Tricky Questions on Final Exams

The 500 student Biology II class I co-teach had its final exam yesterday - meaning the course is this close to over... it is not officially over because there is still work to be done. While in a class this large (without teaching assistants!) we are forced to evaluate performance using multiple choice exams that can be computer graded, the logistics of compiling and assigning grades is always a bit of a heavy lift...

One of the things we deal with after the exams are turned in, graded and the students receive their scores are the usual bevy of emails from students asking why the answer to question 7 is "A" and not "B".  This type of question usually takes several forms from the polite query asking for the rationale to the other extreme where the student will blatantly accuse us professors of purposely trying to trick them by asking obscure and misleading questions. Since I teach the Physiology section of Intro Biology, my "favorite" emails are those that tell me the right answer to question 7 should indeed be "B" because they asked a friend/cousin/neighbor who is a physician this question and they, of course, agreed with the student.  This, despite the fact that the lecture notes and book say the opposite, their physician reference knows more than any professor possibly could at a state university...

Do we sometimes ask bad or unclear questions? Certainly, it happens (a lot less than the students think) and with computerized grading we know when and if this occurs.  It is easy after the fact to discard these questions.

However, on the issue of tricky questions, while I can only speak for myself, I seriously doubt it is the intent of professors to try and trick students by purposefully asking misleading or obscure questions. Some students don't realize that we actually WANT you to do well - there is no secret memo directing us to weed out students - and that when the class doesn't do as well as we'd expect or desire, we die a 1000 deaths.  I have asked a number of students what they think is the definition of a tricky question. By and large the response I get is that it is a question which is not explicitly stated in the notes or book.  I guess when we ask integrative questions or ask the students to think and not just memorize, we become guilty of being tricky... sigh.

Another all too common email after grades are in are those that request an additional point or two to  bring their grade to the next higher level so that they can graduate/keep a scholarship/continue in their major/etc.  We all, as faculty, are sympathetic to these issues that the students face and understand through our own personal experience how hard it is to juggle lots of classes, work, family, and so on.

But the reality is we cannot manufacture points after the fact for one or two students and not do it for everyone. Ethically, this becomes a slippery slope and we have to hold the line on the grade distributions set up before the class begins. Like the "tricky question" issue, this makes us appear heartless to the students ("What would it hurt to give ME a couple of points so I can keep my scholarship?"). Certainly, we'd LIKE to do this, but at some point the grades wouldn't mean much if we did.  It is always strange to me and my colleagues that many students feel it is perfectly justifiable for us to give only them an extra point or two and to heck with the other 499 students...


Anyway, teaching a large intro course like this is never boring - and despite some of its challenges - is something that I actually enjoy doing... Having said that, the day when the grades are in and it is officially over, like today, is always a good day.


Next scheduled lecture for this class: 1.10.2011... the countdown begins... NOW.