The reverse exam: A gamified exam structure to motivate studying and reduce anxiety

Abstract

This experience report describes an attempt to improve student attitudes towards exams by encouraging students to craft exam questions that earn game points and by allowing students to defer some questions to a second attempt at the exam a week later, increasing study time while reducing common timed-test anxiety. The approach, inspired by research in gamification and studentgenerated questions, focuses on: getting students to study broadly across the material; encouraging students to craft good questions; encouraging an honest first attempt; preventing memorization for the second attempt; incorporating teamwork. Data collected from implementations in two different courses indicate that several finer points of the game design are important and that student-generated questions can be just as effective as instructor-generated questions. Survey data shows that students are very positive about having a second chance at learning.