McMaster's respectability for academic is in grave danger. Students are blatantly abusing the MSAF system. This with the recent GPA dropped for Honor Economic has me worry.

Anyone else feeling the same way? Should we petition to have MSAF system re-evaluated and perhaps removed? It would be really unfortunate if years from now, people will be making fun of McMaster like they make fun of Ryerson or York.

Lol no wtf MSAF is like the best part of mcmaster

No.

12no's...

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

McMaster's respectability for academic is in grave danger. Students are blatantly abusing the MSAF system. This with the recent GPA dropped for Honor Economic has me worry.

Anyone else feeling the same way? Should we petition to have MSAF system re-evaluated and perhaps removed? It would be really unfortunate if years from now, people will be making fun of McMaster like they make fun of Ryerson or York.

I don't think we should. It's nice that McMaster can cut some students slack, I felt my high school teachers were way more strict about missing tests even if things like family emergencies or other things happen. It's nice not having to worry about documentation if god forbid, something happened, it's the last thing you'd want to be thinking about - how do I prove that I actually had a family emergency/illness.

To the people that abuse it, it just makes their exam worth more, I find that to be very risky, chances are their mark will be lower on the exam, unless they just go off and study like crazy for the exam.

I think they should only on the basis of its volatility. They're really doing you no favours by allowing it to exist as you start to make decisions with it in mind. I've begun making sure I use it at the beginning of a term on something small so I don't even consider it later on.

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

This with the recent GPA dropped for Honor Economic has me worry.

RIP grammar and the english language.

the irony kills me.. my sides

thanks for the laughs OP

Originally Posted by naval23

I don't think we should. It's nice that McMaster can cut some students slack, I felt my high school teachers were way more strict about missing tests even if things like family emergencies or other things happen. It's nice not having to worry about documentation if god forbid, something happened, it's the last thing you'd want to be thinking about - how do I prove that I actually had a family emergency/illness.

To the people that abuse it, it just makes their exam worth more, I find that to be very risky, chances are their mark will be lower on the exam, unless they just go off and study like crazy for the exam.

This right here.

If a system exists, people will find a way to abuse it. The current system has the advantage that for people who do have problems have a hassle-free way to miss a test or assignment instead of dealing with annoying administrative people. The current system also doesn't really make the university a laughing stock either, people who MSAF tests just to skip them on average still doing horribly/failing anyway.

I don't think it should matter how other students use it. It doesn't help you out in any way.

sounds like more work for Dr. Ng

Deferring a test will just make it worse. having a 70% exam final is so pressuring and rough. If they can deal with it great. Honestly why would you remove a win win for McMaster. Students have one chance for a) "strategic studying" b) Abstaining it for a legit reason combined with the school admins not having to personally deal with it the first time.

Tl;dr 1st time is good for both students and admins.

You're only given one per semester plus it could even come back and make things even worse overall so I don't think it's an issue. If you think it's bad now, we were allowed two msafs per semester a couple years ago lol.

Splitting up your marks is the best possible thing you could do to increase your overall grade... more often than not, midterm marks are higher for the amount of time put in to obtain them.

It does 'devalue the degree', however. This is mostly due to the fact that professors don't care to follow up on MSAFs beyond rescheduling and changing weights.

Umm NO! Here's why:

1) Students can practically walk in to most clinics and get a doctors note by paying for it, without having illness of any sort. So getting rid of MSAF will not really help in the sense that students can always "have a way out".
2) MSAF can actually make the situation worse for the student when the midterm weight is added to the final - What Ryan said in the above post.
3) Its 1 MSAF per term. Not like they're unlimited like it used to be when it started out as an H1N1 tool. Its not hurting anyone. If its hurting anyone, its yourself - As Cecil said in the above post, you start making decisions keeping in mind that you have an MSAF at your disposal.
4) There are occasions when I'm sick but I don't go to the doctor. Or sometimes when I'm sick, I cannot go to the doctor or have no one to take me. Or there are times when I can't get "documentation" for why I might have missed the test. MSAF is really beneficial then.

I don't know about others, but I have always used my MSAFs (Sometimes for genuine reasons) and I've always done relatively better in courses where I didn't skip an assignment, quiz or midterm.

Also for OP:

I don't think removing MSAF is a good idea. Most professors don't want to deal with it in the first place. If MSAF gets removed then there will be no relief, especially in large (i.e. first-year) courses. However I would support reducing the weighting limit for the MSAF. I think it's ridiculous that people can MSAF anything under 30%, and that midterms in upper year courses are consequently made worth 30+% (in part) to combat that. Dropping it to 15% (or even 10) would cover most things that aren't tests.

I suppose some people can get medical notes, but if a doctor is willing to say you are "sick". he/she seems like a bit of a slime.