Avlynne, I think there are a few reasons: 1) I hate to say it, but there are probably a lot of exam teachers who are cutting corners (and I am saying this based on conversations I've had with teachers, not just my own assumptions) because they know that no one will check up on them. I don't know what percentage of teachers that is, but I have a feeling that it's quite significant. So kol hakavod to you for doing it the right way, but 2) Because the logs are the full Bagrut grade, I think that a lot of teachers have a heightened sense of responsibility for their students - with the exam, teachers can just shrug off students who aren't working, give them a low school (Magen) grade, and let them take their chances with the exam. With the log, teachers are the ones actually giving a grade, so they tend to work harder just to make sure everyone's actually doing what they should be. In a Jerusalem log teachers' meeting, Judie Siegel told of a teacher friend who actually drove to a student's house to pick up a post-reading task that the student had completed (late) for a poetry unit!!! (And just to be clear, she told us all to NEVER do that, or anything remotely similar.) So, no, I don't run after my students all day for their work, but I definitely do work harder and feel more pressure about making sure they do what they need to do than I would if I were teaching for the exam. 3) In my opinion, the fact that teachers know that the Ministry will be doing random sampling also makes them grade more carefully / double check themselves, because hey, no one wants to look bad to the inspectorate. 4) Last but not least, I believe that many of the teachers doing the log are preparing their own units / doing more than is required by the program, because the creative possibilities of the log tend to attract more creative teachers. That, too, is a lot of work. Now let me make it very clear. I am NOT saying that the exam is a cop-out, or that all the creative teachers do logs and exam teachers are lacking in creativity. Nor am I saying that people choose the exam in order to cheat the system. But I do think that it is easier to cheat the system when doing the exam. David, perhaps we could have an ETNI poll of exam teachers to find out how many are teaching and grading exactly according to Ministry specifications? My feeling is that it won't accurately reflect what happening out there, since the teachers on ETNI are usually more active and knowledgeable than those who've never heard of ETNI, but it could still be interesting to get a glimpse of what's going on out there. All the best, Rivka Avlynne wrote: I teach in two schools and I have taught the log option and the exam so I can compare. What I do not understand is why so many people think that doing the exam is so much easier and so much less work. The 2 options have the same components - both options have to have all 7 of them - there has to be a grade for the summative assessment and the 30% graded task, worksheets etc have to be done for basic understanding, analysis, interpretation, bridging has to be done and a reflection etc so, IF it is done to specifications as it should be, the exam certainly is not less work than the log. The only difference that I have seen is that once the unit is done and the grades written in the grade book, the teacher does not have to worry about whether the student loses the work or keeps it safe to hand in at the end and rubrics do not have to be put in the files. Granted, there is the final checking of logs but if the work has been done properly all the way through, it is an overview c heck and the teachers are paid for this. So why is the exam considered to be so much less work and even a "cop out"? Avlynne Avlynne Fisher 054 4916 351 Look for the miracles! ************************************** ** Join ETNI on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/31737970668/ ** ETNI Blog and Poll http://ask-etni.blogspot.co.il/ ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org ** post to ETNI List - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** help - ask@xxxxxxxx ***************************************