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Hey everyone, I am currently preparing myself for the TOEFL.

As I am neither accompanied by an English-language teacher nor do I have anyone else who could check on the brief essays I made in order to get some practice for the writing part, I thought posting them online might be another way to get some contructive feedback on what to improve in my writing.

As I'd really need a good score on the TOEFL (the outcome being probably decisive for me getting to participate in an exchange program or not), I urge you to be as severe as possible and to mark any sentence or word which seems a bit off to you.

I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you very, very much!

Question: In some classes, course grades are based solely on exams, while in other classes, grades are based more on class participation than on exams.

Which type of grading do you prefer?

Use specific reasons to support your response.

Essay: If I was to choose between a grading-system which is exclusively based on exam scores and one which takes as well in consideration how the students have participated in class during the term, I would clearly prefer the second one.

There are several reasons that support this choice.

First of all, I think that participating in class is really essential for thoroughly understanding a topic.

It is scientifically proven that students learn much better when they are interacting with the professor and classmates.

By giving good grades to those who regularly contribute to discussions in class, the professor encourages other students to adopt a more active attitude in class.

Not only does this grading system create a good learning environement but moreover it is a lot more likely to reflect the students real competences.

Many students get bad scores on their examens because they can not handle the stress.

Furthermore, in most cases there is only one final exam which is decisive for the students mark.

Therefore, a student who spent a lot of time preparing the exam might score a bad grade because he didn't perform well that day, whereas classroom participation is evaluated during the whole term and depends thus much less on the daily form of the students.

Last but not least, I think that is much more sensible to base the grades on students on class participation, because by these means the professor can also analyze the students relational competences.

Whereas answering a couple of question on a copy doesn't require to interact with another person, debating in class does.

Being able to understand the point of view of another person and to argue in a peaceful and respectful manner is crucial for the students later work.

Since university should prepare the students for their work, I consider that this marking system would be most beneficial to everyone.