Regular and Makeup Exam: a possible explanation of the gap

Dear Professor

The gap in the average scores between regular and makeup exam could have different explanations. In order to develop a systematic analysis of these possible causes, we can classify these alternative antecedents in three big groups:

a)      Related to the test

b)      Related to the environmental conditions

c)      Related to the students

As you can see in Table 1, the tests are similar for both groups. Both exams have a total score of 100, and the same difficulty. We can infer that the test in not the cause of the gap.

However, the environmental conditions have several changes between regular and makeup date. First of all, the students in the regular exam have board examples, while the participants in makeup exam do not. Probably, this is one of the causes which explain the difference average score. Another external condition that could affect the students’ performance was temperature, because the students in the makeup exam have to handle a higher temperature than their classmates in the regular date. Meantime on Wednesday at 7 it was 20 Celsius degrees, on Friday at 4 the temperature was 28.

 The third hypothesis is related to students. Why students choose do the exam in makeup date? It may be a reason of preparation or availability. In the first situation, if the student does not feel comfortable to do the exam on Wednesday, probably he did not study a lot during the semester. In the second, students with less free-time likely have fewer score.

	Regular exam	Makeup exam
Average score (out of 100) Time administered Difficulty of questions Number of students Proctor Board examples Room environment	86 Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. average 125 professor yes about 20C	72 Friday, 4:00 p.m. average 25 teaching assistant no (not considered necessary) about 28C

However, we cannot be sure of the real cause of the gap. Probably, to know specific scores for each student could help us to understand. It is known that the averages illustrate some characteristics of a sample… meanwhile others remain hidden.