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Hello Everyone,
How many of you use ACS exams as part of your inorganic course? How are they being used? (part of the exam, interspersed, as model for your own questions etc) I am new to teaching and is currently teaching Inorganic 1 at a small(er) state college. Any advice on this would be much appreciated!
Thanks.
Chinhin
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I go back and forth about the utility of the ACS exams. When I'm feeling like they are useful, it's because they serve as a good practice for the GRE. When I'm feeling like they are less-useful, it's because I teach less than 1/2 of the contents of the exam in my course. Much of the rest of the material they learn in other courses, but I don't teach it in mine, so I question how relevant it is to evaluating *my* course. I have also extracted the questions I have taught and had them taken only those questions.
When I use the exam, it is almost always one of two exams, this one and a more relevant (for what I teach/value) problem based exam.
The ACS exam is NOT a great fit for what we teach, but it is a great opportunity to give our students practice with multiple choice tests. (This is something they need.)
I give the exam most every semester in my 2nd semester course. It is one of two final exams. And I normalize the grade relative to the number of questions that I think they should be able to answer based on their experience in Inorganic II and the pre-requisite courses and labs.
It is a nice way to keep tabs on how our students do from semester to semester.