Giving Make-up Exams
Whether to give or not give a make-up test is at the discretion of the teacher. I would just caution that it can become a slippery slope in that whatever you do for one student, you have to do for the others, or else be ready to give a really good reason why you don't. Rather than giving a make-up test, for really good students with really good attendance I do something else. I define a good student as one who has not missed more than 10% of the classes or has not been late on or missed 10% of the assignments. This maintains fairness because the same criteria are used for all the students and anyone has the opportunity to meet or not meet them. At the end of the semester when all the grades are calculated, if the missing test grade will make the difference between passing and failing, I don't count it into their average. If it just makes a difference between a B & C or A & B, I do count it. This still maintains fairness because this student's final grade is being based on fewer assessments which means each assessment is worth more points. If they have done badly on a prior exam for example, that bad score will be somewhat amplified. The more exams a teacher gives, the less each individual exam has the potential to help or harm a student's final grade.
Make up exams are usually problematic because you have to make an entirely new exam to give them or else you can't be sure they haven't talked to their friends in the class about the test already. Plus it's not really fair that they have more time to study than the ones who came to class and took it on time.
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