EN Focus Group Economics Network hosted March students Self-selected (response to advert) Mainly year 4 (with some 2nd and 3rd years) Mainly international

Focus Group Questions satisfaction with course aspects of the course feel happy with aspects of the course feel unhappy with or feel could be improved prior expectations of the course extent course met /differed from expectations assessment and feedback experienced usefulness of assessment and feedback – passively received or acted upon; support needed improvement of assessment and feedback procedures numeracy and literacy skills: prior preparation and development; placing of EC3001 Maths and Stats balance between modes of learning

Focus Groups: Key Themes Assessment I cant understand why there are unequal proportions between coursework and the exam, e.g. 80 / 20, why not 50 / 50) I (would prefer) to be forced to study on a regular basis and have tests more often presentations in tutorials should count at least 10% they shouldnt mark our (corporate finance assignments) based on what they think the average grade should be at the end Micro 4 was (tests/quizzes) (that) counted (for) 50% of the total mark - and I think I understood it far better than writing essays you dont know what exactly is expected on the exam essay you only cover a fraction of what youve learnt with three (exam) questions

Focus Groups: Key Themes Feedback I cant understand why you cant get any feedback from the essays written in the exams. I got three times in a row the same mark, and I still dont know what Im doing wrong department very helpful - they always found time, and would explain very patiently I think the problem is, and most teachers dont tell you this, is that they have a lot of work - they do research and stuff. So its a matter of time constraint. We want more tutorials but theres no one there to give (them), we want more feedback... You dont get (proper) feedback from your (coursework) essays (each lecturer should) explain how to do the presentation (as) they (each) have different requirements

Focus Groups: Key Themes Quantitative skills The 3rd year maths was just ridiculous. I did more difficult stuff at high school. (from England) third year maths was a lot of new stuff for me … continuous assessment instead of just an exam at the end helped me a lot, because it made me study constantly Maybe (maths) could be progressive (during) first year and second year - rather than everything in the third year if they had an introductory maths course in the first year then I would be fine Id chosen economics because I thought Im good in maths – when I came here I saw no maths, (only) literature and writing essays and I thought this is not what I signed up for

Focus Groups: Key Themes Literary Skills a lot of people, including Scottish people, didnt know how to write essays, (so) maybe have a course on essay writing at the very beginning to give everyone an equal chance the last essay I had to write was in primary school about my favourite book I dont understand the principle of the essay (but) they wont change them because they are very proud of still having essays - in the US everything is short questions, short answers its economics not English literature, so I dont know why they expect us to write essays for the exam. Why cant we just (do) calculations, or short answers

Focus Groups: Key Themes Learning methods the best tutorials were the ones where we had a set of questions and you had to look at them at home (and) come prepared H asked us to read some articles before coming to the (class, and then we) discussed some questions to get if we understood the main concept of the article or not. I found this very helpful could be more group work – (in) geography we had (a group) project doing research, collecting data, and you had your own input and were marked on your own contribution to the project (enjoyed simulations in) macro second year - how things apply to the real world More computer assisted, multiple choice tests programme is not challenging, or demanding as in other countries in Poland I had eight or ten courses per semester, and here I got just two assignments and one report