We’re paying £9000 for this

But every time I started telling it to someone, I just got very lost in my own thoughts and never got anywhere. I’m not entirely sure what point I even want to argue, it just seems like there is something very wrong with the way universities (or at least Imperial) are perceived by students and staff. Or more importantly, the views of staff and students are very different and it seems to make everybody unhappy.

It always starts with this sentence: “We are paying £9000 for this”. And those people than start counting and say that in third term, we paid £375 per exam. And no matter how many times these we’re told how strictly these are checked, turns out that there were three mistakes in one of those exams. That exam that two hundred people paid £375 for each. And that is unacceptable. The same way it is unacceptable we are not provided solutions to every problem sheet. Or that we don’t have past papers that we could use to revise for that course. And did I mention solutions for those? Oh, yes, we want them all, we are paying all this money for this after all.

It is quite hard to disagree with these arguments as a student. After all, past papers are the revision material that helped me the most to get high grades in exams. I even tell my friends that it is practically impossible to fail an exam if you do a few past papers to prepare yourself. The questions have a similar format and some of the bookwork questions are repeating almost every year. And on top of that you can learn to manage your time, feel like the exam won’t be a surprise. Want to understand the subject? Read notes and books and do problem sheets, go to the office hours… but it’s really not the best exam preparation. I mean, understanding helps, sure, but if you can’t just go to an exam and keep writing things that you already know how to write, you won’t finish and get a good mark. Yes, if you are good, you’ll get a first, but people who did a few past papers will get a first too…

Should we just not be given those past papers? Well, no, obviously, then anybody could just ask for past papers to their friends in fourth year and have an unfair advantage. On top of that, the people in the department ultimately wants us all to succeed. At least those people who put some amount of effort into it. After all, we are all customers, paying £9000 a year. If we’re not being unreasonable, we should get our degree if we do the required minimum. The intelligence check was our personal statement and twenty minute interview, now it’s all just a test of perseverance.

On the other hand, there is a difference between wanting to be treated fairly and getting help and demanding everything. We are not in high school anymore, it’s not our teachers’ responsibility to get us to A-levels, it’s up to us to graduate. But some reason I’m not sure that this system actually encourages the things universities are so proud to teach us, critical thinking. And maybe we would learn a lot more if we were willing to learn a few more equations and stop complaining that sometimes, we have only been told something in lectures for two minutes. And if we stopped complaining if we need to think in an exam. As long as we all have to think, that’s fair, and it definitely makes exams more interesting.

I know, thinking hurts and it’s extremely frustrating if you are stuck on a question that you just can’t do. Maybe we’d actually be ready for a lot more things when we graduate this way. Maybe we’d feel like learning in lectures and not just when we have to do a project. And maybe I’m criticizing too much and this way, we have so much more time to do all the extracurricular activities, that will help us to get a job. Maybe that’s what we’re paying the £9000 for. I just really don’t know what to make of this.