Meta comments on exams

Here is a patchwork of photos of some student exams. I post them here partly for humour but I will also post them on my blogs for students for the next semester as a warning for them. Many students wrote, "sorry" (or "ssory" in one case). Well, many that I photographed; the students who did well typically did not feel the need to write directly to me in their exams (one who did, told me "[he] respects me" - the suck-up).

More interesting are the pictures and emoticons drawn by students who did not do well. The exam consisted of watching four 2-4 minute clips, answering questions about them and ten minutes was given at the end for another questions and to check and make changes to their exams. When did the students start drawing faces? In some cases, judging from the otherwise blank exams, they could have start upon receiving their exams.

I don't think any of these students cheated but a surprising number of other students did. As I have mentioned in the past, cheating usually doesn't help because the neighboring exams are no more likely to have correct answers.

Average student grades were around 14-18 out of 30. My police admin classes managed 22/30 on average and sports students were closer to 14/30. More importantly (for me), is that a fair range of grades were received so I can curve the scores as required.*

Anyway, click to enlarge
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*The worst thing that could happen for me would be to have all students within five marks of each other - curving would be impossible. The students would probably prefer to all be between 25 and 30, but that would mean rewriting a tougher exam or increased value given to homework.