Exam form and grading results

This paper analyses the effect of changing the exam form in a 'big' course from essay-type to multiple choice. On the basis of a short literature study it is concluded that the course lends itself for multiple choice testing. At first site, the data indicate a strong effect of the change in exam form: the fail rate dropped from 28,7% to 11,4%. However, a more detailed analysis shows that the differences in results (grade structure and fail rate) are largely attributable to the changes in the student population and not to changes in the exam form. This is in line with the findings in the literature.