Quiz and test length

[Innisfree]

What do you consider a reasonable number of questions for weekly quizzes or tests covering several weeks' material?

 

Dd has an online math class which has frequent quizzes of 3-4 questions. A test contained 13 questions.

 

Dd is upset because one mistake brings her grade down so significantly. For instance, a mistake on a recent quiz resulted in a grade of 75%. Homework is checked for completion, but again, the teacher only actually checks work on 2-3 problems each day. Dd thinks the teacher's goal is to reduce time spent in grading.

 

Dd is accustomed to making very good grades, though math is an area where she has to work hard. She spends hours on the assignments, and is furious that a single mistake can bring her grade down so far. But I'm not sure if this would be regarded as a reasonable complaint, or as an area where the teacher is exercising her own choices which should be respected. I suppose if dd really knew the material well enough, she wouldn't make those mistakes.

 

Would you contact the teacher about this?

[yvonne]

If she's in high school, I'd probably suggest that she contact the teacher and let her know she's concerned about doing well in the class.  Maybe ask what % of the grade will be based on the quizzes.  If nothing else, the instructor will know the student cares about doing well in the class.

Some online providers we've used for math, esp, do have 4-5 question quizzes when the students first log in to class. I think it's helpful to be sure students are keeping up with the work and so that the instructor can see immediately where any general issues might be.

[Mom22ns]

I've never used quizzes or a curriculum that did, but I would expect them to be short, probably 5 or fewer problems. I generally expect high school level math tests to be between 10-20 problems. A single missed problem on a quiz won't matter at all by the end of the course if there are 36 weekly quizzes. I would also be interested in making sure they give partial credit so a wrong answer with lots of correctly done steps gets most of the points. If there are few problems then making sure she gets all the points that she deserves out of those is important. 

[regentrude]

Completely depends.

If a short quiz is multiple choice, each wrong answer will reduce the points significantly. One out of four questions answered incorrectly would mean 75%. one out of two: 50%.

I would expect partial credit to be given on a full length test; an hour is a reasonable time. The number of questions is meaningless because it all depends on whether they are straightforward computation or complex problems students need to think about.

Lastly, it comes down to weighting. Do all quizzes combined only contribute 10% to the overall grade, or are they worth half the grade?

I see nothing wrong with homework not being graded for points. There should, however, be a way to receive feedback whether the solutions are correct. If the teacher cannot grade all homework (which might not be reasonable to expect in a large class), there should be other ways for students to verify that they worked the problems correctly - by discussing in class, or by comparing with posted solutions.

Edited September 20, 2017 by regentrude

[Innisfree]

Thanks, I appreciate the ideas here.

 

These are algebra problems, and no, there isn't any partial credit. Dd has been panicking a bit seeing several quiz grades that are way lower than she is accustomed to getting, based on a small error. She may just need to do better, but seeing a small mistake at one stage of a problem bring the grade down to a 75 is hard.

 

I need to find out how heavily the quizzes are weighted.

 

There is no way to check answers for half the problems. The book gives final answers for odd-numbered problems, but no intermediate stages to show how the conclusion was reached. And, except for the few problems the teacher checks, there is no answer provided for the even problems. So that sounds like a legitimate issue to bring up with the teacher.

 

The point about having dd contact the teacher herself is a good one. She does need to do this herself.

[Mom22ns]

What book is she using? Maybe there is a solutions manual out there that she could get that would show worked solutions for homework.

[skimomma]

I would also ask or check the syllabus to see what role quizzes play in the overall grade.  I teach at the college level and give (online) quizzes multiple times a week mostly just to give my students incentive to actually study the preparatory material before class meets.  They are usually 2-4 questions and many students average 50% or less over the semester due to either not preparing or rushing through (not saying your dd is doing either of those things....).  But, all of those quizzes put together are only 2% of the grade.  They are really insignificant in the overall scheme of things.  That said, I would expect partial credit on problems for an exam with only 13 problems.

[regentrude]

These are algebra problems, and no, there isn't any partial credit

 

How complex are they? "Algebra problems" can mean many different things.

If it's a straight equation and " Solve for x", and requires two or three lines, there may not be any way to give partial credit.

If it is a complex word problem that requires the student to extract information, set up equations and solve systems of equation and fill a page, then partial credit is appropriate.

Edited September 20, 2017 by regentrude

[Clemsondana]

In biology, I do weekly 10 point quizzes that usually have 5 questions. I will give partial credit in the sense that you can get 1 of the 2 points for a question, but I don't deal with half points. Over the course of the year, there are between 800-1000 points, so even if a student fails a particular quiz with a 5/10, it doesn't matter much to their overall grade. I also give credit for homework, also worth 10 points/week. If they do it all, then they get full credit. I make corrections on the homework and give feedback, but I admit that I'm generally not willing to restate a definition for a term that is defined in the lecture, the text, and the glossary so I will sometimes just note that they need to recheck certain questions. Tests usually have around 15 questions, sometimes as many as 20, and are worth 100 points. Again, there is partial credit. There are also projects, but those work better for science than for math.

 

Weighting is important. In my class, you work towards a total number of points so 900/1000 is an A. In other classes, quizzes may be weighted to be 10% or 50% of the grade. In some classes, the quizzes are more to give feedback and are worth so little that they don't matter much, and in other classes they are a major component of the grade. I'd check the syllabus and see how grades are calculated.

[Innisfree]

How complex are they? "Algebra problems" can mean many different things.

If it's a straight equation and " Solve for x", and requires two or three lines, there may not be any way to give partial credit.

If it is a complex word problem that requires the student to extract information, set up equations and solve systems of equation and fill a page, then partial credit is appropriate.

Good point. These are problems that take several lines, but certainly not a page. So maybe no partial credit is appropriate.

 

I just checked, and the quizzes cumulatively are worth 20% of the grade, and the tests 45%. The teacher seems to be dropping the lowest quiz grade.

 

Dd may just need to make sure she's paying attention and doing her best. I think we will ask about a way to check her understanding of all the problems. Thanks for the feedback.

[GoodGrief]

You've received lots of good suggestions.

 

Is this a class where you must put the grade as-is on your transcript? Though ultimately I never needed to change a grade received from an online teacher, my philosophy when it comes to online courses is that they are a tool to deliver material, like any curriculum, not the final say in grading. If I disagreed with the system, I might put my own grading plan in place, add additional assignments, extra credit, whatever. Ultimately my goal is for the material to be mastered by my student, and sometimes outside classes are not a perfect fit in that regard and need to be tweaked. This is not for the purpose of maintaining a "perfect 4.0" but rather keeping some consistency in your personal homeschool methods.

[RootAnn]

When quizzes are so small, sometimes the lowest few per quarter (or semester) are dropped. (We are used to Wilson Hill quizzes like this.)

 

Last year, Dd's Alg 2 class (not Wilson Hill) only had ten questions on some of the tests. Doesn't take much at no partial credit to drop your grade. Dd spent time double checking her answers if she could.