Do students still have to write essays by hand, during class, in college?

[...................]

I am curious if my struggling speller, would have trouble in college, and be marked down for spelling errors made while writing essays in class?

 

She spells ok, but gets many random words wrong, and I suspect she is mildly dyslexic.  We are considering getting her a professional diagnosis but in our state universities will only make accommodations if it's made by a doctor, which will run us about the 400.00 range.

 

She doesn't need more exam time, and she doesn't need her textbooks read aloud to her on tape, which some colleges do for those with a true dyslexia disability on file, who ask for accommodations.

 

The only concern we would have is whether she has to write in person essays, on paper, by hand.  

 

Which I don't think colleges ever do during exams any more.

[EKS]

We are considering getting her a professional diagnosis but in our state universities will only make accommodations if it's made by a doctor, which will run us about the 400.00 range.

 

Do you mean $4000?  Because $400 would be an unheard of bargain for a dyslexia diagnosis around here as it takes several hours to perform the testing and then write the report.

[marbel]

My kids in community college do handwritten tests in class, and sometimes other writing assignments.  That's my only direct experience, but I do believe other places still use 'blue books' for exams.

 

One of my kids has accommodations for spelling.  Professors ignore his misspellings for purposes of grading.  His school did require documentation of disability, of course.  He had an NP evaluation a couple of years ago, in anticipation of accommodations. 

 

Our experience has been that he can refuse accommodations he doesn't think he needs, but of course if he refuses it, he can't complain if he doesn't do well. He typically doesn't take time and a half for tests, even though he's allowed to.  

 

ETA: Last week his exam was 6 pages of writing!  He was exhausted when he was finished.  

Edited March 30, 2017 by marbel

[The Girls' Mom]

Yes.  I've had to take several exams in my English classes the past few semesters that require paper writing, by hand, in class.  My most recent required around 15 short paragraph answers, and three separate one page essay responses, all on one exam.  

 

It may well be worth getting diagnosed so she can get accommodations.  

[klmama]

My college student writes essay exams during class, too.

[Caroline]

My college student writes essay exams during class, too. He is an engineering major.

[historymatters]

In cursive, I assume. So, my son, who hates actual writing and chooses print over cursive, except with his signature, really needs to work on it.

Edited March 30, 2017 by historymatters

[...................]

I'm sure they don't care if it's cursive or print.  I have never heard of anyone requring cursive...

 

Do they take points off for spelling?

[EKS]

In cursive, I assume. So, my son, who hates actual writing and chooses print over cursive, except with his signature, really needs to work on it.

 

I suspect that they're grateful if whatever they get is legible.

[...................]

Do you mean $4000?  Because $400 would be an unheard of bargain for a dyslexia diagnosis around here as it takes several hours to perform the testing and then write the report.

 I was told a minimum of 400.00.  I live in a very high cost of living area, so I am sure that's not a good estimate if anyone, living anywhere else, has to pay more. :)

 

But I doubt it would be 4000.00.  It's one visit with a psychiatrist, testing is about 2 hours and then the report.  

[lllll]

nm

Edited April 10, 2017 by _ -_-

[...................]

I mean I never thought about it in my short foray at college, because I can spell.  ...it never occurred to me to wonder what someone who couldn't spell well, would do.

 

FTR, she spells well now after using Apples and Pears and also doing another year of ACE and is such an avid reader.  But random words will be spelled wrong such as today she wrote a contract between me and herself, about our morning expectations.  She spelled "present" as "preasant"  and "breaking" as "braking"   but the entire rest of the contract was spelled correctly including words such as announcement, followed, conditions, excluding, following, and then at the end she spelled "breaking" correctly...I did not give her any help.

 

So it's not like her writing is in any way illegible, but there will always be spelling errors, I suspect for the rest of her life.

[EKS]

 I was told a minimum of 400.00.  I live in a very high cost of living area, so I am sure that's not a good estimate if anyone, living anywhere else, has to pay more. :)

 

But I doubt it would be 4000.00.  It's one visit with a psychiatrist, testing is about 2 hours and then the report.  

 

I would plan for $1500-$2000 and then be happy if it's less. Every time my son (with dyslexia) was tested there were at least two visits.  One of last times he was tested, it was by a PhD, and I think it was something like $1200--but this was 9 years ago.  When my younger son was tested by the same person, it was $800, but that was with no LDs, so it was very straightforward.

[...................]

