Student Multi-Choice Exam Revision Using the Internet

Abstract

The Physics Department of the University of Otago has for many years, assisted students in their exam revision by supplying past exam papers for 100-level (first year) exams. A list of the correct answers to the multiple-choice section of these exams has also been provided, but these only state which of the multiple choices is the correct answer. The students are not shown why it is the correct answer, unless they seek help from a staff member. A number of years ago some slide/audio-tape sets were produced, and more recently, exam questions and answers (for 1987-1990) were put onto HyperText Stacks, but the availability (in place and time) was too severely limited to be of use to the majority of students. As first year student numbers now exceed 1000, a more accessible and efficient method of delivering the exam papers to students was required. We are now using the Internet, to make past exam questions and answers (with working and explanation) widely accessible to students - from anywhere, at anytime, and from any computer platform. With this method we can also gather useful statistical information relatively easily about the process. This paper describes the setting up of such web pages, and how we provide students with help with their physics revision, using the method of multi-choice exams from previous years together with model answers. Statistical information on question access, and results from a student survey are also presented.