Test Exams for Grace
When I was in college I would often buy used books. Back in the 60’s and 70’s college books were not obscenely priced as they are today. I remember one quarter buying books for four classes for less than 100$. I had one book that cost 20.$ and I thought that outrageous. Then there was the term when I was taking an entomology class and the news came out that DDT had been banned. They book had listed DDT as the best pest deterrent. I went mid quarter and sold my book for usual buy-back rates. Usually 3/4 if you kept the book in good shape and hadn’t written in it. I got a good rate for that entomology book but about a week later it was worth nothing.
When I was in graduate school I had a class in ecology that we were given ahead a 20 page exam. The exam went through the book for the class. It was totally fill in the blank. If you went through, and filled into the blanks the missing parts you could then go through and memorize them. When the exam came you were given the same 20 page blank packet of papers with random of the fill in questions circled. You might have three on one page and six on another. It was actually much harder an exam that one expected unless you were the kind of person who could memorize verbatim vast amount of information. There was as far as I could say no rhyme or reason about what information you were asked to recall. You just had to memorize what was there. I didn’t like, nor did well, on that exam. If you had asked for an essay on one part of the books whole setting about the areas. The questions didn’t really measure what you had learned. It did measure what you could memorize. From the memorized parts individual concepts could be ignored and not learned.
In entomology class we would have practical exams where there would be 60 or so insects on pins with a question about name, scientific name. You had to know them well. There were two sessions you could practice with the insects and names so you could come to identify them. One kid was going through making notes like. 4 flies in a box. We tried to tell him that the day of the exam they would be on a pin, solitary, The next day we went in and as we had said they were singular on a pin. The kid was furious.
I took an advanced course in Abnormal Psychology. It fascinated me. The professor started class saying he didn’t want marginal cases. He went on to explain it was common for students to go through the reading about the individual pathologies and think… Wow. I sometimes feel that way I must have psychosis.. Highlighting the possible symptoms.
The subject I found fascinating. Th exams were brutal. jThey would be matching. ‘’The worst part of this multiple choice was the way it was constructed. Statement, question, possible answers. A,B,C,D. A+B, B+C. All of the above, none of the above. Seriously that kind of combination on all the questions. It was an hour exam. I don’t know how many questions there were. I just remember clearly going outside, being met by a friend who said I didn’t look good. He asked how it went. I said. “I have no idea.” Seriously it was so confusing. That was a Friday. Monday we got the results and I had a B. But it was little consolation as I really learned nothing from the exam. Many must have complained because the next exams weren’t like that. Thank Goodness, we all needed counseling after that first exam.
So testing isn’t so bad if you can learn something from it. But it makes no sense and takes time to study for an odd reasons.
I had a parasitology exam that threw us a curve too. It was one of those odd exam days when during exam week I had back to back exams. That wasn’t the usual way the schedule went. Several of us were in the two classes that lined up like that and we were standing in the hall trying to shift gears from the first exam and the assistant came by and laughed and said it’s too late for that. We had studied so many parasites that we had been given a list of the different ones that we had been told we could use during the exam. You still had to know them you just didn’t have to know how to spell them all. We get into the exam after that wise crack in the hall, and the TA said we couldn’t use the key. What? What? We had to spell them out ourselves. That really threw us all for a loop because the spellings were intricate and tricky. And they said you had to have it exactly right. We ALL floundered through that exam. The tests were scored and the test grades were really poor. I had told my Daddy about it when he asked how it went. I had known this professor since I was a kid and wanted to do well. He had noticed my score was low. The professor wasn’t around because he was in the hospital. He called my Dad and said that I hadn’t done well on the exam. He wasn’t ratting me out he was concerned. Daddy told him we didn’t have the key. He was surprised. Apparently he called the TA in and asked about the exam, how it had gone, how the grades were. He asked if the key was handed out with it. The TA said no. The professor looked at the individual grades and recognized that enough of the otherwise top students had done poorly. He re-scaled the curve for everyone. It worked out.
I have had dreams now and then that I have a test coming up and it is for a class I’ve ben registered for but never attended. It takes a minute or so to recognize it was just a dream.
My Favorite story about exams was a professor I’ve always admired had a student come up after the first class and say what do I have to do to get an A. The student had many many questions. Finally the professor said come with me. He took him to the registrar and said please record an A for this class for him. Odd as it was he did. The professor turned to the guy and said…Now just learn something. Apparently it worked as the student provided the best conversation and the best exam scores and the best final project.
Life is really like that for the faithful. It’s called a full measure of grace.
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The Spirit Will Tell You 