If we are going to confess on EXAM mistakes, here is one of mine... I was going to be out of town for an exam, so I asked my Admin assistant to go in and do it for me, which she gladly did. Prior to leaving, I made sure that everything was ready for her. I copied the exam, included the answer booklet, double-checked the instructions... everything was there!
A few minutes after she had distributed the exam, a student raised her hand, and asked if it was normal that the answer key was attached at the back of the exam! I had over-done myself and forgot to remove my answer key prior to copying the exam... The good thing about it is that most students wondered if this was a "psych" experiment, and did not want to use the answers they saw... As it turns out, the average for the exam was the same as every other year... But I did have to suffer the mockery of my Admin Assistant for a few weeks after... JM -----Original Message----- From: Traci Giuliano [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 7:02 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] missing an exam I actually HAVE missed giving an exam :-). Even worse, it was for a colleague who was out of town, and not for myself. He had asked me the day before if I could do it, and I agreed because his classroom was right across from mine and right after my own class got out. Even so, I was so afraid that I was going to forget that I left a huge note on the floor right inside my door saying "don't forget to give X's exam". Well, the janitors picked up the note overnight, and it wasn't until about 30 minutes after my class ended that day, while talking to students in my office about class, that I realized that I had forgotten. After yelling out a very loud expletive :-), I ran down the hall to see if his class was still there (they were not). This was before email was so common, so I got the roster from the registrar and called each and every student, apologizing profusely and telling them that I would give the exam on Friday (it was a MWF class, and I had missed W). Some of them were happy to have the extra time to study, but others were really mad and weren't shy about telling me so. To add insult to injury, Friday turned out to be an ice storm day (in February in Austin; this happens about once a year or every other year, so of course it had to be this day!) and classes were canceled. I called my colleague, who was in New York, and he was actually relieved, because instead of a writing a lecture for Monday when he got back in town Sunday night, he could just give the exam. The students, however, were not as forgiving. I got dirty looks from a handful of business and economics majors until they graduated. On the bright side, no colleagues ever ask me to give their exams when they are out of town! :-) Cheers, Traci Pollak, Edward wrote: > > > I've never missed an exam but that is the theme of a recurring > nightmare that I have. When I was younger, the nightmare centered on > missing an exam I was supposed to take. It now centers on missing an > exam I'm supposed to give. When the shift occurred, I deemed it a > major indicator of a changed self-image & stage of life. > > As for favorite drinks: as a near total teetotaler I can't relate. I > learned in college that I don't get drunk. I go right from sober to > sick. I blame a lack of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. > > Ed > > /Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > West Chester University of Pennsylvania > http://home.comcast.net/~epollak <http://home.comcast.net/%7Eepollak> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and > herpetoculturist...... in approximate order of importance./ > / / > Subject: RE: PLEASE NOTE : NEW FEATURE > From: "Shearon, Tim" <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 10:12:52 -0600 > X-Message-Number: 11 > > > Carol > Umm. I misread the finals schedule. I woke to a knock at my door (we > lived 3 houses off campus). It was my dean- I made it over to the > final at 8:45 (it started at 8!). I just told the class to skip every > third test item and we turned it into a 2 hour final. The dean, on our > way over, said, "You need to stop by my office when the final's over." > The students were very understanding- but I felt horrible. > > I went to the dean's office afterward- the guy had a reputation as > having no sense of humor and I had never been one of his favorites. It > didn't look good at all. I sat down and he told me the story of having > gone home one Friday afternoon with his best friend on the faculty. > They were sitting on his porch drinking beer when his wife drove up > and told him to get back to campus - he'd forgotten an exam! I didn't > feel good but did feel better- and he and I were pretty close after that. > Tim > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > -- Traci A. Giuliano Professor of Psychology Southwestern University 1001 E. University Avenue Georgetown, TX 78626 [email protected] office 512.863.1596 fax 512.863.1846 --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
