Why Students Fail (Examinations and Coursework)

Views from a script marker

Brian J. Swindells FBCS, CDipAF, CITP, MIoD, MCMI

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to document, from the author’s perspective, the main reasons why students fail examinations and coursework.  It has been written with a view to assisting those students who have difficulty in achieving high grades, especially at under-graduate and masters levels.

During the past twenty years the author has marked a large number of assignments and examination scripts for a variety of educational institutions and, in the six months prior to writing the paper, marked many hundreds of such documents at both under-graduate and post-graduate level.

Many of the reasons students fail apply to all academic levels but, clearly, more academic rigour is expected at masters than at under-graduate level.

The views expressed are those of the author and it is important that they are considered within the context of what is required by the academic institution concerned and by the person marking your work.  This aspect is discussed further in the next section of this paper.

Understand Your Audience

This is more straightforward in the case of coursework marked by a tutor well-know to you than in the case of an examination marked by an external examiner.  In all cases, however, try to ‘put yourself in the examiner’s  shoes’ to understand what they will be expecting. 

What sort of language is appropriate?  If you are sending an SMS text “2 ur m8”, shorthand is acceptable and may well be expected; if the coursework requires you to write a formal business report then the use of formal language is advisable.

If the format is a formal report then choose an appropriate structure. Indeed, a required structure may be specified in the question (see next section).

Answer the Question

In my experience, one of the main reasons for failure is for the student to answer the question (s)he thinks has been asked not the one the examiner has asked.  I recommend analysing the question and underling key words.  These key words can be used in your answer to reinforce the fact that you are answering the correct question.  This is particularly the case if there is a requirement for an introduction and conclusion, both good places to reinforce the key words.

Coursework, in particular, may comprise several requirements and it is important that you address all of these.  As a simple example, I often come across questions with, say, three parts but the student has answered only the first two.

In examinations it can be tempting to answer the question you prepared as part of your revision and which may cover the same topics as the question asked but differs, often in a significant way.

Use Course Concepts

In all courses there will be a number of concepts that are key to understanding the topic.  In strategy for example, Michael Porter[1] is known for his generic strategies, 5 Forces[2], and diamond[3], amongst others. Whatever the concepts make sure you use them explicitly and reference them appropriately (see next section).

It is important to demonstrate that you understand the concepts and one way of doing this is to use an academic reference to justify why you are using it and them to apply that concept to the question under consideration.

Referencing

In-text referencing supported by a bibliography is an important means of avoiding any suspicion of plagiarism.  If a student simply copies extracts from another publication it is almost certain to be detected.  Most academic institutions use sophisticated software to detect plagiarism and even the use of a search engine can confirm the source of a piece of text with a totally different style to that of the rest of the paper.

Whilst the Harvard Referencing system is used extensively there are other approaches and, as discussed above, it is wise to check the coursework and/ or institution requirements in case a particular approach is required.

Whilst referencing requirements in examinations are unlikely to be as strict as with coursework you do need to provide some academic rigour to demonstrate a sound understanding of the course material.

Plan

This covers some of the basics such as making sure you submit the work on time, that you turn up for the exam at the right place and at the right time with pens, pencils, ID cards etc.  For light relief when facilitating exam revision sessions I ask the students to brainstorm “How to Fail The Exam”. Suggestions often include:

• Don’t get a good night’s sleep before the exam
• Don’t turn up
• Don’t revise
• Don’t use course concepts
• Get caught cheating
• Don’t answer the questions
• Answer all the questions even if you don’t have to

There are many more and you may wish to try this yourself.  Don’t forget to reverse the answers in order to get a list of actions needed to pass the exam / coursework assignment (e.g. get a good night’s sleep before the exam).

Review

In an examination it is advisable to leave time at the end to review your answers.  Insofar as coursework is concerned there is a much greater range of options.

The use of guidance notes[4] either directly from your institution or from the many available on line can provide a useful checklist, as I hope this document does.  If using on-line sources, however, do check that they are reputable.

Word processing software provides many features these days so it is surprising that I often receive coursework that has clearly not been checked for grammar and spelling. It advisable to use the correct country / language for the academic institution concerned (e.g. UK English if the institution is located in England).

As a check for ‘silly mistakes’ why not ask someone to read through the document.  We all know what we mean to say when we write something down but that is not always the way others see it.  A ‘fresh pair of eyes’ can help identify those mistakes which will ‘jump out’ when the script marker sees them.

Conclusions

There are a number of reasons why students fail a piece of coursework or an examination question but some are relatively straightforward to address. The key ones are (a) to answer the question asked not the one you think has been asked or the one “you prepared earlier” and (b) to use the course concepts.

Recommendation

It is recommended that students review this document as part of their revision strategy.  It is the author’s belief that doing so will improve the chances of obtaining a higher grade.

Bibliography

Porter, M.E. (1979) "How competitive forces shape strategy", Harvard business Review, March/April 1979.

Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980.

Porter, M.E. (1985) Competitive Advantage, Free Press, New York, 1985.

Porter, M.E. (ed.) (1986) Competition in Global Industries, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1986.

Porter, M.E. (1987) "From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy", Harvard Business Review, May/June 1987, pp 43-59.

Porter, M.E. (1996) "What is Strategy", Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec 1996.

Porter, M.E. (1998) On Competition, Boston: Harvard Business School, 1998.

Porter, M.E. (1990, 1998) "The Competitive Advantage of Nations", Free Press, New York, 1990.

Porter, M.E. (1991) "Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy", Strategic Management Journal, 12 (Winter Special Issue), pp. 95-117.

McGahan, A.M. & Porter, M.E. Porter. (1997) "How Much Does Industry Matter, Really?" Strategic Management Journal, 18 (Summer Special Issue), pp. 15-30.

Porter, M.E. (2001) "Strategy and the Internet", Harvard Business Review, March 2001, pp. 62-78.

Porter, M.E. & Kramer, M.R. (2006) "Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility", Harvard Business Review, December 2006, pp. 78-92.

University of Exeter website http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm (accessed on 28 June 2010)

[1] Porter, M.E. (1985) Competitive Advantage, Free Press, New York, 1985.

 Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980

[2] Porter, M.E. (1979) "How competitive forces shape strategy", Harvard business Review, March/April 1979

[3] Porter, M.E Porter, M.E. (1990, 1998) "The Competitive Advantage of Nations", Free Press, New York, 1990.

[4] http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm (accessed on 28 June 2010)