Collateral Damage

So going into finals, I realized that I had way too many "A" students. Part of the inflation is how easy the midterm was which I think I need to redo. So in order to really discern the "A" students from everyone else, I had to make the final exam much harder. I added more multiple choice questions, elevated the complexity of the wording of the questions, and changed the final essay section to focus on the Iraqi Constitution. Obviously, the final exam heavily emphasized the lectures and in-class discussions so students would be in good shape if they were attending. Of course, it doesn't guarantee that students in attendance knew what was going on and that discrepancy showed. For the most part, the exam was hard ...

It was *A LOT* harder.

I think it was way too hard.

Average final exam grade from one section was 73.2%.
Compared with their midterm grade it was 87.8% so a 14.6% difference.

So I accomplished my objective and found out who the "A" students were. But the dedicated and solid students were also hit hard, dropping almost a full grade which really sucks. In general, the students were weak in one of two areas: the multiple choice questions, or the essay section. That was intentional and the differences really came through as students with excellent writing skills scored very well in the essay section, and those with strong deductive skills scored high marks in the multiple choice section. The 2 or 3 that did well in both received an "A." Unfortunately, there were those that did poorly in both sections, and when that happens you've hit the bottom hard.

Like rock bottom.

Like Age of Dinosaurs bottom.

Like so far down below there would be no point in trying to dig you back up ...

Not even for your skeletons.

I'll find out what happens tomorrow in my last section and see if the pattern remains true. If it does, then I'll have to evaluate my choices.