Practice versus Review Exams and Final Exam Performance

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Balch
Keyword(s):  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Academic Ability ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Class Standing ◽  
Questions And Answers

Two randomly assigned groups of introductory psychology students received different but comparable presentations of the same sample multiple-choice fined exam. The practice-exam group took a test on the questions and immediately afterward scored their tests according to the key (i.e., questions and answers), whereas the review-exam group saw only the key and performed a control task concurrently. On a final exam given I week later, the practice-exam students scored significantly higher than the review-exam group. In addition, they rated their task as more helpful in preparing them for the final. These effects did not interact with students' class standing. Apparently, students at all levels of academic ability benefit from an objective assessment of their preparation for a final exam.

Effect of Class Standing on Students' Predictions of Their Final Exam Scores

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Balch
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Class Standing ◽  
Average Students ◽  
Exam Scores

Ninety undergraduate introductory psychology students predicted their numerical scores on a multiple-choice final exam directly before the exam was passed out (pretest prediction) and just after completing the exam (posttest prediction). Based on their all-but-final-exam point totals, students were ranked with respect to class standing and categorized as above average (top third), average (middle third), or below average (bottom third). Below average students significantly overestimated their final exam scores on both pretest (9.47%) and posttest (7.73%) predictions. Average students significantly overestimated their scores on pretest (5.33%) but not posttest (2.13%) predictions. Above average students, however, were fairly accurate for both types of prediction, slightly but not significantly underestimating (about 2%) their exam scores.

A Free-Recall Demonstration Versus a Lecture-Only Control

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Balch
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Recall Method ◽  
The Third ◽  
To Come

On their first class day, introductory psychology students took a 14-question multiple-choice pretest on several principles of memory including primacy, recency, storage, retrieval, counterbalancing, and the free-recall method. I randomly preassigned students to come at one of two different times to the second class, 2 days later, when they either participated in a free-recall demonstration/debriefing or heard a lecture on comparable material. In the third class, five days later, they took a posttest identical to the pretest. On the posttest but not the pretest, students participating in the demonstration/debriefing significantly outperformed those hearing only the lecture.

Improving Students' Exam Performance by Introducing Study Strategies and Goal Setting

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Manion Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Experimental Section

This study addresses whether learning strategies would improve students' exam performance. Students in 2 sections (N = 65) of Introductory Psychology participated. I introduced students in the experimental section to learning strategies. Students set individual learning goals and recorded their learning related behavior during the first 2 units. Students in the control condition engaged in nonacademic tasks. All students experienced a lesson on learning at the end of Unit 2. First-year students in the control condition obtained significantly lower scores than all other students on the first 2 exams. On the 3rd exam, differences were not significant. On the final exam, the original pattern reemerged.

Psychology: A Closed System of Self-Evident Information?

1983 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Houston
Keyword(s):  
Closed System ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
The Self ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Professional Psychologists

To estimate the self-evidence of basic principles of psychology, 50 UCLA introductory psychology students answered 21 multiple-choice questions each embodying one learning or memory phenomenon. 71% of the items were answered correctly more often than chance. The probability of an item being answered correctly was unrelated to the subjects' familiarity with the names of the phenomena and unrelated to professional psychologists' ratings of the importance of the phenomena. The possibility that we may spend an inordinate amount of item dealing with self-evident principles, because we do not seek outside evaluation of our work, is discussed.

Multiple-Choice Questions with an Option to Comment: Student Attitudes and Use

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 196-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony F. Nield ◽  
Maxine Gallander Wintre
Keyword(s):  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Short Answer ◽  
True False

Introductory Psychology students were graded on four tests using multiple-choice questions with an explicit option to explain their answers (E-option), and were later asked how they would compare this format with short answer, essay, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and regular multiple-choice. Students rated the E-option and short-answer formats as most preferred, and less frustrating and anxiety producing than other formats (p < .05). Of 416 students, 173 used the E-option, averaging less than one explanation per test over the four tests. During the course, only 30 points were gained and 5 points lost due to E-option use. The E-option seems to be an efficient and humane technique for testing large classes.

