I think my final was just too hard

Java

Fri, Jun 24 2022, 10:29 am

DrMom wrote:

I disagree with the bolded. It is annoying to take a test and never get it back, never know what you got wrong, what you got right, etc.

Besides, going over the test with the girls can help you figure out what went wrong. Maybe when you discuss it with them you'll find out that question #6 was worded vaguely, or the multiple choice options were too similar, or the class never really understood that lesson on Athens vs. Sparta, or your students felt it was too long and just rushed through it in order to not leave questions at the end blank.

It's ridiculous to just pretend the test never happened, so the girls don't "feel bad."

We never got any finals back in high school. Finals were after we were done class for the year, so it was just come in, take your finals, leave, come in, take your regents, leave. You found out how you did based on your report card grades which usually came a few weeks into the summer

amother

↑ NeonYellow

Fri, Jun 24 2022, 10:30 am

DrMom wrote:

I think this is subjective. After spending 3 weeks cramming with no time to breathe and live, some girls just want to clear their heads and just focus on other stuff. They'd rather revisit this at a later date, than spend some time now analyzing the details of what went wrong.

amother

Steel

Fri, Jun 24 2022, 11:15 am

I teach in a girls HS and I see how the girls are so stressed out at the end of the year with their finals. Personally I think some of the finals should be given Pesach time and at the end of the year the girls should get a test in that subject on the material learned from Pesach till the end of the year. Regent subjects - if the school gives a final on a regent subject - and a few other subjects should have a final on the whole years material.

amother

Steelblue

Fri, Jun 24 2022, 11:33 am

Please be generous to the girls. I am not one for being easy on students. I believe they should work hard and learn a lot. But I have a few girls in high school and seminary. They work hard, they study hard, they do well in class. A lower mark on a final is a heartbreak for a strong, hardworking student. A student who is a fantastic student and got a 70 on your final, knows the material. But she didn’t test well on that day. Consider her morale when she learns that she got a 70. You have the power to have rachmanus on her. Make it up. Knock out some of the harder questions. Raise the marks by a few points “just because”.

amother

↑ OP

Fri, Jun 24 2022, 11:34 am

Thanks so much for your replies.
Ironically, when I created the exam, I thought it was designed to make them succeed- as in, opportunity for extra credit, an extra section that was very easy so that they can get 10 points easily and have other parts with less, etc.
Taking the exam myself on a timer is a good idea. I should have tried that first. I guess, like the oldest child, a first class is kind of a Guinea pig :-/ .
I’m really not the kind of teacher who is out to get her students. I want them to succeed, and feel good about themselves. I also wanted to see how much they gained this year; that’s why this final is troubling me.
I had another in-class project this term that most students excelled at. Between that and the quizzes and class work, I hope everyone will get the grades they hoped for.

amother

Fern

Sat, Jun 25 2022, 2:24 pm

I think you are wonderful to try to figure out what went wrong.
My kids have too many teachers that even if the whole class does poorly and they complain that questions were worded poorly or the test included information from chapters that they were explicitly told were not on the test, they make vague excuses and mock the kids' concerns. So it is happens here and there that a child may get 95-100 on all of like 10 subjects and a 75 on another. Some teachers really just don't care and have huge egos.
One math teacher just argued with the whole class that she taught a subject she did not. The WHOLE class was in agreement that she did not. She saw on the test that 1 child out of 20 got it right. It ended up that this child made aliya that year and had learned the material in the the U.S. The teacher reviewed it with the class the next day but still took about 10 points from everyone's grade for that incorrect answer.
Kudos to you to try to do what's fair and learn from this.

amother

Broom

Sat, Jun 25 2022, 6:35 pm

OP, this is how you mark on a curve:
Mark all the tests and then take the AVERAGE mark - let's say is 60%
Then you take the normal average mark of a test - usually its 75%
Now you add the difference to every girl's mark - in this case it's 15%
so yes it's possible that a girl will get over 100%

(you can't just take the highest mark and add to it - let's say the highest mark is 95% so then you'd only be adding 5% and that isn't correct)