Extra Credit?
What are the thoughts of the educational community on the practice of building extra credit questions into a quiz/test?
I have done it in the past, in the hopes of allowing students who would otherwise "bomb" the test to bump up their grade a bit. My experience has been, however, that it actually further polarizes the result. Those students who would have gotten A's anyhow now get monstrously high scores...and the poor performers, lacking a solid knowledge-base for the regular credit questions as they do, lack the knowledge base to get the extra credit as well.
Any thoughts or other ways to go about this?
I administer extra credit questions on my exams, and I inform the students in advance there will be extra credit questions on the test. I have found this to motivate students who are doing poorly in the class.
I have experienced that have an extra credit question on the test helps the students grades, just in case they get a burp in their brain.
Our school policy is no extra credit.
On the other hand, many of my non-objective assessments are such that 'going the extra mile' is built into them. I usually have the category, 'compelling'...A compelling work I defined as one that has the special something that makes the work exciting, intriguing, or persuasive.
I have found that the students' who ask for extra credit work are the ones who are not doing or completing their work on time. I don't believe in using Extra Credit because it is not fair for the students' who work very hard to complete their work and pass it in on time.
The extra credit I have had to do as a student involved essay questions that allowed me to express the knowledge I retained in other areas of the text rather than what I couln't memorize and repeat ont he multiple choice questions. As an instructor I couldn't give extra credit because of the way our policies were around that subject.
I found that I have the same exact results! Because of this, I have since stopped giving extra credit questions on exams. I feel that the points they earn in class are the points they earn. A student shouldn't be given a passing grade simply because they got the extra credit question(s) correct. Likewise, once the "A" students start getting over 100%, they start to get mad if anything falls short of that- and that's just not realistic.
School policy - no extra credit allowed.
Not allowed by my school!
Hi Lucille- Welcome to ED 103! It is unfair if extra credit results in students getting higher grades for less effort. That's why it is essential that "extra credit" be the result of extra (meaningful) work. Best wishes - Susan
I agree, it's not fair for the studnts that put forth the effort and get a higher grade. I think the harder working stuents feel cheated if the other students are offered a way to get the same grade as the a students.
That is an interesting point. I've also experienced offering extra credit options on things other than large assessments, and it does seem that few students who need the extra credit will attempt the extra credit, whereas the students who have excellent grades will go the extra mile to boost theirs even higher. Are there options that would seem more accessible to all students? I've tried in-class extra credit to be added to test scores, but there are still some students who refuse to take advantage of extra credit opportunities...
This is an interesting subject. In my experience, I have found similar patterns whereby A students get even higher points. I also have noticed that if the extra credit is in an essay format, sometimes students will spend too much time answering the question and than leave themselves running out of time on the other questions. I believe that extra credit should be given perhaps at another time such as a project at the end of the semester.
Shirley Chuo
I keep extra credit out of my assesments. If I do it for one I must do it for all. It is not fair for any students. I will have them do make up work if they are missing any assignments. This will bump up thier grade a little bit.
i agree with the concept of polarization of the results. usually only A students complete extra assignments, either on the quiz or extra papers.
i have also done extra credit project based such as doing a compare and contrast relating to the topic studied. for example, bake a box cake and compare with the cake baked in class (culinary school) in a short paper. it seems to reach more students than only reasearch papers.
it should be something offered to all students, good for them to use outside sources, it gives them clearer understanding.
Hi Scott - Welcome to ED 103! That's a very good question that I have struggled with as well, finding much the same issues. I prefer to keep "extra credit" out of my assessments and instead offer extra credit for extra work such as projects,papers, presentations, research etc. I make sure that the student will learn from the extra work so am sure that it is not just "busy work". Thanks for your post! Best wishes - Susan
