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I can’t think about physics right now, Angela told herself as she prepared to go home for her winter break. I can’t tell my family what happened. They all want me to succeed, to go on to medical school like I planned. I can’t tell them about the ‘F’ I got on that exam. I can’t tell them about barely passing the course.

Angela, a first-semester sophomore, had tried to do well in introductory physics. She thought she understood the material. She worked through all the examples. Her grades on homework assignments were excellent.

But, when Angela sat down in front of her first exam, her mind went blank. She felt a familiar fluttery sensation in her ribcage. I know this, she told herself. It’s not hard. She spent half of the test staring at the paper and trying to breathe slowly.

With her first “F” in hand, Angela went to the physics tutoring center. Jim, a friendly graduate student, agreed to assist Angela with her assignments and to help her study for the next exam.

When Angela described her anxiety to Jim, he suggested that she approach her professor.

Angela accepted Jim’s offer. They went together to talk with her professor, Daniel Carter, during office hours.

When Jim explained the situation, Carter seemed amenable to the change. “Sure, we can give Jim’s idea a try,” he said. “You can have extra time to work on the next exam, and we’ll see how that goes.”

At the next exam, Angela felt none of the tension she had experienced before. She was allowed to work in a separate room and to take as much time as she needed to complete the test. 

“Excellent job,” Carter said to Angela when he handed her back her paper. The other students were filing out of the classroom, joking and talking with each other. “You probably won’t need extra time on the next exam. You earned a 100%.”

Angela looked uncomfortable. “But I do need time, Professor Carter,” she said.

“You have to understand, Angela,” Carter replied, “There are other students in this class who could earn an A+, given extra time, and I don’t want to put them at a disadvantage.” He smiled at her. “Consider it a compliment.”

As Angela walked into the classroom for the final exam, she told herself that everything would be all right. She was prepared. She would not get anxious.

The exam began with a complicated question about a space shuttle that left Angela completely confused. She felt her heartbeat accelerating and rushed through the rest of the questions, pausing occasionally to chew on her pencil. If I fail, I fail, she thought.

Her final grade in the course was a C-.

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Before you read the sample analysis for this case, you may want to consider the following questions.

Case
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An Example Case Analysis

Some Issues Raised By the Case:

Like many college students, Angela experiences test anxiety which interferes with her academic performance. Family pressures play an important role in this scenario. Angela is advocating for herself and seeking assistance more than many students do. Nevertheless, she is either unaware of other campus services, or unwilling to seek assistance from a counseling or disability-related office. Visiting a counseling or career center might offer Angela the chance to discuss her doubts about her professional aspirations. A career counselor or Dean of Students could also put Angela’s grade in context and help her realize she has not failed. This case also raises the issue of the fairness of timed testing and the ethics of asking questions on exams for which students are not prepared. There is a difference between the faculty member’s perception of the situation, and the way Angela perceives it.

Possible Discussion Questions:

• Was Carter being fair?
• How much can you expect a student to practice self-advocacy?
• How much responsibility should the tutor or professor take for assisting Angela?
• The case does not state clearly that Angela is Asian. However, if she is, could her ethnicity have played a role in this scenario? Might Carter have responded differently to a student who was not Asian?
• What are successful strategies to reduce test anxiety?
• Is this the best testing strategy for this course?
• Is this a “weed-out” course on campus? If so, might that have affected Carter’s response?
• What other resources are available to Angela?
• Is the stress of student adjustment to college over by the sophomore year?
• Is accommodating Angela unfair to other students?

A Possible Set of Responses and Their Consequences:

1. Response : Either the tutor or the professor could have helped Angela to connect with the counseling center, where she could learn remedies for test anxiety. The instructor could also have followed up to make sure that she used the resources.
               
Consequences : Angela could have become a more effective test taker. Alternatively, the student support services might have determined that she needed accommodation, and provided her with the appropriate paperwork.

2. Response : Angela could have returned to the tutor before the final and told him that she was nervous.

Consequences : The tutor could have helped her or referred her to resources on campus.

3. Response : The university could institute training for faculty to improve their teaching and testing methods, and incorporate rewards for participation into their promotion and pay structure.

Consequences : Professors might be reluctant to change the methods they already are using. Tenured professors might be less likely to participate. However, the faculty who did take these courses might share their ideas with their colleagues, and the culture might change gradually.   
 
4. Response : The professor could give all of the students more time by reducing the content covered on the exams or lengthening the time period allowed.

Consequences : Reducing the content covered on the exam would allow the professor to focus on specific learning objectives. This would not have an adverse effect on student learning. Allowing more time might interfere with students’ schedules, but would also reduce their level of tension. Both strategies might result in improvements in students’ test scores.

5. Response : The professor could incorporate more examples relevant to the exams into the course, so that students would be better prepared for challenging questions.

Consequences : Student learning would improve. However, the professor would have less time to cover theoretical content.

6. Response : Angela could have skipped the first question on the exam.

Consequences : Angela’s score might have improved, and she might have been less anxious.

7. Response : The professor could have allowed Angela to sit in a separate room while taking the exam, instead of giving her additional time.

Consequences : This method might have helped Angela to relax, while meeting the requirements of the course.

Case
Worksheet
An Example Case Analysis
Useful Resources

Useful Resources

Reaching All Students: A Resource Book for Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

• Students with Disabilities
• Assessing Student Performance

Diversity Institute Literature Review

• Biewert, C. (2002). Making accomodations for students with disabilities: A guide for faculty and graduate student instructors. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
• Hughes, W.J. (2000). Perceived gender interaction and course confidence among undergraduate science, mathematics, and technology majors. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. 6(2), 155-167.
• University of Washington. (2004). Teaching and learning @ UW: A handbook for teaching assistants. Retrieved October 19, 2004 from http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/
• Wachelka, D. & Katz, R.C. (1999). Reducing test anxiety and improving academic self-esteem in high school and college students with learning disabilities. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 30(3), 191-198.