Ok, then I better plan on 1500.00 if we decide to go this route.  Thank you for sharing!!

 

Which, is why, I have to figure out whether she would be likely to ask, meet with the LD coordinator, get accommodations, and then actually use them.

 

She absolutely hates to be different, or in any way singled out, and it took me 4 years to wait for her to even admit she might have mild dyslexia...so looking into her future, the only way she would ever want to tell her prof is if she were in danger of failing.  Honestly, I know her.  

 

Thus, my questions about college and how much points they deduct for spelling errors.

[kiana]

Requiring cursive would be very unusual as most students aren't taught it. 

 

Spelling is going to vary -- it is highly likely to be marked off in (for example) foreign language classes, or on a vocabulary quiz (especially if the spelling error results in a different term). 

 

(amusing story: I read someone's post a long time ago where she mentioned one of her anatomy students wrote 'scrotum' for 'sternum' and was very disgruntled when she wouldn't grant partial credit for a 'spelling error')

[lllll]

nm

Edited April 10, 2017 by _ -_-

[...................]

My dd's target university offers American Sign Language as part of the two year foreign language undergrad requirement.  SHe would be awesome at it.  

 

So that would solve the problem of foreign language.

[...................]

My dd said some professors will take off for spelling and grammar and such, and some won't.  It seems to be up to the individual professor.

Thank you! THis is what I wanted to know.

[marbel]

My dd said some professors will take off for spelling and grammar and such, and some won't.  It seems to be up to the individual professor.

 

Just an anecdote:  my son received accommodations based on NP evaluation.  The disabilities office at his school approved it, and was to send a letter advising his instructor of the accommodations (with copy to my kid).  As instructed, kid spoke to the instructor on the first day and let her know accommodation letter was coming.  OK, fine.

 

Except it never came.  Something went wrong and the letter never went out.  My kid refused to follow up with disabilities office, so he was not granted his accommodations.  He got a B in the class, but the instructor told him it could have been an A, if he'd gotten that letter.  (It was a composition class, so she took off for spelling and punctuation in in-class assignments.)

 

Someone I told this story to said the professor shouldn't have been so hard-nosed about it.  But the way I see it (and my son came to agree), she did him a great favor.  The following 2 semesters he was very careful to follow up on his letters and make sure they got to his instructors. 

 

(And, of course she would have been in violation of something, I imagine, if she'd granted accommodations just on his telling her he was entitled to them. She had to have documentation to excuse him from the requirement, or she would have had to excuse everyone in the class, I think.  Just speculating but that would make sense to me.)

[KarenNC]

My dd's target university offers American Sign Language as part of the two year foreign language undergrad requirement.  SHe would be awesome at it.  

 

So that would solve the problem of foreign language.

 

My daughter is in her second semester of ASL at the local community college (dual enrollment) and has only had to do limited written work, all of which was typed. She has had to submit papers, but they were typed. She said the professor for the first semester had some written (typed) portions of the tests, but this semester's professor has not. 

 

As for spelling errors, in class they've not counted off for spelling, but did on tests. This current professor doesn't seem to be as strict as long as he can understand it or the student corrects the word on their own. My daughter said that might end up with a point off rather than marking the whole thing wrong. 

Edited March 30, 2017 by KarenNC

[...................]

Thank you! All these anecdotes are really helpful as we move forward and decide whether to get a paych evaluation or not

[marbel]

Ok, then I better plan on 1500.00 if we decide to go this route.  Thank you for sharing!!

 

Which, is why, I have to figure out whether she would be likely to ask, meet with the LD coordinator, get accommodations, and then actually use them.

 

She absolutely hates to be different, or in any way singled out, and it took me 4 years to wait for her to even admit she might have mild dyslexia...so looking into her future, the only way she would ever want to tell her prof is if she were in danger of failing.  Honestly, I know her.  

 

Thus, my questions about college and how much points they deduct for spelling errors.

 

I understand this.  But (and I have only limited knowledge of one student at one school), by the time the student is failing, it's too late to seek accommodations for that term.   

 

You might want to check policies and procedures at schools your daughter is interested in. 

[...................]

Understood, and that's what concerns me ....

 

I will look into it further and contact the recommended paych to see what her costs are

 

But I don't think someone could fail a class over spelling errors or even have their grade majorly affected....at least I can't see how that's possible, as my dd has perfectly legible writing that is well thought out and understandable, she just spells some words wrong, more than usual.

