Incompetent test writer, who should I contact?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>Today I took a history test that looked as if a third grader had written it.</p>

<p>Some of the stuff was what I expected on there. But there were also these “highlights”:</p>

<li><p>One of the questions had nothing to do with any of the material we covered! It was from another class or possibly a later unit. (The test was American History 1492-1760 and the question was about something that happened at the Constitutional Convention–I knew the answer but I’m sure a lot of people didn’t)</p></li>
<li><p>The guy said “no dates or numbers”. Three of the 43 questions were dates and numbers which nobody would be expected to know.</p></li>
<li><p>A few of the questions were neither stressed in class nor covered in the book. I really doubt anyone is going to get those right.</p></li>
<li><p>This one’s sort of good. One question was repeated twice. But the second time he had forgotten to change his answer key–a * was next to the right answer.</p></li>
<li><p>I caught a spelling mistake on the test. Unacceptable for college level testing when spell checkers are out there.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So when I find out the entire class fails, and if he doesn’t give a good enough curve that people at least get a B or something, who should I take this to? The dean? The department chair of history?</p>

2

<p>Is there any chance of you talking to the teacher about it in a non-confrontational way? </p>

<p>If for some reason you can't do this, check out your school's policy on grading and appeals. Odds are, there's a procedure in place.</p>

3

<p>All of the things you mentioned seem pretty common to me. I'm not saying it's okay, but don't be shocked if nothing is done about it.</p>

4

<p>For some reason, as the lecturer receives more education, he/she becomes worse at lecturing. You'd think that all those years as a TA would at least teach them something.</p>

5

<p>Report back to this thread once the curve is known. I'm kinda curious. Spelling errors should be acceptable as long as it's only 2 or 3 words with incorrect spelling.</p>

6

<p>You were tested on material that wasn't stressed in class? Welcome to college!</p>

7

<p>ya, I agree, theres always going to be information thats not stressed thats on the test. It was like that in my high school as well.</p>

8

<p>I just got back one of my tests and did fairly well (93 when average was 72) but two of the questions I got wrong... I swear... were not discussed in lecture, were not found in the book, and were not part of the online reading. I asked the professor and he said that with the information presented in lecture we should have been able to determine the correct answer. I'm sure that's why only 17% of the class got the question correct and this is a 500 person course. Whatever. You win some and you lose some.</p>

9

<p>If you really have a beef with the test, start at the prof and work your way up from there (prof, department chair, dean).</p>