Exams Part I, Construction

TTY: Tom Bowers

Exams count. Both student and professor must consider them seriously, prepare thoroughly and deliver! The assessment must be fair, appropriate, designed for various types of learning styles, and lend itself to efficient and consistent grading. This isn’t easy for anyone.

Another Blogger has a well-organized set of comments on writing exams (see his list at on the right side of his template.) I’ll use his major headings and make comments in the same four areas in the next few blogs. (Construction, Student Preparation, Format, Returning Exams)

Most of my experience is with coordinated sections involving 2-4 professors evaluating 100-400 students on the freshman level. We do not give scantron exams for reasons I’ll discuss in another blog. Occasionally I teach a class by myself, but I use the techniques we’ve developed in the past 15 years for the combined section courses.

We have a standard set of principles to be assessed since our courses are prerequisites for future classes. We keep a uniform format with 4-5 parts in an exam with different types of questions such as : Discussion/Interpretation, Skill Assessment (like writing formulas/equations, classifying something), Problem Solving (show your work), and Multiple Choice (things that don’t fit into the other categories). With a consistent format, the students soon learn how to allow their time appropriately during the exam.

When several professors are involved in writing an exam, the quality of the exam increases. Colleagues can discern how the wording might be misinterpreted or lead to an unintended response. I cannot overemphasize the importance of having someone else read an exam draft. It always improves the quality.

There are some excellent references regarding exam writing, tips for good exams, and other worthwhile literature on-line that I highly recommend.

1. Lucy Jacobs, Indiana Unversity

2. Frank Logan, University of New Mexico

In my opinion, most but not all of the exam should be what a student can anticipate, such as questions similar in style and content to those done in class. However, at least one question (5-8%) should give students the chance to link concepts together, perhaps in a new way, and demonstrate a deeper understanding of the material. By providing a new experience based directly on the material, the student learns to accept a challenge and respond.

I realize that students prefer knowing in advance exactly what will be on the exam, but I disagree. A professor should be able to write a comprehensive question requiring an intellectual stretch directly related to the material. In the sciences, we often ask the student to interpret an unexpected lab result, make a prediction based on data, or interpret an unusual graph or figure. In time, students do learn to accept the challenge. They know it is coming, so during the exam they are not surprised (well, not totally!) The rewards in terms of a sense of accomplishment and growth in academic maturity are tremendous for student and professor alike. Those students who merely “memorize everything” are easily identified.

Let me reiterate, the stretching question is a small percentage of the total exam (5-8%). Most of the exam should be directly related to the classroom material in style and content but not ver batim.

Some readers may disagree (perhaps strongly) with me. I welcome your comment either way!