Anyone have thoughts on "The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM)"
My department chose to use it, but I have major problems with it. Even without having taken a previous physics course, the FMCE is at least readable to anyone of average intelligence. The CSEM, on the other hand, contains so much jargon, that the baseline set by the pretest is essentially useless. The questions don't indicate anyone's intuitive understanding of electricity (perhaps gotten by playing with household electronics) - just their familiarity with terminology. IMHO, the "gains" are meaningless for this test.