An exam that went badly wrong

[mythbuster]

I've used the "exam recoup" assignment in these cases. Pass back the exam and give them X amount of time to retry one of the bigger questions and earn back some (but not all) points. As part of the assignment I usually also have them write a reflective paragraph on why they got the question so wrong, and how they plan to change their study plan in the future. But I usually only do this at the beginning of the term, to encourage better habits for the rest of the semester.

[Tenured_Feminist]

I'm sorry. Unless I see underperformance by students who have clearly done all the work all term, I am disinclined to give breaks. Ding 'em and hope the word spreads.

[marshwiggle]

We had two easy texts, one day each, and a number of students missed class, so I think they skipped those texts. Then we had a harder text that covered six hours of class time all told. I called on people at random and at least ten of them admitted that they hadn't read the text.  Imagine a cloud of irritation rising over my head.

The exam covered only the two easy texts and the one harder, longer text.

So a number of these students have failed the exam because I think they simply never read the texts.

This is more of a question than advice: In STEM, typically labs or assignments would relate to anything significant on an exam. From this post it seems that the only way the difficult text was addressed was in class discussion. (In other words, students didn't have to write a paper or assignment on it.) Is this typical? (Or am I making incorrect assumptions?)

Having been in this business for over 30 years myself, I find I still have very limited ability to figure out what questions students will find "easy" (very few!) and what they will find "hard".  And it can even vary between different lab sections who have a common lecture.

[Parasaurolophus]

This is more of a question than advice: In STEM, typically labs or assignments would relate to anything significant on an exam. From this post it seems that the only way the difficult text was addressed was in class discussion. (In other words, students didn't have to write a paper or assignment on it.) Is this typical? (Or am I making incorrect assumptions?)

I'd say it is, yes. Papers and assignments usually come after the lecture and discussion get everyone on the same page. Unless reading responses/quizzes are part of the assessment. You can't really require assignments for every text, unless they're quite short.

[Hegemony]

The students had to write a paper about either this long text or a different text.  In addition there was an in-class writing assignment on the longer text.  That turned up a number of people who clearly had not read the text, and I warned them at that time that their exams would go badly if they did not read it.

The problem is that I do think some of the questions on the exam were too hard, and thus parts of the exam did not sufficiently distinguish between people who read the text and people who didn't.  But I don't want to let those who didn't read it off the hook.

[hoopyfrood]

I would lower the boom  (I've had exams where half the class failed in a high level class and that's what I've done)  But I would also have a test debrief, either with individual students or the class as a whole.  I basically start off by saying that I was surprised with the results of the tests as usually the class does better....then follow up with questions such as "Were the questions unexpected?" "How did people prepare" and so on.  Most students freely admit they didn't prepare properly, they didn't realize what would be tested (despite warnings) or they just had a bad day.

That said, I also have optional final exams where students can replace their lowest test mark as a way to allow students to have a bad day, get used to how I give tests and so I don't have to deal with make ups during the semester.

[research_prof]

@Hegemony, talking about exams that went badly wrong; I am just done grading my final and the average and median were something like 50/100. Before the exam, I did a recap of the material and I explicitly talked about each of the exam problems one by one. The students still did bad... Oh well, at least, I do not feel bad lowering the boom now..

[Hegemony]

Well, I prepared to lower the boom, and I failed a bunch of students; but the only ones who showed up for class today were the ones who did well, so my little speech about doing the work was useless.  I will unmute the online gradebook and await the furious/panicked emails.

[retread]

Well, I prepared to lower the boom, and I failed a bunch of students; but the only ones who showed up for class today were the ones who did well, so my little speech about doing the work was useless.  I will unmute the online gradebook and await the furious/panicked emails.

Same experience here.  The ones who need that CTJ talk, the ones who I really need to reach, take a holiday the class after an exam.  Like today.

I know, I can't care more than they do, but it's still galling.

[Tenured_Feminist]

Ugh, Hegemony. Solidarity, and come back to vent when the complaints begin to roll in.

[marshwiggle]

Well, I prepared to lower the boom, and I failed a bunch of students; but the only ones who showed up for class today were the ones who did well, so my little speech about doing the work was useless.  I will unmute the online gradebook and await the furious/panicked emails.

Same experience here.  The ones who need that CTJ talk, the ones who I really need to reach, take a holiday the class after an exam.  Like today.

I know, I can't care more than they do, but it's still galling.

If it's any consolation, 30 years ago when my mom was an elementary school teacher she made a similar observation on parents' nights: the ones whose kids were doing great showed up, but the parents she really wanted to see didn't.

La plus ca change......

[Conjugate]

The nice thing about students not showing up the class day after the exam is that it minimizes the people who can criticize you for not having tests back the very next period!

I have a hard time getting tests back on the following period, in part because I feel obligated to point out where the student went wrong. I should try to fix that in the future. Just as with you, the students who really need the feedback don't seem to get their tests back, or read and consider the feedback.

[Aster]

"The Flunkings Will Continue Until Performance Improves"

[Scout]

"The Flunkings Will Continue Until Performance Improves"

Are you suggesting that a failing grade is somehow disconnected from the student's performance?

[Aster]

No. But the slogan does now almost perfectly match up with what I have on my pirate T-shirt."

"the Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves!"