So, from the look of things, we’d be writing our CBT (Computer Based Test) tomorrow. We wrote our final exams over a month ago, but we’ve not really been free from the school because we still have to contend with CBT and then our project defense which is coming up soon.
I think I’ve made my thoughts on CBT known countless times on this blog. It’s not something that’s designed to help students, it’s main function is just to ensure that you pay all your fees. From school fees to all the other tiny fees that are heaped on the poor broke students. Because without paying these fees, you won’t write the test and if you don’t write it, just know that you’d be carrying the course over.
CBT is the reason many of my coursemates got carryovers when they were not supposed to. They did everything they were supposed to, worked their ass off in their assignments and in preparation for their exams. However, due to the fact that they couldn’t pay their fees, they carried the course over. It’s painful, but it’s something almost every school is doing right now. It’s working for them because we can’t really fight them. We can only do what they tell us to do; it’s the policy.
But then, the fees aspect is not the only reason I dislike this project. One of the annoying traits of this is how poorly planned it usually is. You can spend anything between 10 -13 hours just to write an exam of 20 minutes. There are always queues, and there are always clashes between departments because some of them were scheduled to write at the same time and in the same hall.
Last semester, I wrote the CBT. We were supposed to start it by 9AM in the morning, but I didn’t get into the hall until 5PM that day. That’s to tell you just how annoying it can be. Thankfully, I’m a remote worker and I can do most of my jobs directly on my phone so it might not have affected me much except for the tiredness and the frustration for the way things were being handled.
However, there were those who had to take excuse from work. They told their boss they would be back nothing later than 11 AM, only to find out that even by that time, they were nowhere closer to getting into the hall. When you think about it, it’s just frustrating as hell.
I just wish it could be more like the traditional exams; they are extremely reliable. If the exam is to start by 9 am, you can bet that it will start then and end right on time. So, if you’re planning to be home by noon, nothing will stop you from achieving that. But then, there is only so much the school authorities can do, with them having only one ICT hall to cater to the needs of thousands of students scattered across so many departments and levels.
The best solution to this would be to scrap CBT as a whole. But then, since that’s most likely not going to happen, I bet that they can just provide more buildings and computer systems so that more students can write at the same time. Because the frustration is just too much. I can’t help but pity for those who would have to keep dealing with all these.
