Timeline for How can I estimate the length of an exam?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2023 at 18:43 | comment | added | benblumsmith | I understood it as a joke, but it horrified me anyway. | |
| Sep 30, 2023 at 18:35 | comment | added | Adam Rubinson | I was being somewhat joking with my previous comment. Chill. | |
| Sep 30, 2023 at 18:28 | comment | added | benblumsmith | Relevant aside: I'm of the strong opinion that (contrary to popular belief) doing math quickly is unrelated to doing it well researchinpractice.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/… | |
| Sep 30, 2023 at 18:16 | comment | added | benblumsmith | @AdamRubinson - no no no, not at all! (a) you are a math teacher (b) you composed the problem (c) they are students learning the material for the first time. It is supposed to take them much longer! The multiplier I mentioned is a concrete piece of shop talk based on lots of practical experience. Also, if there's any uncertainty, the teacher should err on the side of a high multiplier: we are always tempted to make exams too long, which is stressful and unfair to students. The high factor encourages discipline in keeping the exam a reasonable length. | |
| Sep 29, 2023 at 9:48 | comment | added | Adam Rubinson | Thinly veiled brag answer. | |
| Nov 2, 2015 at 2:45 | comment | added | Vandermonde | Ah, the venerable rule of $2 \pi $. | |
| Mar 30, 2014 at 2:40 | comment | added | Andreas Blass | I often use this method with a multiplier of 3 or 4. | |
| Mar 28, 2014 at 19:58 | comment | added | Roland | For a first year engineer's exam, one (Assistant Professor) would write the test, and then some of the TAs would solve it. Our multiplier to get the real time was 3 to 4. | |
| Mar 17, 2014 at 11:40 | vote | accept | Brian Rushton | ||
| Mar 14, 2014 at 20:15 | comment | added | benblumsmith | Definitely if the problems involve coming up with some ideas, and I already know what ideas I want the students to use, then of course I have an "unfair advantage." But I'm addressing the question from a purely practical standpoint. In my experience, across multiple types of exams, this rule of thumb held pretty well; the factor of 6 to 8 made up for the "unfair advantage." If you are in a situation where it's not realistic to get other people to test-drive your exams before you administer them (this was always my situation), then this rule of thumb still gives you something to go on. | |
| Mar 14, 2014 at 20:12 | review | First posts | |||
| Mar 15, 2014 at 6:32 | |||||
| Mar 14, 2014 at 19:58 | comment | added | Markus Klein | I really like the strategy. However, the problem is: If the one who created the exam wants to solve the exam for himself, he already knows how to answer the questions (If he has to calculate a lot of things, this is no real advantage due to the factor). I think, this really makes sense if someone else is trying to take the exam (at least if there are some questions where you have to think more than write or calculate). | |
| Mar 14, 2014 at 19:54 | history | answered | benblumsmith | CC BY-SA 3.0 |