Actually, it’s more than “hinting”… it’s called “cheating”… and it occurred in our very own backyard. If you haven’t heard about THE leak regarding the reading comprehension and written expression tests, read this post:

http://ladamedragon.com/blog/?p=2755

Have a great evening!

In both high school and University classes our teachers/professors/TAs would give us “review sessions” before tests (especially midterms and final exams), and those review sessions almost always would include not just what topics the exams would cover, and how many questions on which subjects, and how many of what type of questions (e.g. 10 M/C, 15 T/F, 7 short answer, choose 2 of 5 long essay, 1 bonus); but they would also give us at least a few specific pointers that if you paid attention would tell you exactly what to study to allow you to answer at least a couple questions. Sometimes even telling us actual question(s) (for one or two questions), especially if not too many students came to the review session.

We quickly learned that taking the time to come to the review session (which was often optional) was worth it ! There were always golden nuggets. Now, maybe if you didn’t do any of the work already it wouldn;’t help you very much, but for those of us who actually had been paying attention, it was helpful, and there were some gifts .

I guess none of us is familiar with this system! Here, at no time, students would be given hints before any exams… it would be considered as cheating. Even the PSAC SLE tests (which in fact aren’t anything official except inside the government) are modified all the time and candidates have to sign a confidentiality clause (as if they could remember 65 long questions!)… Personally, I don’t have anything against giving students some hints : I think it only alleviates nervousness and anxiety. But, around here, giving hints is unthinkable!

À la prochaine!

I’m honoured that you replied to my post! Most of the time, people don’t dare to come out of the shadow and discuss whatever I wrote. For instance, after all this time, I’d like someone from the PSC to reply so that it could put some light on their tests I’ve been questioning for a long time.

That being said, I totally agree with you that these days classes have too many students: I really do admire teachers who have to struggle with that on a daily basis. The schooling system isn’t perfect either! Personally, I couldn’t work with more than 4 students (the maximum I do accept in my groups) without thinking that I can’t answer their individual needs.

And I’m happy that you brought up the fact that the children can actually get somewhat involved in the learning activity/process (this was my main concern indeed!).

Of course this trend of online teaching is fairly new and I guess we will see the results only in a few years from now. I’ve been reluctant myself and, even if I started doing it in one-on-one sessions, I don’t think it suits everyone… we shall see!

Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it!