Education research: college physics midterm statistics

Physics 205A Midterm 1, fall semester 2012 Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA Cuesta College Physics 205A (college physics, algebra-based, mandatory adjunct laboratory) students students take their first midterm on kinematics, Newton's laws, and circular motion in the eight week of instruction.

The midterm consists of five multiple-choice questions, two short-answer questions, and two worked-out problems, to be completed within 80 minutes (the length of a regularly-scheduled lecture).

Grading statistics:
Sections 70854, 70855
Exam code: midterm01sWFf

0-15 :
16-30 :	************ [low = 18]
31-45 :	******************* [mean = 42.3 +/- 12.2]
46-60 :	***********************
61-75 :	****** [high = 72]

The order in which students turned in their completed midterms was recorded, beginning approximately 20 minutes after starting, to 80 minutes after starting. With a linear regression r² value of 0.0123, there is no significant correlation between the completion order c turning on the midterm and resulting score S (S = 0.0876c + 39.797).