# Oxford University gave students 15 extra minutes to take exams. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2018, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxford-university-gave-students-15-extra-minutes-to-take-exams/807284 "2018-01-23T08:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 28
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxford-university-gave-students-15-extra-minutes-to-take-exams/807284/28 "2018-01-24T00:05:35Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > What drove me nuts is that in the lower grades my kids were encouraged to do mental math. They weren’t SUPPOSED to show their work. Then sometime in middle school the rules changed and now showing your work was all important - even if you got the right answer, not showing your work would knock you down points. I am rage-twitching. Two weeks ago I gave my kids a computerized math test, required by my district, along with a sheet of paper. “SHOW YOUR WORK,” I demanded, in keeping with what I’ve been telling them all year. The test is adaptive (changes according to student responses), and shows progress from the beginning of the year. Four kids either showed minimal progress from the beginning of the year or actually dropped in scores. So I called them over, showed them their scores, and showed them their nearly-blank work pages. “So, you conducted an experiment,” I told them. “I said you ought to show your work, and you decided to do mental math instead and see what happened. Take a look at what happened! Next week you’ll re-take the test, and I’d like you to conduct a different experiment: this time, SHOW YOUR WORK, and see what happens.” Today I had them re-take the test. Of the three that finished, every one of them showed huge growth over their previous test. I called them back, showed them their filled-up page and their much-higher scores, and told them they’d tried a new experiment. “Do you see the results?” I asked. “Will you REMEMBER THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!” There are certainly times where mental math is appropriate, but goddamn, kids are fine with not doing writing. I have almost never had to persuade a student to show less work. The challenge is almost always in the opposite direction. It’s insane to think that some elementary teachers teach their kids to do mental math as a default. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxford-university-gave-students-15-extra-minutes-to-take-exams/807284)._