This idea is simple: student should have time to reflect in between the end of the lectures and the exam.
Ideally, the exam is the time at which the student has to demonstrate an understanding of the material presented in class. In many cases, at least in my experience, the exam takes place very shortly (sometimes days) after the last lecture. This realistically implies that the material cannot be fully digested. In turn, I passed my exam just knowing how to replicate problems seen in class, but I did not have time to get a full understanding of the material, and perhaps relate it to other lectures I took. Having more time also allows the material to sink in, and hence knowledge will remain for a longer period of time. If the exam takes place right after the lectures, there is a risk that the freshly learned material will be forgotten right away, since it is not (directly) needed any more.
Of course, exams should be more challenging to reflect the additional time to learn, perhaps including open questions to test the wider understanding of the students. But if the objective of education is an understanding of the material, then time is definitely valuable. In the end, both students and tutors of the following classes will benefit from an enhanced understanding.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at 16:17 by Daniela Ewason and is filed under Ideas.
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