Item Order Affects Performance on Multiple-Choice Exams

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Balch
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
General Psychology ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Sequential Order ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
The Third ◽  
Item Order ◽  
Supporting Material ◽  
Completion Times

A total of 404 General Psychology students were assigned to one of three different item orders (sequential, chapter contiguity, and random) of the same final exam consisting of 75 multiple- choice questions. In the sequential (S) order exam, items appeared in the same sequence in which their supporting material was presented in the textbook and lectures. For the chapter contiguity (CC) order exam, items based on the same chapter appeared together, but were not sequentially arranged within or between chapters. The order of the third exam was random (R). Scores for the sequential order exam were higher than for the other two. There were no significant differences in the completion times for any of the exams.

The Media Assignment: Enhancing Psychology Students’ Ability to Apply Their Knowledge of Psychology

1994 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
The Media ◽  
Better Than

In this study, I explore whether a media assignment, similar to that used by Rider (1992), increased introductory psychology students’ ability to apply their knowledge of psychological concepts to examples of real-world events. Students collected examples from the popular media that illustrated either operant-or classical-conditioning concepts. Afterward, they took a quiz that contained factual and applied multiple-choice questions on these concepts. Students who collected examples of operant-conditioning concepts performed better than other students on quiz questions designed to assess their ability to apply their knowledge of operant conditioning. However, students who collected examples of classical-conditioning concepts did not outperform other students on applied classical-conditioning questions. Media assignments may enhance students’ learning and their ability to apply course knowledge to real-world events.

Providing Introductory Psychology Students Access to Lecture Slides via Blackboard 5: A Negative Impact on Performance

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Weatherly ◽  
Mark Grabe ◽  
Emily I. L. Arthur
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Laboratory Section ◽  
On Line ◽  
It Performance ◽  
The Impact

The present study investigated the impact of making lecture outlines available on-line via Blackboard 5 on exam performance of students enrolled in introductory psychology. Performance of students in a class with access to information on Blackboard was compared to that of students in a class without such access. These classes were held in successive semesters, but had the same instructor, teaching assistants, textbook, lectures, and exams. Results showed that, across the three exams, students in the course with access to information via Blackboard performed significantly poorer than did students in the class without access to it. Performance in the laboratory section of the course, in which Blackboard was not employed, did not differ between classes. Thus, despite several potential positive ramifications of allowing increased access to lecture information, the impact of such access was not positive. The decreased exam performance may have been the outcome of decreased lecture attendance due to access to lecture information outside of lecture and several measures are discussed which could potentially address this possibility. The present results should alert educators not to rush to introduce technology into their course without serious consideration of the potential positive and negative outcomes such an introduction might have.

Temporal Personality Variations among Participants from a University Subject Pool

1987 ◽  
Vol 60 (3_part_2) ◽  
pp. 1247-1254
Author(s):  
Ronald R. Holden ◽  
John R. Reddon
Keyword(s):  
Psychology Students ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Subject Pool

This study examined personality differences in participants from a university subject pool as a function of the time of participation during the academic term and year. For 150 introductory psychology students with required participation in a subject pool, significant associations were found between time of participation and specific personality variables as measured by Jackson's Personality Research Form. Significant temporal associations with more general personality modal profiles were also obtained. Investigators using university subject pools are warned that these temporal variations in personality may represent possible confounds in research.

Introductory Psychology Student Performance: Weekly Quizzes Followed by a Cumulative Final Exam

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Eric Landrum
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Introductory Psychology Student ◽  
Psychology Student ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Psychology Course

Students in an introductory psychology course took a quiz a week over each textbook chapter, followed by a cumulative final exam. Students missing a quiz in class could make up a quiz at any time during the semester, and answers to quiz items were available to students prior to the cumulative final exam. The cumulative final exam consisted of half the items previously presented on quizzes; half of those items had the response options scrambled. The performance on similar items on the cumulative final was slightly higher than on the original quiz, and scrambling the response options had little effect. Students strongly supported the quiz a week approach.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document