Perfect Compromise or Perfectly Compromised Tests: Law School Examinations that Mimic a Bar Examination’s Format?
31 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2011
Date Written: January 10, 2010
Abstract
Cramming bar examination type essay and Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) multiple choice questions into a three or four hour law school examination looks like a perfect compromise. Benefits include increased coverage, facial validity due to similarity to many bar examinations, the opportunity for students to practice in an examination format that they will face later on the actual bar exam, and reduced scoring time compared to an all essay exam. This article explains six challenges, however, which must be met if the perfect compromise is not to turn into a perfectly compromised test.
Those six challenges are: 1. Mismatches between the examination’s questions and scoring methods when compared to teaching, curriculum, or institutional goals; 2. Insufficient sample size; 3. Insufficient resources for drafting, pre-testing, and processing; 4. Two or three-choice, multiple choice questions masquerading as four-choice questions; 5. Unintended clues or cross contamination among questions; 6. Failure to maintain the stated scoring weights for each portion of the examination. The suggestions for meeting these challenges draw heavily from well known examination practices and, for four of the six, can be implemented fairly easily. Addressing the other two, insufficient sample size or resources, does require additional creativity and perhaps even changing the number and timing of examinations. Everything, however, can be done and students, institutions, and the profession deserve no less.
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