[Nicholas_mom]

Thanks for bringing this to my radar.  Here I thought I was doing a great service to my son for typing all his papers on the computer and not worrying about slow writing (because the writing must be perfect) or spelling of words.  :eek:   Of course, the TEST in College, he will have to take needs to be written!!

[Arcadia]

The community colleges here still gives tests/exams that are handwritten. The state university's extension courses exams also have proctored written exams.

 

The psychiatrist quotes I had years ago gave quotes for how much they charge per hour. If you have a HSA, see if you can use that to pay. School district would test for dyslexia for homeschoolers in their district if you want to try the free route first.

 

Here I thought I was doing a great service to my son for typing all his papers on the computer and not worrying about slow writing (because the writing must be perfect) or spelling of words. :eek: Of course, the TEST in College, he will have to take needs to be written!!

SAT and ACT essay as well as the free response questions for AP exams are handwritten unless the test candidate has accommodation that allows typing in lieu of writing.

 

Let him do his own typing as he needs to build up the typing speed before college :)

[Bootsie]

 

 

(And, of course she would have been in violation of something, I imagine, if she'd granted accommodations just on his telling her he was entitled to them. She had to have documentation to excuse him from the requirement, or she would have had to excuse everyone in the class, I think.  Just speculating but that would make sense to me.)

Yes, if accommodations are made for a student without official accommodation paperwork, other students who did not also receive those benefits can file a complaint.  I worked at one university that was just ridiculous about this (I think they had faced some lawsuits).  I was told that a student who broke his right arm on Tuesday night (and was right-handed) and showed up for an exam on Wednesday morning couldn't be given additional time to write his answers (or any accommodations of just marking his paper and not the Scantron) because he did not have official accommodation paperwork--which would have taken several weeks to be able to get. 

[...................]

^^  That is so totally ridiculous!!

[...................]

Thankfully none of my dd's target colleges require the SAT Writing score.  That's good.

[MerryAtHope]

 

The only concern we would have is whether she has to write in person essays, on paper, by hand.  

 

Which I don't think colleges ever do during exams any more.

 

Almost all of my son's classes have had essay tests or at least paragraphs to write--usually the tests seem to be a combination of multiple choice/matching/true-false with some short-answer and then at least a paragraph to write, while others will have full essays. The hardest was a history course that required 4 essays defined as a minimum of 3 paragraphs for each essay, and 5-6 sentences per paragraph.

 

In cursive, I assume. So, my son, who hates actual writing and chooses print over cursive, except with his signature, really needs to work on it.

 

My son only prints and none of his instructors require cursive.

 

I'm sure they don't care if it's cursive or print.  I have never heard of anyone requring cursive...

 

Do they take points off for spelling?

 

Almost none of my son's instructors take off for spelling on tests. His history instructor did require correct spelling for people and places that they studied, but didn't take off for other spelling errors.

[elegantlion]

Yes, we do handwrite essays. How spelling, etc is graded depends upon the class.

[Hilltopmom]

OH goodness. My 16 yr old has illegible handwriting. He's taking Eng 101 this summer.

I guess I just assumed their in class essays could be typed on their laptops. Hmm.

[G5052]

My son is a sophomore business major, and all of his humanities and business classes have had in-class essays on paper.

 

Some professors prefer paper tests because it's easier to monitor for cheating. 

 

When I taught face-to-face, my information technology students took their exams only on college machines because we had software that locked them out of everything but the exam. They were not allowed to take it on their own device because of cheating issues.

 

I also had a number of students over the years with disability accommodations including needing more time on tests, typing instead of handwriting, etc. etc. At that college, they had to go to the disability coordinator with professional evaluations documenting their disability, and then they got a letter that they gave to their professors. So that's an option for a student that struggles with handwriting.

[MarkT]

Do any colleges use a computer lab to do their essay based tests?  

 

[No way they would allow student laptops since cheating would be rampant.]

 

Personally I believe almost all essays should be homework, typed on a computer and in depth.
They could give mid-term/final paper exams that require only a paragraph answer for each question.

Edited March 31, 2017 by MarkT

[SparklyUnicorn]

In cursive, I assume. So, my son, who hates actual writing and chooses print over cursive, except with his signature, really needs to work on it.

 

Never ever never had a college instructor specify. 

[regentrude]

Do any colleges use a computer lab to do their essay based tests?  

