One Small Step Toward a Culture of Peer Review and Multi-Institutional Sharing of Educational Resources: A Multiple Choice Exam for First Semester Programming Students

Abstract

This paper presents a multiple choice question exam, used to test students completing their first semester of programming. Assumptions in the design of the exam are identified. A detailed analysis is performed on how students performed on the questions. The intent behind this exercise is to begin a community process of identifying the criteria that define an effective multiple choice exam for testing novice programmers. The long term aim is to develop consensus on peer review criteria of such exams. This consensus is seen as a necessary precondition for any future public domain library of such multiple-choice questions.