- Exam Writing Process
Describe the PROCESS that you use to write an exam from scratch. For example, how do you get started? What steps do you go through? Do you
have another instructor review your questions? How do you decide if the exam is reasonable timewise? Also, after you have given an exam, how do
you decide for yourself if it was a good exam?
- In the weeks leading up to the exam, I look for data sets. (They
must be both real and new, where "new" means not in the book, and not on
any previous exams or quizzes ever given here.)
- Next, I write questions tied to the data sets, based on what I
consider a reasonable analysis given what we've done so far in the course.
- Next, I look duplications (I won't ask for the same thing to be
done to two different data sets) and omissions. (Sometimes I have to find
another data set to make sure that everything gets covered.)
- Then I break the questions into equal size parts, to help students plan their time.
- Finally, I check for length by taking the exam myself. However, since
I try to allow students extra time, I don't worry a lot about getting the length exactly right.
I suppose you could call this a "data driven" approach to creating the
exams. Steps 1 and 2 are the important ones; the rest is mainly
grooming. I really do allow the data sets to suggest the questions, based
on what I consider a reasonable analysis would look like. My hope is that
this process helps keep the exams more like what statisticians actually do
than would be the case with a different process. If, as I plan the exam,
there are gaps in coverage, that tells me I need to find an additional
data set of a different sort.
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