TRC > Notes, Papers, and Publications

7/31/04 Responses to a query posted on the Teaching Large Classes e-mail list regarding instructor's policies for makeup examinations (subscribe to the list).

GIVE A MAKEUP?

General trends:
We want to be fair, but not have make-ups be an attractive option. 

We want to be flexible if a student is in the hospital or at a funeral – to allow them to show their mastery of the material in an alternate way, but not encourage students to fabricate stories of family emergencies.

Most of the responses indicated that you tend to be flexible if a student has a valid excuse.

YES, I GIVE MAKE-UPS

Some options mentioned:

Timing:

• Must be scheduled before the exam
• Can take a makeup early but not late
• Not given until after the exam. Only one makeup given so those taking makup must agree on date that fits instructor's schedule

Format:

• Written/essay exam rather than multiple choice
• Oral exam in my office

Generally acceptable excuses:

• doctor’s note stating that they are physically unable to take the exam
• evidence of a family crisis (i.e., letter from a funeral home director or a newspaper obituary with dates of the service.)
• Athlete with an away game or scheduling conflict that they know about at the beginning of the quarter - note that the PE staff are often willing to administer an exam during the trip away.

Other excuses mentioned by one or two people:

• religious holiday
• LSAT
• Car broken down
• Wedding / graduation

NO, I DON’T GIVE MAKE-UPS

• Because the make-up will always be either easier or harder
• Because writing additional multiple-choice questions takes a very long time
• Because they will have more time to study
• Because once the students smell the possibility they will try to bargain with you
• Because we all have ongoing crises, commitments, etc. and I want to reward those that do show up for the exams.

Allow all students to drop the lowest midterm grade:

Give 2-3 midterm exams and state that you will drop the lowest of the grades. Give a cumulative and not optional final so that everyone is graded on all the course material.  If a student must miss a midterm, then they can drop it as their lowest grade.

PROS: This is fair and gives a lot of flexibility.  It not only solves the question of a student with a valid reason to miss an exam, but it also solves much of the bargaining that students might attempt if they do very badly on the first midterm. It also makes the student responsible for the decision “Is my second-cousin’s graduation worth missing an exam?” rather than making you responsible for deciding what is and is not a valid excuse.

CONS: Students may not take the first exam seriously.  Being very pragmatic about their time spent studying, if they think that they can procrastinate and not be penalized, they will do!  Or, if they do well on the first exam then they may not prepare for the second exam as it will be dropped anyway. 

Allow only students with a valid excuse to drop their lowest grade:

If a student has a valid excuse for missing an exam, have their other exam grade count double, or take the average of their grades on their other midterms.  This is the same as allowing them to drop their lowest grade, but only benefits the students who miss a midterm. 

A twist that makes this a little more sensitive: Award them a score that is the median class score plus or minus the number of points difference between their score and the median class score on the other midterm exam.  This corrects the score awarded if the class as a whole did much better or worse on one exam than the other. 

What if they miss the final?

• give an Incomplete and allow them to take the final the next quarter
• give an oral final