Extra Information:
We have been presented with a different layout to the national exams we will need to take as professionals. The layout has been multiple-choice questions (MCQ's) for Nationals and always been that way internally pre-COVID, we have now had the addition of many SAQ's, which we are not required to do for our national examinations. We chose UWE for this course as we have lecturers who are national examiners and reassured us for the preparation of our national exam. It is now deviating from the format we require for the profession and we have serious concerns about this as it will stop enabling us to pass the exams and therefore join the profession we are so passionate about.
The addition of a few SAQ's would be acceptable and enhance our learning. However, we only are being presented with one or two MCQ's and the rest being SAQ's. This is providing us the wrong preparation and causing us to be disadvantaged for the national exams, in which we are up against other university students that have been prepared correctly by only using MCQ's.
As a course, we have completed a survey about the recent exam we have taken. The general consensus of the results shows people felt okay-bad about how the exam went, the time allocated was not enough, there were topics that were not expected and therefore not prepared for, the format was somewhat confusing, it has lead to students feeling they need to change their study habits to be able to complete future exams and the ratio of MCQ's and SAQ's was bad and more MCQ's were required.
This has nothing to do with the amazing efforts and work the lecturers on our course put in, as we understand this is not their choice and we are appealing to a higher authority.