Is it fair to have a take home mutiple choice exam for A&P1?

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Today in my A&P1 class the students managed to convince our professor that our last exam of the semester should be a take home exam! My professor said that she wont change the format, so it will still be multiple choice and true/false questions. I feel like this will make it so easy for people to just compare answers and cheat and be able to get an easy A without studying or coming to class.

The crazy thing is that it was going to be a regular in class exam, but my teacher is a bit of a push-over and the class actually convinced her to make it take home. I feel like this is unfair for students like myself, who put in effort and get excellent grades on our own.

My biggest problem with this is that the nursing program at our school only looks at our first semster marks for addmissions. (They wont have semester 2 marks in on time). So if it's so easy to get an A in A&P1, there is nothing to distinguish the students by, and I'm worried students might be admitted by lottery! Plus making the class so easy is not a good way to prepare student for nursing school.

Should I tell my professor that I don't think this is fair? I was thinking of suggesting that we have an "open book" exam as a compromise, since the students seem to think that the regular exams are sooo hard. At least that way people can't cheat off each other. Or am I being really obnoxious and should I just let this go?

Thanks for your help everyone :)

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If it's a take home exam why would anyone need to cheat off of each other? You can look in the textbook, the internet, all over, you don't need to copy off of other classmates. On another note, I have gotten good grades in A&P which I am taking this semester and I would be ecstatic if my final was a take home exam. Count yourself lucky. Who complains about having one take home exam? You still have to look u the answers if you don't know them, which can take a lot of time. If your school hasn't been doing a lottery, why would they start now because of one class? Don't assume that everyone will do well on the take home because not everyone will. Also if they haven't been doing well all semester and then do well on one test, why do you think they will get an A for the entire class? Does the final exam make up the entire grade for the A&P class? If not then getting B's, C's, D's, F's and then getting one A doesn't average out to an A for the semester. Also, there should be other classes that have been taken in the semester. They will look at everyones classes for the semester not just A&P. Everyone won't have good grades in these other classes. Unless you yourself also didn't do well in your other classes, you shouldn't worry too much.

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Specializes in CNA.

Your professor is an idiot.

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Well the averages on the last 3 exams have been a low B. But my professor gives extra credit essays that bring everyone's score up by 6 points. So it is already very easy to get an A. I'm a little worried that if everyone does amazingly on the take home exam, then lots of people will end up with As in the class. I know they can look anywhere for the answers, but they can also check with each other, making it pretty likely that anyone can get an A on this exam. I wouldn't think it was such a problem if the exam were short answer, but being multiple choice makes it really easy for people to go over the exam together and make sure all their answers are correct.

I don't think my professor is an idiot. She just tries too hard to be nice, and gives in easily to pressure put on her by students. She teaches well, but the exams are too easy with the extra credit essays and everything.

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I would stop worrying about everyone else and focus on what you are doing.

A grade in A&P I isn't the only thing that determines who gets into nursing school.

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I feel your pain. To work your butt off the entire semester for a good grade, only to receive a take-home exam near the end is a bunch of bull. No one really knows if students will help each other, use the internet, etc. but be assured, the class average will most likely increase on this exam. (And no, I don't have proof of this either; common sense tells me this will be the outcome).

I had a similar discussion with my instructor. I had concerns that there was too much complaining about the lack of extra credit available: I believed that I could get an A in this class, but was sickened by past experiences where 10%+ extra credit was available in a semester. (That would make my 108% equivalent to someone else's 89.5%, resulting in the same grade and no advantage grade and point-wise during nursing school admissions).

If your instructor were to make the exam a little bit tougher, then I wouldn't be riled up about it. But she has already admitted that the exam will be the same format (and I'm assuming the same level of difficulty) as the previous ones.

Yeah, you have a right to be upset about this.

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THANK you!! So nice to hear that someone agrees with me. I don't want to be that obnoxious student that has to do better than everyone else, but when more than half the class is going to end up getting an A just because of how easy it is, it's a little upsetting. I have good marks in all my pre-requisites, expect I have a C in chemistry, which I took at a MUCH harder school. I will be devastated if that keeps me from getting into nursing school, when people who barely study can easily get As at my community college and might get in instead of me.

I feel like I should do something about this. Our teacher asked in class if anyone had a problem with the exam being take home. I obviously couldn't say anything in front of the other students, but should I speak with her alone about this? If she can be convinced to change the exam to take home, maybe I can convince her to change it back to in-class.

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Specializes in Infusion.

I don't like it either. I would go talk to her. You might not be able to get her to change the way the test is taken but she needs to know that there are slackers that just show up to class and wouldn't mind the opportunity to cheat on an exam and there are people like you, that put in the study time to understand the material and get good grades when tested. Why can't she have the students bring a 3x5 or 4x6 card in with them to class with as many notes as they can fit. If her questions require any thinking, it won't improve the grades and there won't be the same opportunity for cheating. Yeah, that's just messed-up.

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I kinda see where your coming from. I have been studying my butt off this semester to keep my A in A&P1! All of my test grades have been in the 90's while many of my other class mates have been barley passing with grades in the low 70's.:eek: Anyways, my teacher is giving us a take home test next week as well. In a way I am excited because it will be an easy A, but on the other hand I dont think its right that I have worked my butt off to get my grades and the ones in my class who are "failing" will end up passing because of this test!

O well.....I will just be glad when its over......:yeah:

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Wow- I almost don't know what to say! If it were my class I'd be saying, "a 'take home' final? WOOHOO!"

What is 'fair'? Well, nothing in life, really. Be thankful you don't have an instructor that curves BOTH ways, I've heard of many who do. (So if you're getting high As and the class average is really low, your overall grade gets curved DOWN) Fair? I don't think so but some professors do this.

It's really not up to YOU to decide who deserves an A or not. All you can do is work hard and get the best grade YOU can. The other students are not your concern.

Nursing schools look at a lot more than A&P1 when admitting students. Not all teachers are going to be so liberal in their grades (most will not) so the slackers are not going to get away with anything.. their GPAs will be a reflection of their overall performance.. not just this class.

If you feel like you've been 'jipped' a good education from this instructor, by all means take someone different next semester. In fact, check ratings on ratemyprofessors.com and find a harder teacher. By the end of the semester you may be begging for a take home exam.

In my math for liberal arts class.. ALL of our tests were take home. We were instructed to use every available resource for the tests (internet, friends, books, other classmates) and he even encouraged us to work in groups if we wished. The tests usually took me 3-5 hours to complete. Plus there is something about looking up solutions and answers that helps it stick.. Believe it or not, a lot of students were getting low cs and ds in that class.. even though you could take home the exam.

You're worried about people 'copying' another student's answers and getting a grade without doing the work? Well, that is possible, but the person copying is taking a big risk counting on someone else. Not only that, but I know very few classmates that would work hard on an A and let a slacker just copy their answers. Not very likely.

In summery, different classes are going to bring different learning experiences, life is unfair, and worry about yourself. The rest falls into place.

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Specializes in Private Practice- wellness center.

Meh...if they've got so-so grades now, chances are they will after this exam too. Try talking to her, maybe you can convince her to give this exam less weight when it comes to the overall grade.

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I think you now attending an easy school is cheating. Ok, so thats a bit over the top, but what I mean by it is that there are so many students not in your one class that are going to be applying to Nursing School. You should never view your current class as the competition. I imagine that the students at your former school could argue that your new school has it too easy and that they have no advantage in going to their school when your school gives A's so freely.

And like the others said, nursing schools look at alot more than 1 A&P class, and luckily for you alot more than A&P and Chem too.

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