Mar 30 2008

Reduce the weight of a final exam to 35%?

Published by at 3:11 pm under Innovation

Should final exams be worth as much as 75% of a course grade? Perhaps not if we are trying to conduct humane authentic assessment. A recent higher education listserv contained postings about how to weight a final exam, including comments that weighting a final exam as much as 65% was a bit steep. Other contributors, all teachers committed to student-centered teaching and learning, suggested that around 33% was about right. One even noted that in law the only determinative was “Just the final exam. Talk about stress!” In practice it’s more valuable to stay on top of assignments rather than cram before a deadline. But don’t we – and the bar exam – teach and reinforce students cramming at the end? This semester I let my upper-level students work out how much the final would count – their choice: 20%. It means more assignments and assessments but they practice more often and, I hope, learn more.

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