Question for the Academics

[Channing]

How hard is it to write an exam? I just got out of an exam on some very very difficult material (international tax III - yuck), and not one person in the class finished. Is this something professors do intentionally? What is the point? It seems like you are going to have two types of test takers - those who do part of the test, but do those questions well, and others who get to all or most of the questions, but answer them more topically.

Anyhow, I would have needed at least 5 hrs to do this exam properly - we were given three. It is just very frustrating

[DevilAlumna]

I know nothing about writing exams, but I just have to say how sorry I am that you had to spend three hours on an international tax exam. Ouch.

But hey, it's over now, right? Go grab a cold one!

[Channing]

I know nothing about writing exams, but I just have to say how sorry I am that you had to spend three hours on an international tax exam. Ouch.

But hey, it's over now, right? Go grab a cold one!

I would if I didn't have to go right back to the library to study for partnership tax for Monday :eek:

[Ignatius07]

I would if I didn't have to go right back to the library to study for partnership tax for Monday :eek:

Ooof - are you in law school or hell?

[Lavabe]

How hard is it to write an exam? I just got out of an exam on some very very difficult material (international tax III - yuck), and not one person in the class finished. Is this something professors do intentionally? What is the point? It seems like you are going to have two types of test takers - those who do part of the test, but do those questions well, and others who get to all or most of the questions, but answer them more topically.

Anyhow, I would have needed at least 5 hrs to do this exam properly - we were given three. It is just very frustrating

There's not one single answer to your first question. Here are several considerations:
1) Have I done the course before? If so, I have a pretty good template, and then I can tinker with it to match updates, in-class discussion, etc...
2) Are there issues with participation, attendance, lack of feedback from students? If the students are just not giving any questions, perhaps are too reserved, and not attending office hours (and we'll assume that I am not getting any feedback from TA's), then it might be a simple case of guessing what the students know ... and don't know. Usually, first exams in a semester are the worst; by the time that the final exam comes around, I have a better sense of this.
3) I never want to torture students. Why avoid torture:
a) I have to live with myself.
b) I don't want to have to grade a torturous set of exams;
c) I still hold a grudge against a prof who did that to me way back in u'grad days. I failed his course. ;)
d) I don't teach large weed-out courses. Perhaps int'l tax is such a course. That might explain it.
4) A lot will depend on the course's format: seminar, small lecture, lab, large lecture ... each has different testing strategies.
5) Experience. The first time I gave a large lecture exam in a new course for me, I blew it. Most people could only do 4 of the 6 pages (silly me, it was a 50-minute class period). As the years go by, I have refined my ability to judge length of exam.

From the professor's perspective, there's nothing worse than giving an exam that you think the students will finish, only to see them struggle to complete it. Frustration goes both ways, Steven.;)

It took me 3 hours today to write an exam for an upper level small lecture/lab course. I haven't taught this course before. I think it's a fair test, one that covers the core concepts represented in the course. I think it'll be good.:)

Cheers,
Lavabe

[Channing]

Ooof - are you in law school or hell?

its all of my own doing - LLM in taxation (seemed like a good idea at the time)

[ArkieDukie]

Writing an exam is an art form, and it takes practice. I was pretty bad at it during my first couple of years as a professor. After a couple of years I got to the point where the class average was just above the B/C cutoff. The more you teach, the easier it is to write an exam. Just be sure to remember what you emphasized in class and write your exam accordingly.

[BCGroup]

A caveat first--I teach graduate students only. I usually write my final exam at the start of the semester--the notion of planning with the end in mind. One of my professors gave me that advice, and it helps me make sure that everything ties together and that I don't ask them to do something on the final that I haven't taught. Next, my exams are always essays that are application oriented. The biggest hurdle I have is that students sometimes think that good grades are based on length of their answers rather than quality. One of my biggest pet peeves is students who write everything they know hoping I'll pick out the part that is correct. I also give my classes a choice--do they want a take home or in class exam. They often choose a take home so they spend more time on it (by the way--no surprises, they know before they make a decision what they general nature of the questions are) but then the expectations for depth are higher. It's a two-edged sword--feedback on my evaluations is positive that there are no surprises and they feel prepared for the content and they like that I give them choices, but they also think my exams (no matter what) are tough.

[Channing]

what has been said makes sense - what I dont get is that this is a great professor during the semester - incredibly knowledgeable, easy to understand, makes very hard material manageable, and always receptive to helping a student after class. He has been doing this for a long time and is a revered professor. But last semester we had 4 hours to do an exam that took 2.5 hrs to complete, and this semester we had 3 hrs to do an exam that would have taken 5 hrs to complete. Oh well - at least its the same for everyone.

[YmoBeThere]

its all of my own doing - LLM in taxation (seemed like a good idea at the time)

Just say no!?