Tests

There are several types of test in this course. I think the easiest are the direct word association questions like vocabulary or labelling or short answer questions found in the Pearson quizzes, the chapter quizzes. Since those quizzes are open-book, online tests that kind of question is pretty easy to answer correctly. I have noticed that a surprisingly large number of students end up losing points on these quizzes because they run out of time. Not that they can’t answer the questions in an hour or something (they have a week or more), but they just don’t get around to doing the tests until a couple of minutes before midnight on the due date. Just saying – I’ve seen that happen.

Slightly more difficult questions are the ones that always need more careful reading – true/false questions, multiple choice questions in the chapter quizzes, for example. Though the questions may be easy if the book is open to the answers, they will still be wrong if the questions aren't read carefully. I'm certainly not going to reveal how often I've gotten "INCORRECT" because the question asked which of these answers is not a characteristic and I answered which is a characteristic which is false and I answered which is true, or the like. Read them carefully, and don’t come crying because you assumed the question was asking one thing and it really asked another.

Perhaps more difficult yet are the essay questions that make up the chapter concept quizzes and the cumulative tests. I have tried to make these questions teaching tools. Yes, that’s right, you’re supposed to LEARN something by answering the question. That means that most of the time you won’t be able to answer straight out. It may actually be difficult to figure out what the question is asking you to do. That seems to happen with a nervous student reads the question, fixates on a recognized phrase, and then answers by copy-paste or “quoting” an answer about that phrase googled or found in the textbook. Please don’t do that. If I recognize direct quotes from Wikipedia, or the textbook, or even identical answers from different students, I will probably take a lot of points off – I will, at least, scold you harshly. There is a variant of that kind of answer that is almost as bad – in my opinion, of course. Writing a three-page essay on some part of the question is NOT GOOD. It seems to me to be an attempt to get everything you know out there in hopes that I will sort through it and find the correct answer. I will find the answer, not you. Please read the questions carefully and answer as directly as you can. I do not take points off for grammar, spelling, improper English, or anything like that (though you might hear a lot of moaning and groaning). Read the questions. Again, READ the questions. Figure out what I’m looking for, what I expect you to learn from the question, and then, only then, write as direct an answer as you can.