The first consideration is exam length. Yes, my exam has to be long enough to take an amount of time close to that provided by the school. That being said, I also need an exam length that I am willing to grade. What I have established is the follow.
- 30 Multiple choice questions
- 5 Short answer questions
- 5 Free Response questions
Yes, this is only a 40 question exam, which is short; however, it isn't the amount of questions you have, it is the quality of the questions that counts.
The thirty multiple choice questions comprise 50% of the exam grade. These questions are basic computational or recall problems. Each question has 4 to 5 possible answer choices, and yes, answers that would be obtained if a student made a common error are some of the choices. Though these are the most basic of questions, it takes real thought to answer them correctly.
The five short answer questions are conceptual in nature and comprise 20% of the exam grade. Students have to explain, in two to three sentences, the concept being discussed. My favorite type of short answer question is error analysis, where I give to sample sets of work and the student must identify which one is the correct method. Another popular style of question involves applications to mathematics; for example, I show students a graph discussing a companies profit, then ask about the significance of the slope or the y-intercept of the graph.
The five free response questions consist of multiple parts and comprise 30% of the exam grade (for those keeping count, this should be 100%). This is the part of the exam where students combine their computational and conceptual skills. Each part of each question builds off of the previous part, but if a student gets part (a) incorrect, they can still earn the points in part (b) if they use their answer from part (a) correctly. For these questions, a strong, but consistent rubric is designed that requires them to show their work in each question.
Prior to the exam, I tell students how many questions are on the exam, what percentage each group of questions count, and the topics that will be covered. I do not, however, conduct a formal in class review. I can get away with this "lack of compassion" (as one parent described it) because all of my test are cumulative, therefore I should not have to review extensively in class if every student has completed their corrections from previous test. I do make myself available before and after school, meaning that the two weeks before the exam I arrive at 7 AM sharp and leave a 5-5:30 PM every day, regardless of if a student has come for a review.
One final note, the first year I formatted my exam like this, one student looked at the number of questions and said he would be done in twenty minutes. One hour and forty-seven minutes after the exam started he turned it in and said "I have never had an exam that short that involved so much thinking." Remember, quality is far more important that quantity.
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