Open-Book Examinations

Abstract

AN INSPECTION of college examinations, whether labeled comprehensive or not, and whether at the freshman or Ph.D. level, clearly demonstrates that the typical test question demands primarily the recognition or recall of simple isolated facts which, by judicious cramming, can be learned in a short time and forgotten in even less time. E. S. Jones, after appropriate reservations suggests that examination questions may be classified under three headings: primary factual questions, application and skill questions, and power or thought questions. Before a question can be classified under one of these heads, we must know how the course was conducted, for many apparent power questions demand merely the simple recall of what the lecturer has said. Furthermore, ques'Comprehensive Examinations in American Colleges. New York: Macmillan Company, I933.