CBTF Student Lightning Symposium

Supporting Students for CBTF Exams

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May 6, 2025

• All participants will be automatically muted upon entry to the Main Room.
• The symposium will consist of:
• 5 unique presentations of 4 minutes or less
• A general Q+A session following all presentations
• The chat space will remain open during the lightning presentations.
• You are encouraged to post questions, share ideas, and offer comments during the presentations; the presenters will not be responding to chat during their presentations but rather during the Q+A session following all presentations.
• CBTF staff will monitor for the chat for questions that may be addressed during the open Q+A sessions following all presentations.
• Please unmute to ask open-mic questions during the Q+A session.
• The symposium will be recorded and available on the CBTF website next week.

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Lightning Symposium Norms

• Surveyed all CBTF students (over 10,000 individuals)
• 244 responses
• Asked three questions

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What is something your professor has done that has improved your testing experience?

What could your professor have done to improve your testing experience?

What can we improve about the CBTF?

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Feedback Process

CBTF

Sara Johnson

Computer Science

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Exam Prep Recommendations

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Prairielearn Prep:

• Initial navigation videos/explanations
• Practice exams that simulate the real exam

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

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Quiz 0 / Practice Exam in the CBTF

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For Exams involving Coding (Especially non-CS):

Provide examples of code similar to exam problems

CBTF Exam Prep:

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Question Prep:

• Provide several variants of practice materials
• Practice should mirror real question formats
• Similar complexity/difficulty

CBTF

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“...when 50 minute exams start during the middle of my exam, it is very distracting…”

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Exam Considerations:

Two-hour exams are too long

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“...It basically shaves off 10-15 of my test time because of the noise and commotion.”

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“[When] every person who was in a 50 min exam leaves and new ones come in… it really makes me feel very mentally distressed”

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CBTF

Ashley Burnidge

Psychology Pre-Medical Pathway

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

During Exam Recommendations

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Warm-up question:

• Low-stakes first question

Formula sheets:

• Provide upfront to test application not memorization

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“It was helpful when my instructor provided the formula sheet before the exam so I knew what I had to memorize”

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CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Instant feedback:

• Allow students to have multiple attempts

Group by theme/difficulty:

• Keep topics grouped together

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“I wish my professor grouped questions according to the concept or chapter on the exam”

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CBTF

Ben Mize

Mechanical Engineering

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Partial Credit

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

More Points Per Attempt

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Forgiving for low value errors

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Best where accuracy matters, yet simple mistakes are common

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What is something your professor has done that has improved your testing experience?

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“...giving multiple attempts for close to full credit (rather than decreasing by 50 or 75% for each attempt used in other classes)”

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Multiple Attempts for Full Credit

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Buffer for simple mistakes

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Best for more complex problems

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What is something your professor has done that has improved your testing experience?

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“Allowed for multiple (normally 2) attempts for full score on harder questions…”

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Multiple steps per Question (where applicable)

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Reduces confusion and frustration

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More fair partial credit

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What can we improve about the CBTF?

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“On a paper exam, a student could get partial credit if they follow the right steps, but make a simple calculation mistake and get the wrong answer. [At the CBTF] you only get the partial credit…if you get the question correct in the end. This is very stressful, and also demotivating…”

CBTF

Matthew Martin

Mechanical Engineering

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Question Difficulty

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Provide questions of varying difficulty

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Easy questions worth more points

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e.g. repeat of homework questions

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What is something your professor has done that has improved your testing experience?

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“A relaxing question worth a small amount where you reflect before the exam. ”

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Harder questions worth fewer points

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Challenge problems

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Only top students will get points

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What is something your professor has done that has improved your testing experience?

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“Don't make coding questions worth 50% of CS exams, that's way too much for 1 or 2 questions ”

CBTF

Preetesh Shah�Statistics & Computer Science

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Post Exam Recommendations

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GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Immediate Post-Exam Actions

• Release Answer Key with Explanations
• Provide students with annotated solutions to promote self-assessment�
• Collect Anonymous Reflections or Post-Exam Journals
• Ask students to write what they found easy, difficult, or confusing—great qualitative data.

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• Offer Score Distribution & Class Stats
• Share histograms or summary statistics to contextualize student performance

CBTF

GRAINGER ENGINEERING

Long-Term Post-Exam Actions

• Reflect on Exam Pressure & Design
• Consider if the exam overwhelmed students due to excessive time pressure or interface complexity
• Evaluate whether questions aligned with learning objectives and exam format supported diverse learners

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• Refine Question Bank
• Archive poorly performing or confusing questions with notes for revision or removal.

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• Update Future Teaching Materials
• Adjust lectures, assignments, or practice problems based on trends in exam results.

CBTF