Comprehensive Exam on Basic Invertebrate Biology

For complete details on this assignment, download the entire Course Description & Policies handout as a PDF.

Dr. Hentschel has noticed that some students get so bogged down in the advanced details of invertebrate biology that they occasionally forget some of the most basic aspects of the course content (and that of introductory courses like Biol 201). To assess students’ mastery of basic invertebrate biology, Dr. Hentschel will administer a comprehensive exam. This will be a 20-question multiple-choice exam worth 40 points toward each student’s overall course grade.

But there’s a twist! Students will actually take two 20-question exams; one written by Dr. Hentschel and the other written by other Biol 515 students. Each student will take both exams and then, before the exams are graded, decide which one he/she wants to count toward his/her course grade. This way, if the exam written by peers is significantly more difficult than the exam written by Dr. Hentschel, students’ grades will not be affected unfairly.

How will students write the exams?

On one day (see schedule), each team of 4 students will begin drafting 20 multiple-choice questions that they feel assess their peers’ comprehensive understanding of basic invertebrate biology: the sorts of questions that, if you don’t know the answers, you should not pass Biol 515 or Biol 201! A representative from each group will submit a paper copy of their 20-question exam and a ParScore answer key to Dr. Hentschel (see schedule). Dr. Hentschel will not edit these student-written exams in any way.

How will students take the two exams?

On the date of the exam (see schedule), students in each group will take the exam written by students from one of the other groups (selected at random). Then, all students will also take the 20-question exam written by Dr. Hentschel. Immediately after taking both exams, each student will sign a declaration stating which of the two 40-point exams they want to count toward their overall course grade.

How will Dr. Hentschel ensure the quality of student-written exams?

Students who write exam questions will be penalized if the students who take their team’s exam provide evidence that any of the questions are significantly flawed (e.g., no correct answer among the choices, more than one correct answer, ambiguous wording, etc). If a student provides evidence that a student-written question is flawed, the first student who documents the flaw will get credit for his/her answer plus 1 extra-credit point. In addition, the entire team of students who wrote the flawed question will lose 1 pt (per flawed question) from their scores on the 40-pt exam (note: each question on the 20-question exam is worth 2 pts, but the quality-control points are worth ± 1 pt each). This quality-control mechanism is similar to Dr. Hentschel’s policy on exams he writes: if a student provides evidence (e.g., something in the textbook) that an exam or quiz question is significantly flawed, the student will get credit and 1 extra-credit pt for identifying a flawed question. Writing exam questions is a serious activity, and students should take great care when writing, editing, and proofreading the 20 questions they submit to Dr. Hentschel!