I have a retest policy that addresses this drop-an-exam issue. Incidentally, my make-up exams work the same way -- the points are taken from the corresponding section of the final.
In my case, my final exam is optional, but I can't think of reason why this wouldn't work with a mandatory final exam. >From my syllabus: "LIMIT: You may choose to 'retest' only 1 exam. "If you did not do as well on a test as you think you could have, you may choose to do a 'retest'. How this works: Let's say you earn 30 out of a possible 50 on the first test (but earn A's and B's on the other 3 tests). You decide that that 30/50 score is not indicative of what you know. You may choose to 'retest'. The "retest" looks a lot like the make-up test procedure. When you come in to take the final (if you choose to do this), you must hand me a signed slip of paper stating that you are choosing to retest, in this example, test 1. You may choose to answer just the 25 questions that cover that test or you may choose to answer all 100 questions on the final. In either case, when you are finished with your final, I will look at those 25 questions for your "retest". If you answered 20 out of 25 correctly, your score for your first exam will be changed to 40 out of 50 (double the points). If the retest score is higher than your original test score, your original score will be replaced. If the retest score is lower, we'll pretend you never took the retest. "There are times in one's life when Intro to Psych is not a top priority. Subsequently, you may not do very well on a particular test. This retest policy gives you a second opportunity to learn the material and demonstrate to me that you have done so." -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://flightline.highline.ctc.edu/sfrantz/ > -----Original Message----- > From: Payam Heidary [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 9:04 AM > To: David Wasieleski > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Your Thoughts > > > I agree with David about the dropping exam policy not > being a good one. I do not adopt this policy in my > classes mainly because it is sending the wrong message > to students that they will not always be responsible > for learning the information presented in lecture and > text. The student can tell him or herself "well I > didn't study that much for this exam so I will just > drop this one. Who cares." This is NOT the mind-set we > want to implant into our students' head. We have to > teach and send the message to students that they are > responsible and accountable for knowing the course > information and that exams are mandatory and not > optional. Another problem with this approach is that > let's say you give 4 exams and allow students to drop > 1 exam they miss. So what you are doing is really > grading on 3 exams instead of 4. Do you know why? It > is very simple. If a student got A's on 3 exams then > they don't have to study or take the 4th exam anymore > to get an A in the class. Is this right or > appropriate? In my opinion not at all. Students should > be responsible and required to take all exams and > should only be allowed to make-up an exam they miss > with emergency documentation. Otherwise we will be > treating them like elementary and high school students > and not like adults and college students. This is the > "Big Leagues" where there is a lot of work and a lot > of expectations! > > Payam Heidary >
