MBA 655
Spring 2002
Exam Philosophy
I know students are concerned about exams. I understand that the first exam with a new teacher is a bit intimidating--you have no idea what I'm going to ask. "What will he want us to know?" "Do I have to remember every word?" "Will it be multiple choice, matching, essay?"
Being apprehensive about an exam isn't all bad. It can act as a motivator to pay attention and learn the material. However, I know that my students all have regular jobs and can sometimes feel overwhelmed with the uncertainty of not knowing what to study, especially in light of the workload for a class like this.
I try to do several things to reduce the anxiety and help you prepare for the exams. First, I normally give a detailed preview of each exam on the week before the exam is scheduled. Once these reviews are complete, you can access them here.
Also, I will not test you over everything in the book. Instead, I will test you over the things in each chapter that are important. Not all chapters are equally important. How do you know what's important without crawling inside my head (didn't they make a movie about that?)? The answer is simple, the things we emphasize in class are the things I consider important and the things that will be on the exam. For example, we talked about the system development life-cycle and its alternatives--that will be on the exam. However, much of the material in chapter 7 is not terribly important for the purposes of this class. For example, I will not ask you to distinguish between RAID 0-5.
To get an idea about what will be on the exam, look at the agendas I give you each week. The items on the agenda will generally be the items of the exam. You should be able to use the agendas as an early warning study guide to prepare for the exam.
Here is my strategy with the textbook readings: I want to expose you to all of the material in the text, but not all of it is equally important for the sake of our objectives in this class. I do not have time to cover it all in depth. Nor will I slavishly follow the minutiae of the text in making out my tests. I assume that there is some value to your reading all the material, being exposed to all the terms and concepts, even though we may not discuss them in detail or be tested on them in detail.
One way to explain this is to say that I want to give you the raw material to make your own connections and learn new things. For example, some of the material in the text may help explain some things you've wondered about before. It may plant new ideas in your head. It may spur a new idea.
I believe that play is a large part of learning. I want to foster in you a spirit of playing with new ideas to solve problems. A little bit of apprehension is ok, but I don't want it to be overwhelming and keep you from learning.
Be sure to let me know if you have any questions about the exam or if your getting concerned about the workload in the class.