I felt nostalgic making my way to the UCD examination hall at the RDS in Ballsbridge this month. It brought back memories from more than 30 years ago of my annual trek there for various arts degrees exams. In an era before continuous assessment, there was lot riding on these three-hour exams, especially in the final year.

But we were not overburdened compared to those who came before us. When reflecting on the lot of arts students in the 1960s and 1970s, UCD lecturer Michael Laffan, who taught many of them history, recalled: “Examinations took place in rapid succession and students had little time to regain their breath between papers. In 1966, for instance, history and politics students sat 11 three-hour examinations in just over a week, between 9.30am on one Tuesday and 12.30pm on the next.”

Until the 1970s, only the end-of-year examinations in history counted for the final grade, meaning essays were excluded. The rival merits of examinations and continuous assessment were regularly debated; the minutes of a UCD committee meeting assessing the options suggested “the pressure or terror element was a major factor in the examination system – some saw it as a challenge and a stimulus”. In 1974, at another meeting between staff and students, it was asserted that if students fully appreciated what continuous........

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