Student changed my question

[Larimar]

Thanks, Jerseyjay. Of the ideas you present, I think the "too clever by half" scenario is the most likely. There wasn't any gendered language in the question.

You have some good points, and no, this assignment was not worth that much.

[Hibush]

Thanks, Jerseyjay. Of the ideas you present, I think the "too clever by half" scenario is the most likely.

Having been that smartass student, the loss of the official point is an expected penalty well worth accepting in exchange for the many psychic points won.

[Kron3007]

I don't see any mention of your having had a conversation to ask her why she changed it; that might help with the decision-making, too...

She might have thought it was a "trick question" to see if they spotted some error in your writing of the question, and thought it needed to be changed before it could be answered.

M.

That's true; I didn't try to contact her about it. I admit I didn't think of it, and I had to get these graded and done quickly. I suppose she could have thought that way, but no one else did, so I don't know...

Is partial credit possible? She did not answer your question, but she did demonstrate understanding.

No, partial credit is not possible, because the question was worth 1 point. Otherwise I would have liked that idea.

Does your syllabus say that students are allowed to modify test questions to their liking?

No, definitely not!

I did mark it wrong, and the student still did do well overall. Thanks, everyone!


Larimar

I don't see why partial credit is not possible if you wanted.  I frequently give half marks, but perhaps your system doesn't allow for this?  Not saying you should have, it just seems odd to me that you say you can't.

[Larimar]

[/quote]

I don't see why partial credit is not possible if you wanted.  I frequently give half marks, but perhaps your system doesn't allow for this?  Not saying you should have, it just seems odd to me that you say you can't.
[/quote]

You guessed right; partial credit wouldn't really work with my grading system, intentionally.

In theory I have no objections to partial credit, but in practice I found it to be more trouble than it's worth. A while back I used to give partial points, but I don't anymore. A time or two it got mathematically complicated, and since I'm an adjunct, it would probably just be a matter a time until the whole "That other student got partial credit; why can't I have it too?" kind of complaint opened a can of worms. If I'd made an error and they deserved it, I'd give it to them, but if not, trying to convince an upset student that what they did is not in any way comparable to what someone else did could go badly for me. As an adjunct, I need - and want - to be careful to stay worm-free.

Larimar

[Descartes]

Is partial credit possible? She did not answer your question, but she did demonstrate understanding.

Chiming in to say "this."

[jerseyjay]

Is partial credit possible? She did not answer your question, but she did demonstrate understanding.

Chiming in to say "this."

Personally, I would not give partial credit. First, because this is a grammar worksheet and probably not worth so much trouble.

But  more to the point (so to speak) because you were testing knowledge of something. The student did not display knowledge of what you were testing, but something else. That's good, but not what you were testing.

If you asked a student to give the answer to 5 x 3 and she crossed out the "x" and wrote "-" and chose 2 as the answer, I would mark it wrong. Yes, she knows how to subtract. But you were testing multiplication.