Scantron
I used to absolutely detest Scranton exams. I felt that the teachers/professors were trying to trick me with the wording of the exam, rather than testing my knowledge of the subject. I was that student who went back through the entire exam and triple-checked all my answers, then continue to agonize over 2 choices for 3 minutes per challenging questions, change the answer at the last minute, and get that answer wrong. Is it, A and B, or only B and C, or all or the above…. or NONE of the above? Oh gawd. It drove me insane.
When I started to teach, I wanted to give my students more written exams because I thought that they would also (like me) prefer written over Scranton exams. They looked at me uncomfortably as I told them that half of their exam would consist of short-answers… I could not understand why. Is it not more relieving to explain via writing all the concepts that they did understand? It can also be a much easier way to receive partial credit.
Teaching as an instructor at a school slowly helped me realize so many things that teachers/professors go through that I had not considered before – writing a syllabus, creative lectures, unscheduled office hours, writing and grading exams, in conjunction with the variety of students with a wide range of backgrounds. If you are interested, I’d like to do a “my experience as a professor“ every other Fridays for a few weeks. How does that sound? 😀