Physics Regents Exam Question Classification Joel Harden July 15 2010 Design Considerations Several factors were taken into account while designing the database The first step was to define the data that needed to be stored in the database Data includes the Regents exam date exam part e g A B 1 etc question number question type multiple choice or short answer question with any images point value scoring guide and keywords The next step was to select a database that met a series of requirements namely can store the data required as defined above can store images within questions and scoring guide was searchable by the data fields was free and freely available could be easily distributed to end users was easy to use for end users Several database options were reviewed including Microsoft Access custom internet based databases and ExamView Pro and existing test generation software solution While there were multiple options that would meet the design requirements ExamView Pro was selected based on its ubiquitous use high level of access and familiarity among teachers easy setup no maintenance requirements easy distribution ability to search based on any data field ability to store high quality images and other built in functionality i e it was designed to generate quizzes and tests While not free ExamView Pro is often included with teacher versions of many popular text books Design Setup ExamView Pro allows end users to generate assessments based on previously stored questions Questions are stored in files called test banks Multiple test banks can be searched to generate a single assessment Each test bank can hold as many as 250 questions For this design each Regents exam was placed into its own test bank file Currently four Regents exams have been entered into test bank files January 2008 thru June 2009 Each question from each of the Regents exams was reviewed and categorized within ExamView Pro based on the table below Since not all of the data fields desired were present in ExamView Pro certain fields were mapped to existing field in ExamView Pro under different names For example the Regents question number is stored in a field called Miscellaneous Field Information ExamView Pro Field Entry Format Options Entry Example Exam Part Difficulty A B 1 B 2 C A Regents Exam Reference yyyy mm 2010 01 Keywords Keywords Text separated by commas see below for keyword list gravity inverse square law Question Number s Miscellaneous Number 1 Point Value Points Based on the Regents 1 scoring Scoring Guide Rationale Copied directly from the Regents scoring guide document NA Question Type NA Multiple Choice or Short Answer NA All of the data for each question is basic information except for the keyword field Before categorizing questions a list of keywords was generated based on reviewing a Regents based physics text book and several Regents exams The keywords selected are listed below by chapter of Glencoe Science s 2007 edition of Physics Principals and Problems Approximately 80 keywords were identified in total Chapter 01 A Physics Toolkit units SI dimensional analysis fundamental derived graphing graphical analysis slope area under curve dependent and independent variables line of best fit relationships linear non linear direct inverse etc Chapter 02 Representing Motion motion maps vector and scalar 1D motion Chapter 03 Accelerated Motion acceleration acceleration due to gravity free fall Chapter 04 Forces in One Dimension 1D forces force free body diagrams inertia equilibrium weight tension normal force force due to gravity Newton s third law equal and opposite Newton s second law force and acceleration Newton s first law object at rest remains at rest Chapter 05 Forces in Two Dimensions friction kinetic and static coefficient 2D forces vector components Chapter 06 Motion in Two Dimensions projectile 2D motion circular motion Chapter 07 Gravitation universal gravitation gravitational field inverse squared law Chapter 08 Rotational Motion Chapter 09 Momentum and its Conservation momentum impulse collisions Chapter 10 Energy Work and Simple Machines work energy power Chapter 11 Energy and its Conservation conservation of energy Chapter 12 Thermal Energy Chapter 13 States of Matter Chapter 14 Vibrations and Waves periodic motion Simple Harmonic Motion mechanical waves spring pendulum resonance Chapter 15 Sound sound doppler effect Chapter 16 Fundamentals of Light ray model wave nature of light speed of light color Chapter 17 Reflection and Mirrors law of reflection Chapter 18 Refraction and Lenses Snell s law refraction Chapter 19 Interference and Diffraction interference diffraction Chapter 20 Static Electricity electrostatics Coulomb s law inverse squared law Chapter 21 Electric Fields electric field strength electric field electric potential difference uniform electric field Chapter 22 Current Electricity electric current electric circuit electric energy electric power Ohm s law resistivity circuit diagrams voltmeter and ammeter Chapter 23 Series and Parallel Circuits series circuits parallel circuits Chapter 24 Magnetic Fields magnetic force magnetic field Chapter 25 Electromagnetic Induction electromagnetic induction Chapter 26 Electromagnetism electromagnetic waves Chapter 27 Quantum Theory photoelectric effect matter waves Chapter 28 The Atom energy of a photon energy levels Chapter 29 Solid State Electronics Chapter 30 Nuclear Physics nuclear physics energy mass equivalence standard model Each test question is entered into the test bank as an image with multiple choice answers entered as text or images as appropriate Multiple choice questions are all entered as individual questions Short answer questions are grouped together as they are in the Regents exam This was done because they share the same background information and often the answers build on previous questions within the group Users Guide To use the test banks ExamView Pro can generally be used as it normally would 1 Start ExamView Test Generator 2 Select Create New Test from Scratch 3 Enter a title for the test 4 Add questions by Selecting by Criteria 5 Select the test banks that you want to pull questions from 6 Use any of the data fields available to add questions To maximize results select Find using wildcards under Search Option 7 Generate the exam and answer key both of which can be printed Questions can be reordered or deleted and additional questions can be added using the same process 8 All of the additional features
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