By Melissa Priore CCC Journalism Program
All students enrolled in English 101 and English 102 courses at Camden County College must take a departmental final toward the end of the semester.
Students are must register for the final through CCC’s website. The timed essay is administered in the library.
Listed are the sessions a CCC student can attend the exam. The time, the date, the campus and room the test will be administered, ending with how many seats are left to take the exam.
The essays are graded on a scale from one to 12. A score of less than a six is a failed final. If a student fails the final, they cannot receive the grade or credits for their registered course until they pass.
Students have a year to retake the test until they need to retake the course.
“You’re going to write more research papers once you transfer to another school,” said Stephanie Gavin (33, Pine Hill, human services major), “If you can’t pass a departmental final for English 101, you’re not in good shape for furthering your education.”
But Toni Gerome (30, Pennsauken, criminal justice major) and Lauren Longfellow (19, Voorhees, fire science major) both agree that they don’t like the fact that the departmental is what determines passing the class. “I don’t think it’s fair, honestly,” said Gerome.
Longfellow agreed with Gerome. “There’s no reason you should pass through the whole class just fine then have to take one last test that if you fail, you fail the whole course,” said Longfellow.
Other schools, such as Burlington County College, don’t have a departmental final for English courses.
So why is there departmental testing for the English courses at CCC?
The head of the English department, Anthony Spatola, said there’s a need for testing beyond the classroom of the professor.
The instructors of the Camden County College English department.
“Instructors have great latitude in how they conduct their classes,” Spatola said, “The common writing examination provides an impartial method for students to demonstrate that they have mastered the core learning objectives of the course.”