By Aditya Acharya

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I opened the lecture slides in my laptop in which I could surf the internet too. My notebook where I had taken some notes during the lectures was infront of me. If I had done some practice at home, I could have taken that too.

And most interestingly, the professor was there to help us for any confusions that might arise: confusions regarding NOT only the questions but also the answers that we had to find out. Yes he was there to guide us to find out the answers. If there was any thing that we had to worry about, it was only the time limit of two hours by which we had to find out the answer to the given problem. And they call this ‘exam’ here!!😂 The first exam where my professor was helping me to find out the answer, in the exam hall.

Sounds funny? Yeah, that was the first experience for me too. Wondering – what actually is the point in taking such exam?

They encourage students to think critically. The question they ask is not directly the one they had taught during the lecture, that you could cram and go and write in the answer sheet. Well there are that types of exams too, but not many. They give a real world problem and ask you how you would make the decision in that situation. And they help you to think critically, to make the decision in such situation. Finding out the answer and giving the final decision is your task!

I wanted to share just because there are many countries/universities where students are usually required to write whatever is written in the lecture slides/notes provided by the teacher if the students want to get good grades. And this sounds quite odd for many of the friends I know. Both of these practice I mean – teacher helping students during the ‘exam’ and teachers expecting students to write exactly what is there in their lecture notes/slides. Yes, because I have found teachers of both types.

But, being able to think critically and finding out a solution to a problem in a short time frame is also not that easy task. There were friends panicking because of the shortage of time for them to think and present clearly their decisions. And the teacher had to give some extra time. When even the extra time given was not sufficient for some friends, he became quite unhappy and told, “Luckily you are in France. If you were in Germany you could have been expelled if you did not leave your answer sheet when the time is over.”

“But if you were in Finland you could ask for another two hours if you wish to write more”, I told. 😊

And we left the exam hall. Seriously, I think I will pass the exam!! 😁🤣

AgroParisTech, Nancy, France

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Here’s one of my favorite instrumental piece in case you are soft music lover. 🙂