Spring 1997

Final Course Examinations Without Surprises
Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf, Department of Physics

Final course examinations have a dual purpose: 1) the obvious one of ascertaining, as best as may be possible, the level of students' knowledge; 2) perhaps much more importantly, that of stimulating students to comprehensively review the course material. As a tool towards achieving both of these goals, the following somewhat unorthodox format has proven itself over many years:

1) In the last or second-to-last class period, the teacher hands out a numbered list of unambiguous questions, statements or discussion topics, which in their aggregate cover all the course material to be reviewed by the students. Preferably, that list of questions/statements is prefaced with timing, place and duration of the examination and a brief explanation, e.g., "Below are the questions/discussion topics on which the final examination will be based. In preparing yourself for the examination, feel free to consult any textbooks, notes, etc., and to discuss the questions with classmates." In addition, this document clearly states what extra class time or office hours will be set aside for answering students' questions and clearing up difficulties, as well as the format of the examination (see points 2 and 3 for details).

2) In order to encourage the students to review all the course material (even though it cannot all appear on the exam), students taking a written exam receive a specific selection of questions from the above list only at the beginning of the examination period.

3) In oral examinations, it is a good idea to let each student in turn make a presentation in front of the class, of predetermined, timed length, on one of the questions/topics (depending on size of the class, perhaps followed by a second or even third rotation). Let the students draw their assigned question/topic from a hat in which the numbered items from the list have been placed as folded ballots. This writer usually permits students to refuse the first ballot but, if so, requires that they must accept the second ballot.

4) Optionally, all members of the class are given a class list on which they are requested to grade anonymously all of the presentations. This writer has repeatedly found those student grades very informative. Typically they have been in line with her own judgment, but exceptionally wide spreads of class opinions or, conversely, class consensus at variance with the teacher's judgment, have repeatedly given rise to some deeper thought.

5) A typically worthwhile variant on point 1 is to request proposed examination questions from the students for possible inclusion in the numbered list, in which case the final list may acknowledge the students who have contributed the various items. Past experience shows that the items are rarely useable as submitted, mainly because they are worded ambiguously. Thus some rewriting is almost always required. And also the teacher will generally have to make judicious additions in order to cover adequately the course content.

In summary, by this examination method, students know that they are fairly treated and what material they are supposed to learn in the course. Past experience has been very favorable.