 

[No way they would allow student laptops since cheating would be rampant.]

 

Not at our school. 

Also, computers in the computer lab can access the internet. Plus, it would be extremely difficult to schedule to move classes to the computer labs for tests. 

[kiana]

Personally I believe almost all essays should be homework, typed on a computer and in depth.

They could give mid-term/final paper exams that require only a paragraph answer for each question.

 

This opens a lot of ground for students who simply can't write a full essay by themselves to pass using the work of others. 

 

Similarly, frankly in many math classes I'd much prefer to cut back on exams and have much more weight on homework, with more challenging and open-ended questions and access to a textbook, but collaboration is rampant at all levels. 

[regentrude]

OH goodness. My 16 yr old has illegible handwriting. He's taking Eng 101 this summer.

I guess I just assumed their in class essays could be typed on their laptops. 

 

How should that work? Instructors have no way to make sure students don't access unauthorized material on their laptops or communicate with other students or outside sources. 

[regentrude]

Similarly, frankly in many math classes I'd much prefer to cut back on exams and have much more weight on homework, with more challenging and open-ended questions and access to a textbook, but collaboration is rampant at all levels. 

 

Nice euphemism for what is usually sharing the completed homework with others whose sole contribution consists in copying it to their papers.

(I am so sick of this. I am already spending so much time writing all my own assignments so they can't simply copy from a solution manual, but "collaboration" is, indeed, rampant.)

[regentrude]

(And, of course she would have been in violation of something, I imagine, if she'd granted accommodations just on his telling her he was entitled to them. She had to have documentation to excuse him from the requirement, or she would have had to excuse everyone in the class, I think.  Just speculating but that would make sense to me.)

 

Absolutely. The instructor cannot change the rules for one student just based on the student's self reporting, because then all the other students can complain that they were no subject to the same rules. 

[MarkT]

This opens a lot of ground for students who simply can't write a full essay by themselves to pass using the work of others. 

 

Similarly, frankly in many math classes I'd much prefer to cut back on exams and have much more weight on homework, with more challenging and open-ended questions and access to a textbook, but collaboration is rampant at all levels. 

I don't disagree with your statement but I know the essay I would produce on a blue-book in an hour would be a piece of crap compared to one done over several days with re-writes.

 

I guess at some point we have to trust the students somewhat.  Not many students can afford to "hire" someone to write essays for them.  Plain old plagiarized papers are pretty easy to detect with technology.

 

Maybe some collaboration on math problems isn't that bad if in the end they all understand.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't disagree with your statement but I know the essay I would produce on a blue-book in an hour would be a piece of crap compared to one done over several days with re-writes.

 

I guess at some point we have to trust the students somewhat.  Not many students can afford to "hire" someone to write essays for them.  Plain old plagiarized papers are pretty easy to detect with technology.

 

Maybe some collaboration on math problems isn't that bad if in the end they all understand.

 

I don't think the expectations would be the same though.  Of course a person should have a more polished essay they had time to work on verses just an hour.

 

This is something I'm working on right now with my kid (timed essay type exams).  Everything we've read about this says it's different than a take home essay assignment.  Mostly the instructor is looking for you to demonstrate that you know/understand the information. 

 

I don't know about the spelling thing.  I suspect that having lousy spelling can be something that gets some points marked off if for no other reason than it gives off a certain impression (sometimes), but then I also suspect many instructors would not get that hung up about it if otherwise the essay was well written.  Some people struggle with spelling no matter what they do.  My family seems to be down the middle with this one.  Half of us are natural spellers and half are terrible spellers. 

Edited March 31, 2017 by SparklyUnicorn

[MarkT]

Nice euphemism for what is usually sharing the completed homework with others whose sole contribution consists in copying it to their papers.

(I am so sick of this. I am already spending so much time writing all my own assignments so they can't simply copy from a solution manual, but "collaboration" is, indeed, rampant.)

That isn't collaboration in my book. I hope they fail the exams!

[SparklyUnicorn]

That isn't collaboration in my book. I hope they fail the exams!

 

Yeah no kidding.  This is why I hated getting together with people to study.  That usually meant mooching off the efforts of one or two.  I thought people would stop doing that in college.  Nope.  Some people just suck that way.  I imagine eventually that bites them in the @$$.

[regentrude]

I don't disagree with your statement but I know the essay I would produce on a blue-book in an hour would be a piece of crap compared to one done over several days with re-writes.

