Every semester, teaching staff are tasked to set examinations for the student body. The Oxford English Dictionary (4^th Edition) defines an examination as "the testing of knowledge or ability by means of questions, practical exercises, etc. .i.e. have one's knowledge tested by a written examination". In this short paper, I shall explore whether the approach of setting examinations can have a significant effect on how students' knowledge or ability can be tested fully or at least in a fair manner.

In particular, I question the approach to setting an examination paper that gives students a choice of questions to attempt (e.g. 'choose three questions out of five'). While having a choice is good generally, does it have any positive effect on students in an examination context? Will it imply that we are in fact giving students a choice of knowledge as they can choose the questions they want to attempt in an examination? While we may expect students to learn all that had been taught, there may be little motivation for students to do so if they already know that not everything will be tested. Students, under the pressure of time, may resort to 'spotting' topics and if so, we may end up testing them for a different kind of ability.

In real life situations, graduates are expected to apply their acquired knowledge or ability to solve problems. In other words, they do not get to choose the type(s) of problems they might encounter in their work. Hence, the quality of their performance may be attributed to the approach we adopt in setting examinations to test their knowledge or ability. With this in mind, we should have a greater sense of purpose when setting an examination. One solution could be for the teaching staff to consciously set questions that require students to apply their knowledge across topics taught in a module. In this way, students are tested on their ability to integrate knowledge across subject areas and apply it to the context of the question. Thus, having a choice of questions (or not having it) becomes immaterial as each examination question now involves a mix of different topics.

The nature of the module I teach, BU4280 "Development and Building Economics", allows me to develop questions of this kind. While students generally commented that the scope of the module is too broad, its main purpose is not to stump students with the amount of content they have to learn but to facilitate knowledge integration. In essence, students should have already learnt the fundamentals in the earlier years of their 4-year course and, in the final year, students will have to demonstrate the ability to integrate what they have learnt. Briefly, the module's four objectives aim to provide students with:

A. An understanding of development economics in the context of economic development and basic appreciation of sustainable development as well as the ability to apply these principles to the construction industry;

B. An understanding of the continuous development of the construction industry in a competitive environment, both domestic and international;

C. A deeper appreciation of cost control throughout the project's life cycle and a consideration of new analytical methods that are enabled by computer technology; and

D. An appreciation of the use of construction projects as investment vehicles and how to balance the consideration of project costs with revenue.

Each of the above objectives is further broken down into a range of topics. For example, a complete answer to one of the questions (Figure 1) asked in the examination (AY 2005/2006) will involve an understanding of the following topics that come under objective C:

• Information technology, productivity and economic growth;
  
  
• Information standardisation: cost and resources classification;
  
  
• Cost information systems;
  
  
• Development and construction cost modelling, theory and applications;
  
  
• Whole life costs-life cycle cost management; and
  
  
• Intelligent enterprises for construction.
  
  

Figure 1. An examination question for BU4280 in AY 2005/2006.

The module’s continuous assessment component comprises a tutorial assignment and an open-book semester test. To further instill in students the need to read beyond the recommended texts, the examination, which constitutes 60 percent of the total marks, is also open-book.

Now as we know an examination is a means to test a person's knowledge or ability on a particular subject, we need to also realise that information stored in humans is temporary. In other words, instead of cramming in as much content as they can, it may be more essential for students to acquire skills that will enable them to search and apply relevant knowledge in wide-ranging contexts. It may be good to bear in mind what Douglas Everett says: "The mark of a well-educated person is not necessarily in knowing all the answers, but in knowing where to find them."

Perhaps, in a nutshell, this is what broad-based education intends to achieve in the longer term. And so, examinations must have a deeper meaning as well and they have to have a significant role in moulding the process to reach this end.

References

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, 4^th Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Everett, D. http://www.quotationsbook.com/authors/2364/Douglas_Everett. Last accessed: May 30, 2006.