Re: calculus-based physics final exam

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 21:50 -0400 4/16/03, Aaron Titus wrote:
> I'm not sure being too hard is a problem. I've heard that a mean near
> 50% is actually desirable (in testing and measurement "theory"). The
> main thing that I want is the ability to compare my students' scores to
> those of students at other institutions.
I don't have any problem with a test whose mean is about 50%, but the
students scream like wounded pigs over them. They are all used to
tests where the average is at 80% or higher, so when they get one
with a mean of 50%, they go bananas.

During the years I taught the AP-C course I routinely used old tests
for their in-class tests. Since these courses purport to be
equivalent to college courses, those problems should be suitable for
your course. One problem, however, is that the C-level syllabus is
mechanics and E&M only. The B-level syllabus is much broader (too
broad, IMO) but is non-calculus. I think that ETS now puts the old
free response questions on their web-site, which, of course, makes
them less useful for your purposes, once the word gets out that that
is what you are doing. In order to get to the solutions and scoring
rubric, I think you have to establish that you are a teacher.

All of this has happened since I stopped teaching AP courses, and has
been gleaned from what I get off the AP-Physics list. I have not
recently visited the ETS web site myself. I'm sure others on the list
can confirm or refute my impressions.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
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<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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