[tips] Re: Negatively skewed scores on exams, within students

[Marie Helweg-Larsen]

I fixed that problem by having 4 regular required exams. Students could take the optional cumulative final and I would only count the top 4 (out of 5) scores. That gave students an opportunity to replace a poor earlier performance but did not excuse them from class or regular exams. During the final exam I also gave all makeup exams. Marie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My first semester of teaching I tried something similar.  I gave four exams with the option of dropping the lowest grade.  The problem I ran into was that if the student's received A's on the first three then there is no reason to even attend class anymore since they already have an A average.  My institution does not have a firm attendance policy and being that it was my frist semester, I really did not know any better so 1/3 of the class who did well ceased coming to class the last few weeks of the semester.   Albert Bramante Department of Psychology/Sociology Union County College See what's free at AOL.com. --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english -- ********************************************* Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 Webpage: www.dickinson.edu/~helwegm ********************************************* --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english