Exam with partial exams
This is an example of a specific examination arrangement conducted at KTH. This solution gives examples of how the exam can be combined with partial exams during the course to ensure more continuous studying and that the students can not pass the course without having learned the basics.
Course structure
The course content and learning objectives are focused on calculation and problem solving within the subject. The course is divided into three parts, where each part ends with a partial exam. The exam has two parts, where the first is to achieve a passing level and the second for higher grades. The first part has three tasks, one for each part of the course. To pass the course, the student must pass all three tasks. The tasks each correspond to one of the partial exams, and students who have passed a partial exam have automatically passed that task on the exam.
Partial exam
The three partial exams are one hour long each and focus on basic calculation skills and simple problem solving. To pass the partial exam the student must complete 80% of the tasks.
Exam
The exam is four hours long. Students must complete the first three tasks on the exam, which correspond to one partial exam each. Students who have passed partial exam X do not need to do task X on the exam. The tasks in the first part of the exam focus, just like the partial exams, on basic calculation skills and simple problem solving. The second part has tasks that weave together the different parts of the course and require more creativity for the solutions.
Advantages of the approach
This approach rewards students who familiarize themselves with the material early in the course, and students who, for example, do not pass a partial exam receive feedback on what they need to focus more on. The teacher can also adapt the content of review lectures to the results of the partial exams. An additional advantage is that there is flexibility for the students, who can pass the course in several ways and thereby adapt the way of studying depending on workload in other courses.