I like the method the Federal Communications Commission creates question pools for amateur radio exams. They delegate creating the questions to recognized amateur radio organizations. The organizations create a draft pool with 10 times as many questions as there are on an exam. The DRAFT IS MADE PUBLIC and the organizations collect the comments and make changes. Then the pool goes into effect for 5 years (if I remember correctly).
The tests are proctored and closed book. A random exam is created by a computer by drawing questions from the pool. So many questions would be drawn from the safety section, so many from the radio law section, so many from the theory section, etc.
This way, the community has a chance to evaluate whether a question is worth asking, is correctly phrased, and whether the answer is correct.
Students can look through the question pool to know what questions they will need to answer, but there are so many questions that it's easier to study the material than try to memorize answers to individual questions. |
