Purpose and Assessment of the Final Exam

How much have you really learned upon completing a course? Can you recall and apply knowledge and skills that you acquired during the semester? The final exam is designed to test specifically how well you have retained skills that we have emphasized as major learning objectives. We also hope that by exercising such skills one more time you will be better prepared to call on them when you need them. Retaining knowledge and skills appears to be a much bigger challenge than learning them temporarily for an exam. Put another way, compartmentalization is our biggest enemy. Because the final will be conducted several weeks after the last laboratory assignment is due, many of you will already have become "rusty."

Suggestions for preparing

The final exam will consist of a series of brief case studies to which you will need to apply the skills you acquired during the introduction to experimental biosciences. Content itself will not be tested. For example, you will not need to describe the electron transport pathway with succinate as a substrate, or list the components of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. You will have to remember the general principles of instrumentation, data analysis including graphing and statistics, laboratory calculations, assay preparation, and technical writing, among other areas.

The best preparation for the exam is to review all feedback and to make sure that all learning issues are resolved. As the course itself progresses, you can prepare by understanding the concepts behind each prelab question and problem solving exercise, in sufficient depth to be able to apply the concepts to similar situations. Go through the course web site, and look at what was emphasized in terms of preparation, analytical skills, etc. Make sure you understand the principles behind each problem-solving exercise – try working them out again.

Remember the principles of good technical writing and maintenance of a notebook. Read over the comments on each of your research papers and review the general guidelines on the web, as well as the appropriate parts of the text on writing papers. Make sure you fully understand the concept of experimental error, the methods of data analysis that you practiced in lab, and how to convert data to be presented as results. It is also important that you be able to collect information and put it all together in the form of a laboratory procedure.

Review the learning objectives that are listed on the web. In which categories are you strongest and weakest? Try to be self-critical, and focus on areas in which you had the most trouble.

Scoring the final exam

The final has a "face value" of 15 points. With bonus points a student can score more than 20 points, all of which apply to the final course grade. Suppose you have an 88% average (76 points) going into the final. At that point you are at the very top of the "B" range. Suppose you earn 20 points on the final. You'll have a total of 96 points for the course, which is a solid A. I will be delighted to give you the A because it shows that you learned from the experience.

On the other hand, suppose you have a 94% average (80 points) going into the final. You are right on the A/A- cutoff. Suppose you score 10 points on the final. Your final course score will be 90 points, which is a B+.

Final exams will not be returned. You may examine your final in the instructor's office if you wish, provided you ask before the end of the fourth week of the following semester.