43
votes
Student asked me if it is necessary to simplify fractions at the end of answering a question. I'm not sure how to respond
The short answer to your question is: everyone is right.
I agree with people here that in many contexts, $0.75$ or $\frac{3}{4}$ would be a more desirable answer than $\frac{45}{60}$. I also agree ...
- 630
36
votes
Accepted
Adding irrelevant humorous questions to a quiz exam
I think there's room for differences of opinion on this, and the answer might depend on the ages of the students or who the specific students are. When I was a student I enjoyed questions like this, ...
- 11.5k
34
votes
Accepted
How should I grade true-or-false questions if the student's writing is unclear?
I read them as TTTFT. But the fourth is very hard to tell, the first somewhat hard to tell, and all show poor writing, perhaps indicating a lack of engagement. You could tell him that such terrible ...
- 356
28
votes
Should I change my take-home exam policy because of one suspected cheater?
It's not just one student. As mentioned in comments, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Various studies gauge the percent of college students who cheat at somewhere between 75% and 98%.
I would ...
- 23.6k
28
votes
Adding irrelevant humorous questions to a quiz exam
No, I think this is a really silly idea. Let's assume that students are trying to get a 100% score. What is the correct answer to "I love mathematics - true/false"?
Is the "I" there the teacher? The ...
- 381
27
votes
Accepted
Students understand during course but can't solve exam
Do NOT give exam questions that are intentionally more challenging than homework or in-class problems. I would recommend precisely the opposite.
The point of the exam is really a spot-check that ...
- 23.6k
25
votes
Adding irrelevant humorous questions to a quiz exam
Not a good idea in my opinion.
I am on the Autism spectrum and as such I am a very very literal person and I am often derailed by trying to understand a poorly-defined question. Neurotypical people ...
- 369
25
votes
Accepted
A smart student that struggles in exams
There are several possible explanations. Without much more information, it is impossible to give a clear-cut answer.
Perhaps your student is able to "read" your unconcisious reactions very ...
- 12.2k
22
votes
Student asked me if it is necessary to simplify fractions at the end of answering a question. I'm not sure how to respond
I am a GCSE Maths examiner. For a question like this, any correct equivalent decimal, percentage or fraction, whether simplified or not, would receive full marks. It is only specifically if it says in ...
- 1,665
21
votes
Is it a bad idea to offer variants of a final exam based on the type of allowed calculators?
Let's start by saying that I strongly advice against such a dual-exam. Even if you and everyone involved in the planning think it is fair, students might think differently. In this way, you open up ...
- 1,298
20
votes
Accepted
Should students be given partial scores when they gave an incomplete proof by contradiction?
There's no abstract reason that an imperfect proof by contradiction should categorically fail to get credit.
A proof should generally get partial credit based on how much knowledge of the relevant ...
- 11.5k
20
votes
Point Deductions - Exams and Quizzes
I favor an additive grading scheme, where points are earned toward a possible maximum (say 10) instead of deducting points for the myriad possible mistakes one could make. Here, I would try to adopt a ...
- 8,856
19
votes
Accepted
Student asked me if it is necessary to simplify fractions at the end of answering a question. I'm not sure how to respond
The answer to your question depends on the pedagogical goal of the exercise, and what learning outcomes you have identified. It basically comes down to the following question:
Is manipulating ...
- 7,423
16
votes
How can I learn to write better questions to test for conceptual understanding?
Agreeing with comments and other posts: If you want more conceptual answers, give them less details in the set-up.
Using your velocity problem, here are a couple of examples of making it more ...
- 7,252
15
votes
Why don’t all professors let students use notes, books, etc. on exams?
Making a course easier to pass is not the same as making a good course. There is a certain corpus of knowledge with which practitioners are expected to have instant recall (a.k.a: "automaticity"). If ...
- 23.6k
14
votes
Should students be given partial scores when they gave an incomplete proof by contradiction?
I agree completely with Henry, but let me try to mention some specific, practical advice that you or others may find helpful.
I strongly encourage you to adopt a more wholistic manner of marking/...
- 4,046
13
votes
Should I change my take-home exam policy because of one suspected cheater?
My own experience is to not give any high-stakes take-home exam-like content (I'm not speaking of a paper, of course) in a lower-level course. There is too much incentive for even well-meaning ...
- 5,952
13
votes
Accepted
A student is cheating and I don't know how
First off, I challenge the framing of the question. You seem to be seeking answers for the question
How did the student get the correct answer from this work?
Unfortunately, I don't think that ...
- 7,423
13
votes
Why don’t all professors let students use notes, books, etc. on exams?
I think that allowing students to use resources on exams can work well in certain situations, such as when the knowledge they can pull from those resources is peripheral (not of core importance to the ...
- 603
13
votes
How do you handle the frustration of having to GRADE student exams / homework?
I have found that, for myself, implementing standards based grading has eliminated this frustration entirely. I now find grading to be enjoyable.
I have a collection of standards for my course like
&...
- 23.5k
13
votes
Student asked me if it is necessary to simplify fractions at the end of answering a question. I'm not sure how to respond
I tell my students this story when this issue comes up:
Imagine you are answering the phone at the local pizza place. Someone on the other end says "Yes, I'd like to place an order. I'd like ...
- 20.8k
12
votes
Accepted
As a TA, how to reduce imprecise notations/statements in students' exams
Let me echo Benjamin's comment that any proactive step that you take should be done with the instructor's permission.
At a practical level, I think there are ways to address issues (a) and (b). For (...
- 2,581
12
votes
Accepted
A4 paper of notes in an exam
I believe allowing students to prepare notes for use on an exam is a valuable way to help them focus their exam studying. I do not see the creation of the sheet as a waste of time. To make the notes, ...
- 20.8k
12
votes
Why don’t all professors let students use notes, books, etc. on exams?
I think it is usually counterproductive. Instead of building skills, it rewards students who are good at information retrieval. And I say that as one of those advantaged.
Still remember a P-chem ...
- 636
12
votes
Where can I find public repositories of past math exams?
Quite a few universities publicly post the math exams their faculty write:
UC Berkeley hosts an archive of their past exams, sorted by course.
University of Michigan hosts past exams for some ...
12
votes
Point Deductions - Exams and Quizzes
I advise being less intricate and put less load on the graders. I personally would go with all, half or zero credit for every question.
*All is correct answer (and some reasonable explication, not an ...
- 199
12
votes
In math exams, how rigorous should the questions be?
On the one hand, the assumptions are an indispensable part of any theorem and many mistakes (well beyond the student homework) have been made exactly because somebody didn't understand that the ...
- 3,439
11
votes
Should I change my take-home exam policy because of one suspected cheater?
As a student currently taking college Programming Fundamentals II and Pre-Calculus II, but having the experience of the world (33 years old, 8 year army vet), I can say that a student has significant ...
- 111
11
votes
A student is cheating and I don't know how
Do you give full credit for answers without clear work?? If you don't then I suggest you give partial credit and meet with the student in the guise of helping him write his work more clearly so that ...
- 7,929
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