In an earlier blog post, I had mentioned that NUS has been progressively moving towards decreasing the weightage of final exams.
I thought it might be interesting to share this table which shows the distribution of CA-weightage across modules offered in AY2010/11. One-third of the modules have 100% CA, and more than half our modules have CA components of 60% or higher.
Table on Number of Modules by Level in AY2010/11 and the CA Component
|
Level |
Modules with CA at 100% |
Modules with CA at 80% to 99% |
Modules with CA at 60% to 79% |
Modules with CA at 40% to 59% |
Modules with CA at 20% to 39% |
Modules with CA at 0% to 19% |
Total |
|
Level 1000 |
111 |
0 |
67 |
147 |
30 |
5 |
360 |
|
Level 2000 |
120 |
2 |
128 |
251 |
66 |
4 |
571 |
|
Level 3000 |
288 |
1 |
145 |
251 |
81 |
5 |
771 |
|
Level 4000 |
274 |
2 |
107 |
214 |
68 |
14 |
679 |
|
Total |
793 |
5 |
447 |
863 |
245 |
28 |
2381 |
|
Percentage |
33% |
0% |
19% |
36% |
10% |
1% |
100% |
There are however, some variations between the Faculties/Schools, as there are differences in the content and nature between the disciplines. The final exam weightage tends to be higher for the science and technology courses, than for the arts or humanities. In the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Business School, 70% or more of the modules have CA components comprising at least 60% of the final grade. In Faculty of Engineering, slightly more than a quarter of modules offered have CA components comprising at least 60% of the final grade (and for the Faculty of Science, the corresponding percentage is 33%). This is probably not surprising as intuitively, many are aware that presentations, group case studies and discussions have traditionally been part of the pedagogies employed at business schools, whereas exams are the traditional testing method for technical subjects like mathematics, hard sciences and engineering.
Table on Number of Modules by Faculty in AY2010/11 and the CA Component
|
Faculty/School |
Modules with CA at 100% |
Modules with CA at 80% to 99% |
Modules with CA at 60% to 79% |
Modules with CA at 40% to 59% |
Modules with CA at 20% to 39% |
Modules with CA at 0% to 19% |
Total |
|
Arts & Social Sci |
304 |
2 |
291 |
278 |
3 |
– |
878 |
|
Engineering |
88 |
1 |
27 |
162 |
133 |
12 |
423 |
|
Science |
131 |
– |
32 |
232 |
102 |
2 |
499 |
|
Business |
143 |
2 |
28 |
60 |
– |
1 |
234 |
|
Computing |
41 |
– |
48 |
68 |
1 |
– |
158 |
|
Design and Environment |
51 |
– |
19 |
63 |
6 |
13 |
152 |
|
CELC |
35 |
– |
2 |
– |
– |
– |
37 |
There is a place for exams, and in many level 1000 or 2000 classes, exams will remain as an important assessment tool. But for the level 3000 and 4000 classes, we are moving towards placing more emphasis on continual assessment.