Study Board opts for retake of annulled midterm: “The least bad option”
Thomas Rald Kaspersen, Vice Chair of the Study Board, BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management. Photo: Private.
BSc Digital Management students who recently had their midterm annulled will ultimately have to retake the exam. While some students had hoped for a solution where they could avoid a retake and have the final exam count for the full grade, the Study Board ruled in favour of a retake and maintaining the original exam format.
News | 13. Dec 2022
“I wouldn’t call it a good solution, but it’s the best we can come up with,” said Thomas Rald Kaspersen, who is Vice Chair of the Study Board for BSc Digital Management and was one of the students who took the annulled exam.
Although he thinks the situation is bad and has created a mess for students, he was positive about how the Study Board meeting went. After one official statement from CBS, the focus turned to what the students’ opinions were on the matter.
“I thought I would have to fight to get the students’ voices across, but it was the first question. I was very positively surprised that they really wanted to listen. The entire discussion centred around what would be the least bad option for students. We also agreed that no option is great, and students have the right to be mad, but in this situation, this option is the least bad,” Thomas Rald Kaspersen says.
Students disagree on best solution
Prior to the meeting, he had sent out a survey among the students. The one hundred students who replied were divided. There was a near 50/50 split between students favouring the 70/30 option, where they retake the annulled midterm accounting for 30% of the grade and the final exam accounts for 70%, and the 100 option, which would have the students avoid a retake while the final exam instead accounts for 100% of the grade.
“When we looked at the responses, we saw that those who did not want the 100 option mentioned exam anxiety, stress and pressure when one exam responds to the whole grade, whereas the 70/30 option disperses anxiety and you can sit at home and do it.”
The negative aspects of the 70/30 option were mainly that it means more exam time and an exam assignment in mid-January.
In the end, the Study Board chose the option that seemed to be the least stressful for students. Another argument was to avoid altering the exam format, although Thomas Rald Kaspersen thinks this was less important.
I think that students are in the right to be mad and dissatisfied. It sucks no matter what. But I hope they can understand why 70/30 is the best for most students.
He understands that not all students are happy with the result.
“I’ve received a few messages from some students describing they are not pleased. On the other hand, I’ve also heard from people who say it really helps them.
“I think that students are in the right to be mad and dissatisfied. It sucks no matter what. But I hope they can understand why 70/30 is the best for most students. But one group that is especially impacted are the exchange students who were expecting to be done with the course and now have to do another assignment while back home after exchange. I think that’s super annoying. I feel sorry for them,” Thomas Rald Kaspersen says.
To give students more flexibility, now that an additional exam has been added to their schedule, students will also have the option to defer the final exam to February, if they prefer to take the midterm, now scheduled in January, before. Should they do this, it will not cost them an extra exam attempt.
“That gives more flexibility around December and it’s something we’ve received positive remarks for,” says Thomas Rald Kaspersen.
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