Re: [MATHEDCC] Multiple Choice--Pros and Con

Murphy Waggoner (waggoner@STORM.SIMPSON.EDU)
Fri, 1 Aug 1997 13:03:12 -0600

Karen, Orange Coast College, wrote:
>The other concern I have is that students who have only taken MC exams often
>do not know how to write out a math problem properly -- Breaking rules along
>the way and an inappropriate use of notations.

Excellent point. We find that even students that take FR exams but are
never required to write about the problems (i.e., write English sentences)
often do not have a good understanding of the underlying principles. They
only know how to mimic operations they have seen in similar problems. It
seems to me that you are right on with being able to "write math." If all
the student has to do is write A-E then they are not being graded on
notation, etc.

Murphy

---------------------
M. E. "Murphy" Waggoner
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Simpson College
701 North C Street
Indianola, IA 50125
waggoner@storm.simpson.edu
www.simpson.edu/~math
---------------------

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