Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ig!arizona!robert
From: robert@arizona.edu (Robert J. Drabek)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Exam Files
Summary: exper
Message-ID: <9013@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: 3 Feb 89 03:22:08 GMT
References: <1461@trantor.harris-atd.com> <19554@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <19863@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 31

In article <19863@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, (Norman Matloff) writes:
> *>                                            For exams, there is what the
> *>Taiwan students call the "archaeology method," which is basically the one
> *>used by American fraternity houses  --  extensive archives of past exams
> 
> I seem to recall seeing exam files in the UCB library.  Was that motivated
> by a desire to equalize opportunity?
> 
> >Perhaps the visibility of some such files ensures that instructors
> >don't give the same question (or variation with different numbers) twice.
> 
> In my observation, most professors who give similar exams year after year
> don't even realize that exam files exist and are used.

Equal opportunity is important plus it keeps us honest if we want.  For
most of my classes I have prepared preprinted materials which all
students buy from the copy center; included within are copies of two
semester's worth of past exams.

This came about from the awareness that various groups do have copies of
my past exams, but the less social student is at a disadvantage.
Knowing that everyone has the old exams available also forces me to be
more creative when it comes time to write exams.  (Forced self
discipline, I call it.)  And having the exams available has proven to be
a great motivator to students to study as they have something concrete
to start working with.
-- 
Robert J. Drabek
Department of Computer Science
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ  85721