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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. [Volume 39, Number 19, 1976.]

Increase in Overall Pressure

Increase in Overall Pressure

The Commerce and Administration Faculty committee in commenting on the increase of pressure due to many assignments being assessed towards final grades stated "It seems likely therefore that even if the total number of assignments have not increased, the pressure involved in completing these assignments has risen. The result is that students felt under continuous trial in everything they do". The Student Welfare Services report of 1973 noted that some students were even under the impression that their performance in large tutorials was being assessed. Also Student Welfare Director I Boyd commented "Where in-term assessment is based on results of tests and exams, spread throughout the year, this method of assessment may still be unfair to the student who is not good at sitting exams".

Another aspect of the spread of pressure was, as both the Science and Commerce Faculty committee and the Student Welfare Services noted, that often finals exams were retained with an equal duration as formerly though for less marks.

Thus for many students an overall increase in pressure results from the continuous spread pressure on top of the very end of course pressure that ITA was supposed to alleviate. This seems to reflect the inability of departments to adjust to the changes in degree structure and reinforces the suspicion that often ITA was simply a token to students. Alternatively many staff and students had not yet adjusted to the new assessment form.