Trying to help a young lady who is a friend of my cousin. She is in first year chemistry and struggling with it. As a chemistry major and an aspiring teacher, I'm a logical choice to help. But thinking back, and looking at QCARD confirms it, I did terrible in first year Chemistry.
Wait, what?
I know right? And its not like I was the stereotypical first year student. I didn't party much, and I did go to class, even paid attention! Much of the material was similar to that of grade 12 chemistry (where I nearly had the highest mark in the school).
So what gives?
Multiple. Choice. Tests.
First year classes are full of them. I have no particular problem with multiple choice (most of the time). It allows you to assess knowledge/understanding quickly and over a wide range.
But the way it was done in Chem 112 was the way I have a problem with it.
Firstly, all of the questions were calculations. Normally, with calculation questions, you get marks for showing your work. Obviously in multiple choice tests, this is not possible.
But that wasn't even my biggest problem with the exams.
It was the fact that they TRIED to make us do poorly.
I'll explain. When you don't HAVE to show your work (ie-aren't getting marked for it), you usually do most of the questions right on your calculator. You would punch in the numbers, hit the equals sign, look down at the question, see the number on your calculator on the page, circle the answer, and move on!
But wait, you forgot to add a minus sign. But your answer was still there. Funny enough, if you'd accidentally divided instead of multiplied, that answer would have been there too. If you'd made some other silly math error, that answer was there. Oh, and of course, the right answer.
If you get an answer, and its one of the options, why would you think that you've made a mistake? More importantly, does making a silly math error mean you don't know the chemistry concepts? Does it mean you should get NO MARKS for the knowledge you have pertaining to that question?
Just sillyness. Make one of the answers the answer. The rest, random. That way, if you made a silly mistake, you can go back, FIND your mistake and LEARN from it.
Novel concept I know.
Rant. End.
(Longest rant ever, sorry about that, had more to say, thought I should end it)
I agree with what you are saying. The issue is that it is easy for professors with almost 1000 students to use multiple choice exams. I guess my concern comes in when teachers in high school start to teach to the fact that first year tests are all multiple choice. At least my experiences in many 4U classes were "we have to teach you how to do multiple choices correctly and strategically now for when you are in university!" and this "no marks" for knowledge you may have just gets passed down the line. We might as well have middle schools start preparing kids for high school multiple choice tests. Soon we might hear "we have to teach you how to do multiple choices correctly and strategically for when you are in high school!"
ReplyDelete