Honestly, I kind of enjoy writing exams. I like the puzzle that goes with it. That’s kind of just who I am. I totally understand that it’s a chore for most people. It’s certainly a lot of work, and there’s a lot of stress that can come with it. These are my tips for writing a chemistry midterm or final exam.
Use Test Questions AGAIN
One of the easiest tricks to writing a chemistry exam is to simply use old test questions. Especially if they are questions commonly missed by students, concepts they needed some more time with or concepts you want to make sure are still sharp. I can assure you, the large majority of your students won’t realize they’ve seen the question before.
In some cases you may want to swap out answer choices to make the question more timely. For example, maybe the old question was on properties of ionic salts being soluble and electrolytes. Students had to choose between 4 formulas and choose the ionic compound versus the molecular. Maybe this time, they have to choose a specific formula and two were ionic, but only one was soluble. It’s the same question, but now there’s an element of Solutions concepts added to the question.
Use Your Learning Targets
Your objectives or targets, (or whatever we’re calling them these days) and really your guide for writing exams. My students don’t write these in their notes (they’re pre-printed for them on their guided notes handouts). Contrary to what my former principals believe, kids don’t really care about learning targets, and can still learn chemistry without reading them or writing them.
BUT, I do make sure they have them in a few places. ONE: I write it on the board each day. TWO: on their guided notes. THREE: on their unit length study sheets.
These have been amazing for my organization, as well as theirs. The sheet is given out at the beginning of a unit. The vocabulary terms are written across the top. I make them write the terms and definitions in my glossary for a homework assignment.
Beneath that is a three column table: Date & Lesson, Learning Target and Homework. They have the list of all the learning targets and use it as a study guide. “I can determine if a bond is polar or nonpolar.” Yes, I can, so I don’t have to study lesson 5.1, or I can’t and I need to go back and reread 5.1. Since my guided notes have Show What You Know Questions embedded into the notes, students can go back and redo those questions to practice.
Let this list of learning targets guide you as you write or collect questions. I even like to have all my study sheets printed and check off the LTs as I write questions. It lets me know which I’ve covered and which I still need to cover.
Don’t Rely on AI
It’s just not there yet. At least for chemistry. When I was writing the chemistry exams available in my final exam pack, I wanted to test things out. Mostly out of curiosity. The questions the AI wrote were absolutely miserable. The questions contained the answers, were unanswerable or simply didn’t make sense. Plus the answer keys are a disaster.
Your best bet with AI is to have it come up with questions or concepts and your students must find issues with the output. For example, one of the questions I got back from AI reported number of moles as answer choices instead of number of grams in stoichiometry problems. If you were to take that and rewrite it as, “the student got 1.2 grams of KMnO4 as their answer. Explain why their answer is wrong.” Then the must write, based on doing the calculation themselves that the 1.2 is actually moles and then must be turned into grams. Then offer a point for the correct answer too. (Although I wouldn’t do that because I hate the concept of two point questions. Especially when answers rely on each other).
Test Building Strategies
I keep these tips on my desk to make sure I’m writing a quality chemistry exam. I use it for writing both chemistry unit exams as well as midterm and final exams. Get a Fair Test Checklist by clicking here.
- Start your test with an “easy question.” It’s psychological, but if the test starts with an easy question, students get a confidence boost. It’ll help them throughout the test, as opposed to an instant demoralization upon getting a tough question to start.
- Make sure you have a spread of easy, medium and hard questions. This is going to give you the best picture of how much your students have learned. Too many easy questions make them look more learned than they are. Too many hard questions does the opposite. It can make your brightest students look unaccomplished. If you don’t like the idea of an even spread, try something that looks more like a bell curve.
- Make sure there’s one clear correct answer. This is especially true for open response questions. When in doubt add “answer in terms of X” to guide students to the answer you’re looking for. The best way to ensure this is to write the test and wait a day or two before making your answer key.
- Cover concepts evenly. If you say the test will be on Unit 1-6, make sure the spread of questions is about even on the concepts taught in Units 1-6. If you want it to be mostly Units 5&6 with some 1-4 sprinkled in, make sure your students know that ahead of time. Use the learning targets to help with this too.
- Watch the clock. You want to have the “just right” number of questions. I often assume that students will need about 90 seconds per question (for tests I write). Some questions, like counting sig figs will be about 20 seconds, but stoichiometry may take 2 or 3 minutes. It’ll average out Whatever you do, your “seconds per question” should be similar to what you’ve been doing throughout the year. Don’t over or under do it.
