American or English….Who Is More Student Friendly?!
University entrance exams; the most miserable kind of tests you can encounter in your life. They not only haunt me in my dreams, but I also chose to write about them now. I want to reflect on the different types of tests I took as part of my application to McGill as well as the tests I took for the many coming applications.
I came to Canada from a country that follows the English education system rather than the American system. I experienced, during my 12 years in school, the very essence of the English style of education. And now, I want to reflect on my thoughts after I came to Canada and experienced the American. While both systems share a rich tradition of quality education and intellectualism, there are many differences between the two systems regarding the structure of their tests that struck me from the very first year in Canada.
I have taken the English A-level exams and the SAT as well as the MCAT for my applications. Objectively speaking, I think that the American style of testing is easier. I find that the questions posed are usually more straightforward and constricting. The answers required are also straightforward. I am specifically referring here to multiple-choice questions. Exams like the MCAT are 100% multiple choice. Also, tests like midterms and finals during the normal academic year are at least 70% multiple-choice questions. I think that the majority of students would prefer multiple-choice questions over essay questions. Although, the exams themselves are longer in duration, and extremely tiring. Nothing compares to the 7 hour long MCAT!! The A-levels, on the other hand, are mostly focusing on long answer questions and essays. Multiple-choices are rare. It focuses on details rather than direct summaries. Another difference between the 2 styles of education is that during the academic year, you find that the English style is more theoretical based and most of the grade weight is on the midterm and final, in contrast to what I found here in Canada where there are multiple papers to right and a number of presentations to prepare for, throughout the semesters, to boost my grades up.
From a subjective point of view, I found the English style tests to be a lot easier. I know it is weird, but I did much better on the A-levels than I am doing now on the MCAT or how I did on the SAT. I know what you are thinking; the content of the A-level is made for high school level knowledge and stuff, but no! the MCAT material is the same ones that I was tested for on the A-levels. Exactly the same! Also, the material covered on the SAT is way easier than what I was doing for the A-levels. Maybe it is because I spent 12 years doing English style tests that I simply learned what to expect, or maybe I just dislike multiple-choice questions in favor of writing paragraphs about what I learned.
