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It is hard to come up with entirely new problems for every exam every year. That doesn't mean that doing so isn't important, but it really is time consuming and
by Steuard 14y ago
It is hard to come up with entirely new problems for every exam every year. That doesn't mean that doing so isn't important, but it really is time consuming and a whole lot of work. It's also painfully easy to think that you've changed things enough for the question to be "new" compared with examples from class or homework or previous years' tests, only for some student to recognize it enough to regurgitate some memorized solution rather than actually thinking.
So while I'd never say that repeating questions is a good thing, I can't be too hard on folks who do (intentionally or not).
- zarify 14y agoFor some students it also can serve to mitigate exam shock (speaking to high school level anyway, which is my area). Finding a familiar, or even roughly familiar question can mean a nervous student has an entry point into the exam. I quite liked the article. It'd be interesting to see if the benefits persisted over multiple groups though. I tend to see engagement increase when rules are changed and students need to figure out how to address the problem in a new way, regardless of whether they are collaborating or not. (anecdotal evidence there only sorry ;P)