…and it was good.

Before we dive into the data, know that we will not be writing essays tomorrow. This is primarily to give us a chance to go over the multi choice. (It is also a chance for me to catch up on the grading.) So. Discussion tomorrow, essays Wednesday.

I compiled your multiple choice results in class today. The numbers can tell us what we need to work on.

First up, the relative difficulty of each question:

This simply reports how many people got each question correct. With 19 people reporting, anything under 2 is either a typo by me or a huge oversight in my presentation of the material. Either way, we’ll talk about the types of questions missed tomorrow, and I’ll supplement with one-on-one work or lecture as necessary.

Next up is a chart that can give you all a bit of perspective on your individual progress, as well as a guess of your final score. ((Of course, I’ve protected your identities by ordering it by grade.)) Here’s how it works:

• Total Correct: The number of questions correct, divided by the number of questions you attempted.
• Incorrect: Same thing, just “incorrect”…
• Grand Total: The score you would receive if this were a standard quiz. ((Glad this isn’t going in the gradebook??))
• Raw Score: Calculated via a secret ((number correct – number incorrect x .25. Actually, I extrapolated these particular numbers from your score and an assumption that the AP test will have 60, not 30, questions. (I multiplied by two.) )) formula, used by the College Board along with your essay scores to determine your final score (out of 5).
• Avg. … Essay Score: The average score you’ll need to get on the three essays to earn a 3, 4, or 5, respectively.

You will note that the first and third need very different test scores (the first needs a 5, 6, 6, while the third needs a 5, 6, 7). Even though the third one only got one fewer correct, he/she missed three more than the first. This is why it is vital to know how good a guesser you are, ((If you’ve been filling out the forms on this site, I can give you a solid answer. If you haven’t, well, guess?)) as you can get a better score if you correctly answer all the questions you attempt, even if you don’t finish.

What does this mean overall? We need to work on multiple choice. This doesn’t necessarily mean “do more problems in class” (though that will be a part of it), but it does mean that we need to spend more time parsing the individual questions and working on our weaknesses as a group and individually.

I’ll be posting some online resources as I come across them, and you are more than welcome to take one of the yellow books home to look through the answers after a multiple choice exam.

I’m sure you were waiting with bated breath…

Article analyses due Monday!

Also, if you took a practice exam over the break, give it to me and I’ll be happy to give you some feedback.