else and basically other people look at that test and say, ‘You don’t know the material at all.’ But it could mean that you don’t know that specific material, so I feel like it’s very biased.”
Madison Necevski, freshman marine biology major
“It really depends on the class and the type of test that they give… Like if it’s a science class and they give you a multiple choice test, it’s all memorization. You don’t really learn it. But if it’s like an essay, then you actually have to learn it.”
