PERECPECTIVE ON THE STRUCTURED ORAL EXAMINATION

Abstract

Oral examination, sometimes called viva which is a Spanish word means alive or vital,should be considered seriously because it gives a clear and direct impression about thestudent's level of education, and how to behave when facing difficult situation.Considerable number of students feels very unhappy about oral examination andprobably prefers the written ones. Oral examination also gives an idea about thepersonality, the behavior, the way of communication, and the response of the student toa difficult situation. Napoleon the French commander said: it is easier for hire toparticipate thousand times in a battle field than to site once in the examination hall.Oral examination is one of the oldest methods of student's evaluation, and probably itwas the only way to examine in the ancient days.In oral examination, the students rights should come on the top of everything and thebenefit of doubt should be on the student's side always. Unfortunately, sometimes mixup occurs between under and post graduate students and even between different levelsof post graduate students, the same question may be given to all levels for that reason aclear cut sharp line should be drawn between the different levels of students, andspecifications in the questions for each level in mandatory.Almost all students are anxious during oral examination, this anxiety is usuallyassociated with lower oral score, therefore sympathy and empathy is necessary from theexaminers side.To perform oral examination, four corner stones are mandatory which consist ofstudents, examiners, questions and examination hall. Perils and pitfalls may arise in anyof the above.The author is putting down his perspective on the structured oral examination whichconsist of giving mark for each separate questions in addition to separate and secretscore from each member of the examination committee, and how ideally should beperformed to reduce or to avoid pitfalls and achieve justice as much as possible.