Exam Corrections

[HigherEd7]

Has anyone allowed students to correct the wrong answers on an exam to earn extra points?

[mamselle]

Yes. Half-points added, since it's a second-time-around option, and they have to explain their error/misunderstanding/reason for missing it to begin with.

M.

[HigherEd7]

Thank you for the response and the information.

[mamselle]

Ye're walcom, Malcolm!

;--}

I might have even gotten it from the old Forum's Jedi Mind tricks thread, now that I think of it....

M.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I did this the first time that I taught stats because many of the students failed the exam (I did it just as Mamselle suggests above). It helped the students but created a ton of extra work for me so I've avoided doing it since.

[Parasaurolophus]

As an undergrad, I had profs who did it as mamselle suggests. But, for my part, I'd only do it for a small class, because it's bound to be a lot of work (as Sun_Worshiper says).

[ciao_yall]

Why is it extra work? Just put in the "new" grades and be done with it.

[ergative]

Yes. Half-points added, since it's a second-time-around option, and they have to explain their error/misunderstanding/reason for missing it to begin with.

M.

This is exactly what I did back in the days when I had enough control over assessments and grading to put these measures in place. (Current job is quite strict about grading policies; boo for lack of individual control; but it does eliminate grade grubbing entirely!)

As an undergrad, I had profs who did it as mamselle suggests. But, for my part, I'd only do it for a small class, because it's bound to be a lot of work (as Sun_Worshiper says).

Yes, the classes I did this for had on the order of 15 - 30 students, no more. It's easy enough to mark--no need for comments or corrections on the resubmissions, just tick off if the correction is enough to get the credit back or not. But that does become onerous as the papers mount up.

[Aster]

Why is it extra work? Just put in the "new" grades and be done with it.

You answered your own question with the "put in new grades" part.

Not all of us teach boutique 18-student classes, or a couple of classes.

[ciao_yall]

Why is it extra work? Just put in the "new" grades and be done with it.

You answered your own question with the "put in new grades" part.

Not all of us teach boutique 18-student classes, or a couple of classes.

Pour a cup of coffee and a glass of wine.

Open up "Assignments" in your LMS.

Drop in new grades.

The magic system recalculates for you.

What am I missing?

I mean, it's a little effort, but not that much work.

[ergative]

Why is it extra work? Just put in the "new" grades and be done with it.

You answered your own question with the "put in new grades" part.

Not all of us teach boutique 18-student classes, or a couple of classes.

Pour a cup of coffee and a glass of wine.

Open up "Assignments" in your LMS.

Drop in new grades.

The magic system recalculates for you.

What am I missing?

I mean, it's a little effort, but not that much work.

I think the work is not entering the new grades, but the need to read a new set of exams to determine whether each correction merits the half back. It's effectively another assignment to grade, and unless you're vastly different from the rest of us, the work that comes from grading is the bit before you enter the grades into your gradebook.

[Istiblennius]

I do something a little different. I tell my students to identify one question they got wrong that especially disappointed or frustrated them. Instead of simply correcting it they have to correct it, but also explain why they got it wrong and then tell me both what they will do in the future to study for a similar question and approach it on an exam. They can earn a few bonus points (worth about 5% of the exam total) by doing this. Then, our subsequent exam has a bonus question (also worth about 5% of the exam total) asking them to tell me how they used what they learned from this previous opportunity to improve their test taking practice with a specific example. For the course I teach, it is more important that they are building their thinking skills than looking up and copying down basic content that may not stick with them after the corrections are made. But in my class they aren't doing engineering problems or similar in which making corrections might help them build those process skills.

[mamselle]

I should note that,

a) I used the practice both with 50-student "Intro to Art" courses, and in much smaller 10-15 student French I classes.

b) No more than 2-3 students ever took advantage of the option in any one term, regardless of class size--so the grading onus was tiny.

M.

[Biologist_]

Has anyone allowed students to correct the wrong answers on an exam to earn extra points?

Yes. If the exam is a mix of multiple-choice and written answers, they can only correct the multiple-choice. In addition to entering the correct answer, the student must explain why the answer is correct. That usually involves working a calculation, drawing a diagram, or explaining some logical reasoning process. Depending on the class, the exam, and the initial exam scores, I offer the opportunity to recoup 1/4 to 1/2 of the missed points.

Why is it extra work? Just put in the "new" grades and be done with it.

As others have pointed out, the extra work is in checking whether the new answer is correct, deciding whether the explanations are adequate, and then entering the scores. Sometimes students turn in wrong answers again even though they have a week to look things up, talk to classmates, and ask me for help. Sometimes the explanations are missing or they aren't really explanations. Either way, the student doesn't get all of the available added points. It's like grading a lengthy homework assignment.

Sometimes I have a student grader for a class. I don't let student graders do the initial exam grading but I will hand over the corrections to a grader and let the grader take care of them.

I don't let students correct their written answers. That's mostly because it would be too much work to regrade, but also because they already get partial credit on the original exam.

I am wary about offering too much correction credit on the first midterm of the semester. If the scores are high on the second midterm and I don't offer as much credit (i.e. 1/3 of missed points for the first exam and then 1/4 of missed points for the second exam), someone will complain. Better to be a bit stingy on the first one and make it up later.

Overall, it is effective in getting students to study their exams closely and review concepts after the exam. Usually 80 to 90% of my students take advantage of the opportunity. It also allows me to ask hard exam questions and then give students a second crack at them.

[ergative]

Yes. Half-points added, since it's a second-time-around option, and they have to explain their error/misunderstanding/reason for missing it to begin with.

M.

This is exactly what I did back in the days when I had enough control over assessments and grading to put these measures in place. (Current job is quite strict about grading policies; boo for lack of individual control; but it does eliminate grade grubbing entirely!)

As an undergrad, I had profs who did it as mamselle suggests. But, for my part, I'd only do it for a small class, because it's bound to be a lot of work (as Sun_Worshiper says).

Yes, the classes I did this for had on the order of 15 - 30 students, no more. It's easy enough to mark--no need for comments or corrections on the resubmissions, just tick off if the correction is enough to get the credit back or not. But that does become onerous as the papers mount up.

I just remembered that I restricted this opportunity to students who had scored below 70%, and capped the amount of credit they could earn at 50% per question, up to a maximum of 70%. So that cut down on the number of people who took advantage of the policy, but I seem to recall that most people who were eligible did do it.

In retrospect, I didn't do a great job on this policy, because they handed in assignments in hard copy, so anyone who was putting handing in work the Monday after an exam was telegraphing to the class that they had earned less than 70%. But I guess now that most assignments are submitted electronically, that's an obsolete problem.