Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Finals week starts on Tuesday. My first exam is on that day at 8am. I told myself I had to be here in the office this afternoon to finish that exam, since the mimeographing office closes at 5pm.

I actually finished that exam before I left yesterday afternoon. It’s not like any exam I’ve ever made before. It’s not even what I promised the students the coverage of the exam is going to be: theory and procedure of the experiments. It’s one page, legal size, one side.

I even showed the exam to some of my co-teachers, ever wary that one negative remark and I would have gone back to the drawing board. The only non-positive reaction I got is that it’s better of as part of their practical exam.

The exam is thirty numbers, so that gives me three questions per experiment. The exam is multiple choice. For each number, I give four materials that were used in the various experiments. All they have to do is choose the one that was actually used in a particular experiment.

I think I mentioned before that there are four topics covered by the range of experiments: mechanics, electricity, thermodynamics and optics. I’m assuming the students will find it easy because the other three choices given are actually from one of the other types of experiments. And therefore, I don’t think they’ll complain even if most of what they studied wouldn’t show up in the test.

I don’t think anyone in the department has given a test completely made up of these types of questions in the 11 years I’ve been here. I’m sure word will get around afterwards that it is possible for us to give this type of test. It’s nice to know I’m sort of breaking new ground here.

I’ll be back on Tuesday, after the three-day weekend which is already one-fourth of the way through.