Questions tagged [exams]
This tag is intended for questions about exams as viewed from the point of view of an instructor.
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Should I design my exams to have time-pressure or not?
Is it better to design an exam with fewer questions and relaxed timing or with more questions and a resulting time-pressure?
One the one hand, it seems that students who really know the stuff will ...
- 4,076
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Formula sheets and books during tests and exams
Some teachers make memorizing formulas, definitions and others things obligatory, and forbid "aids" in any form during tests and exams. Other allow for writing down more complicated expressions, ...
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How can I estimate the length of an exam?
Background: I am fairly new at teaching, and in every subject I have taught, I have had difficulty estimating the length and difficulty of an exam. I need to write an exam for a university senior-...
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Should I change my take-home exam policy because of one suspected cheater?
This is just the third semester I've been teaching, but I've been tutoring for many years. At the moment I'm teaching to community college students a "Business Calculus" course whose curriculum is ...
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What are the comparative advantages of open-book versus closed-book exams?
I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of open-book exams as compared to closed-book exams, particularly in standard undergraduate courses like calculus or linear algebra.
My practice ...
- 4,076
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When handing back exams, what should we tell our students about the distribution of exam scores?
I've seen a variety of approaches to the day we hand back our exams.
Show every score listed in order, so every student knows exactly how they compare to others
Show an aggregated histogram, for ...
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What are some good rules for handling student questions during exams?
For example, I gave an exam earlier today with a problem that ended in the sentence
Use the chain rule to find $(f\circ g)'(3)$.
During the exam, one of the students asked me what the circle ...
- 8,289
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Non-answerable questions on exam: What to do?
What is a good strategy when you realize (e.g. while grading the exam) that a question on an exam was incomplete/wrong?
More concretely:
If it is decided that additional points should be given:
How ...
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Student asked me if it is necessary to simplify fractions at the end of answering a question. I'm not sure how to respond
I was just tutoring someone and we went through some sort of diagnostic test thing, when the following question came up.
Question:
Here is some information about $50$ people who took the driving test:...
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Exam philosophy
I'm curious if anyone knows of any books, studies, or other resources on the philosophy of creating and grading mathematics exams. After working as a graduate TA for 4 years and dealing with a wide ...
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How can I learn to write better questions to test for conceptual understanding?
I'm worried that I'm bad at realizing when a question I've written requires little or no conceptual understanding to answer. Like, when I'm writing a question for a homework assignment or exam, I'll ...
- 4,845
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Handing out $2 calculators for tests?
In a store last weekend, I saw a simple solar-powered calculator for $2. It had four functions plus a square root key. I'm considering the possibility of buying 50 such calculators and handing them ...
user507
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Students' Messy Sheets: The Big Problem of Exams and Homeworks
Students' messy exam and homework sheets (which are messy because of a bad handwriting or an irregular logical argument in proofs) cause many serious problems. e.g.
Reading their arguments takes ...
user230
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Worldwide collection of final examinations in mathematics
I am interested in comparing mathematics (and also physics) final examinations from all around the world for the highest secondary school qualification in the particular country. Especially I am ...
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Adding irrelevant humorous questions to a quiz exam
Sometimes, when preparing some calculus exams I try to have a "funny question" such as:
T/F I love mathematics
T/F Calculus 2 is easier than Calculus 1, ...
So my questions are:
Do you think ...
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