The day after I got home from Sydney I had my first test in Australia. I was a little nervous, mostly because I was still in vacation mode and had barely prepared (it was my hardest subject, controls), but also because I wasn't sure what a test would feel like at UniMelb. Well, quite different, it turns out.
I should start off by explaining what a test is like at Princeton. Inside the orange bubble tests are very organized and orderly. Everyone starts at the exact same time. Everyone follows directions. Everyone finishes at the exact same time. The seriousness of the Honor Code we sign on every exam means we are petrified to look like we are gaining an advantage in any way. Because it's a self-enforced policy (as in the professors are not even allowed in the room during the test, and students are expected to police each other), we end up behaving quite well. It all ends up fair. Cheating on a test at Princeton is virtually impossible. It is absolutely the best way to go about these sorts of things.
This test seemed exactly the opposite. It was a complete mess--a balagan, a shit show, a circus, whatever you want to call it. One professor handed out the exam to each row of the 400-person lecture, which took quite a while. While he said, "don't start yet," the student next to me immediately opened his up and started. Presumably people in the front started even earlier. Normally this would have really bothered me, but I just let it slide. There was also "reading time" for the first five minutes, in which you are supposed to read but not write. Well, many people ignored that "rule," too. By the time the professor gave us the okay to begin, I felt like most of the room was already halfway through their test. The same thing happened when he told us to stop; people kept writing until he came to collect from their row. At Princeton, that can get your exam ripped up (or worse), but here all it gets you is a little finger wave.
So the standards of fairness seem to have been left by the wayside. It's a bit awkward and disappointing, I must say--I expected more. Exams are such a horrible (yet inevitable) method of assessment to begin with, it's nice that at least at Princeton they're administered in the most comfortable way possible.
You may have gotten the impression by now that the Australian academic system is pretty stupid. You're right. It's ridiculous the way they do things here. Nobody goes to lecture. They barely work during the semester and then get slammed at the end for an enormous final, for which they have to study an enormous amount when they realize they haven't retained anything all semester. It's an extremely inefficient way to learn. Many Australians agree, especially the ones who have gone on exchange to places with sensical academic systems (i.e. America). That being said, this system has allowed me to squeeze the most out of my experience in Melbourne, and in the end I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't want my study abroad to be any other way. I've been able to go out and see the city and the country in a way that would be impossible with a Princeton workload. So while I'll be holed up at my desk for the last three weeks of the semester, until then I'll continue to live it up.
P.S.: I ended pulling a rabbit out of the hat with a 7.2/10 (class average was 6.5). I guess there was no need to worry.
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