Chad Bender

chadfbender.bsky.social

25 September 2026 15:40

I frequently ask that question on final exams. It's never worth many points, but always interesting to read.

Linn Boldt-Christmas

nplinnspace.bsky.social

25 September 2026 13:35

I always HATED exams because I was really bad at them. In my physics undergrad, I jokingly wished exams had a Q saying ”whatever topic you studied really well but didn’t come up, write what you know here for extra points”. Now that I’m on the other side (teaching at uni), I kind of still think it 🙃

Thad Harroun

thadharroun.bsky.social

24 September 2026 02:12

I ask because anecdotally, blanks can be a sign of anxiety and stress. Exams are focussed pressure, and a key point where students ‘give up’ Re-reading now thinking about effect size between instructor vs student demographics.

David Webb

djphysicswebb.bsky.social

24 September 2026 00:37

I don't think we said anything about retention in the main body of the paper but we did make a couple of comments at the end of Appendix C after discussing some results from the second course in the course series.

Thad Harroun

thadharroun.bsky.social

24 September 2026 00:37

Outstanding - I think you've been reading my mind. After a quick read through, I wondered if you can correlate rate of blanks to retention rate? I think you have the cohort years.