Aishat*, a 300-level student of Faculty of Education, Lagos State University (LASU) was surfing the internet for amusement on Sunday to relax from a study-filled weekend when she received a phone call from one of her colleagues notifying her of a change in time of an exam previously scheduled for the following day by 3pm.
She hurried to visit the university’s exam venue checker portal, and to her surprise, the exam had been rescheduled for 8:30 am.
“I lost count of how many times the timetable has changed,” Aishat told Edugist.
According to a study by Sage Journals, one of the factors more closely associated to predict performance on exams, aside from study effort and language skills, is test anxiety. “We find that exam performance is negatively related to test anxiety and avoidance goals and positively related to study effort, performance approach goals, and English language skills,” according to the study.
Changing the time earlier scheduled for an exam to a closer time has the potential to create test anxiety in students, thereby, affecting their examination performance.
Speaking to Edugist on the effect of the development on the students in Lagos State University, Hammed, a 500-level student of Chemical and Polymer Engineering said it is a concern because the time table is too “choked,” a slang word often used to describe how cumbersome something is.
Uncommunicated timetable revisions, a culture in LASU
Exam postponement and sudden, uncommunicated revisions of examination timetable have become a culture at Lagos State University, Aishat said.
“This destabilises us (students) because we have a plan in place concerning the order of studying for exams,“ she lamented with a devastating voice.
After studying hard for the exam previously rescheduled for 8am, Aishat said the exam was later postponed. “Everyone had printed the exam dockets, lined up at the exam venue, and the exam didn’t hold. It is so sad.”
A source in 400 level who spoke on the basis of anonymity said this culture has been ongoing since he was in 100 level. He said he almost had a carryover in 100 level because of sudden and uncommunicated revisions to the institution’s examination timetable. “A friend of mine had a carryover in the course because he missed the exam. Although he didn’t retake it because it was an elective, it gravely affected his grade point average (GPA),” he told Edugist.
* Names have been changed to protect identities.
