Testing Day

Today I gave my first of two final exams, and boy has it been memorable so far. I got here early for the sole purpose (on a Saturday) of getting prepared and ready, so as to minimize any kind of bad things. I ran a test over to the testing center for two students taking the test under untimed conditions, and what did I learn when I arrived back at my office? That my keys were on my desk, and the door was locked, and since it was a Saturday, no one was here. I had 20 minutes to get housekeeping over, but it took them more like 45 minutes, meaning I started the test 15 minutes late. I thought the students would be ecstatic to learn that I could postpone the test until Monday, but they balked. So I took off a couple of questions and had them take it now. In hindsight, almost certainly those 2 questions aren't enough to compensate them for the headaches.

I also though that by reserving the room for an additional hour - giving them 3 hours, instead of the 2 they normally get - that I would be doing them a favor. But then I learned that some students had a test immediately after this one, which means those who stay longer have an unfair advantage. Essentially, they have an untimed testing environment.

So, ex post, what do I do now that ex ante I screwed everything up? All I can do is curve, but how do you curve differently for the dozen or so students who have to leave early? Or do I at all? Whatever I do, it's got to be fair, without being inflationary in the grading. So I guess what I do is see if those dozen students end up being unusually harmed by their leaving early, and if so, help them out at the margin.

But all that is to say, I had to get out of that room and leave my two grad students to proctor it, because I thought the mob was going to rise up and kill me otherwise.