 

I guess at some point we have to trust the students somewhat.  Not many students can afford to "hire" someone to write essays for them.  Plain old plagiarized papers are pretty easy to detect with technology.

 

Maybe some collaboration on math problems isn't that bad if in the end they all understand.

 

The instructor will have different expectations for an in-class essay than for an essay written at home. He or she will not expect a polished product like the one that emerges after careful drafts and editing; the goal of the assignment would be a different one.

 

I encourage collaboration on problem solving, but emphasize the danger of being a passive participant without understanding. The incentive structure in our large intro courses is such that copied homework will not help, since students are called at random to the board to reproduce homework problems without their notes in recitation. In my smaller class, however, I don't have extra recitations and can only grade homework, where I cannot conclusively prove who copied and who actually collaborated. 

[Hilltopmom]

How should that work? Instructors have no way to make sure students don't access unauthorized material on their laptops or communicate with other students or outside sources.

You're totally right, it had just never occured to me.

 

We didn't have laptops back in my days at college & I was just thinking that since everyone has them now & they're used in class for taking notes, that they'd be used for in class essays too.

 

Ds has only taken computer science classes DE so far, & all that work/& tests is done on a computer in class, I just hadn't thought about in class writing assignments being different.

 

It's ok & makes sense.. I just need to warn him.

[kiana]

I guess at some point we have to trust the students somewhat.  Not many students can afford to "hire" someone to write essays for them.  Plain old plagiarized papers are pretty easy to detect with technology.

 

Maybe some collaboration on math problems isn't that bad if in the end they all understand.

 

1) Well, no, past experience has shown I can't if I expect to maintain the integrity of a degree granted by our institution. 

 

2) It's not hiring someone to write essays (you are correct about that) but getting a well-meaning friend or an inappropriately "helpful" tutor to do so much editing that the essay is unrecognizable. 

 

3) If they all understood at the end I would be absolutely fine with that. As a matter of fact I strongly encourage collaboration when it involves explaining. But there are two kinds of undesirable collaboration. i) Outright copying. ii) Again, we run into the well-meaning friend or inappropriately helpful tutor. A conversation like the following: "Then what do I do?" "Square root both sides" "And then what?" A student who has worked in this manner feels like they did their own homework, but is unable to solve similar questions without their friend's assistance. 

[MerryAtHope]

We didn't have laptops back in my days at college & I was just thinking that since everyone has them now & they're used in class for taking notes, that they'd be used for in class essays too.

 

I actually wonder how common it is to use them for taking notes. I don't think it's common at my son's school (we thought he'd do that but after the first day or two, he has never taken his laptop to school and just uses it at home). I thought I read on here once that some instructors don't want laptops used in classes because it gets noisy with everyone typing--I'm not sure if that was just one person's experience or a common thought though!

[Bootsie]

Do any colleges use a computer lab to do their essay based tests?  

 

 

I have taught at schools that have computer labs  where essay-based exams and exams that require the use of statistical packages can be given.  However, scheduling exams can be difficult in that the labs are often booked and may have fewer computers than students enrolled in a given class.

 

Where I teach now, disability services has a number of word processors that can be checked out for an exam by a student who has documented disabilities.  These machines are cleaned between each student and cannot access the internet.

[kiana]

I actually wonder how common it is to use them for taking notes. I don't think it's common at my son's school (we thought he'd do that but after the first day or two, he has never taken his laptop to school and just uses it at home). I thought I read on here once that some instructors don't want laptops used in classes because it gets noisy with everyone typing--I'm not sure if that was just one person's experience or a common thought though!

 

Other instructors don't want them used in classes because:

 

Students use them for social media and surfing the web.

Students watch videos or play games on them, which distracts not only them but everyone around them.

Most students retain less from typewritten notes because they tend to transcribe rather than take notes, which reduces thought and engagement with the material (this is a "most", some do better with typewritten notes of course). 

[Bootsie]

I don't disagree with your statement but I know the essay I would produce on a blue-book in an hour would be a piece of crap compared to one done over several days with re-writes.

 

The point of the hour in-class essay is not to produce the same quality of work that an essay written over several days with rewrites.  The professor realizes this.  The professor knows that if she sits down to write a paper the draft she has after the first hour is not as polished as the paper she has after she has reworked in for several days.  The purpose of the in-class essay is much more likely to see if the student can organize his thoughts, can put a coherent argument together, and has a good grasp of the material.