How your exam is developed

Hello all. Just a note about how I write your exams:
• I go over the slides from class and the notes I take after our class about what we discussed.
• I go over the chapters again – excluding the sections that I told you that you did not need to read.
• I go over the class blog entries.
• I go over the model exam questions that textbook writers provide to see what they expected you to learn. I use these as a guide but not for the actual questions.
• I write a mix of my own questions. Some are about basic memorization: for example, writing a True/False question about what “actual malice” means. Other questions are about critical thinking: giving you a scenario and asking you a True/False question about if the scenario is an example of “actual malice.”
• I make sure that 20% of the questions are directly from the readings, as that is material that your are responsible for knowing.
• I then match my questions to the study guide. I do this to make sure that I did not ask you a question about a named case that I did not include, for exam.
• I make a second version using similar topic questions but worded differently and in a different order.
• And then, a final proofreading to make sure the questions are as clear as possible. My goal is not to trick you but to assess what you have learned. I use the same language in the textbook and from class lectures. I do not answer vocabulary questions during the exam.