I really, really hate my Eastern Religions professor. This is another rant about his crappy testing methods.
So, I just finished my first exam in the course, covering Hinduism. 25 questions, multiple choice, one hour. I painfully answered each question, knowing I was going to get a poor grade and hate myself at the end of it. Without double-checking my answers (wouldn't have changed my mind on any of them), I finished and checked my results.
One of a very small handful of questions I felt I had gotten right for sure... was wrong. That one question tipped the balance from an A to a stupid, shameful B+. The question asked, basically, which option meant a caste in Hindu tradition. In Hinduism, social classes (CASTES) are divided into Varna. We even had an assignment analyzing how castes are connected to Hindu creation - each Varna is a group of people designated by the body part they represent (that sounds silly, but it's pretty interesting).
One of the options was Varna. The others were Sanskrit terms that had nothing to do with social standing. The last option, of course, was the ominous "none of the above." Guess which one he expected. What really irks me about it is that in the preface to the exam, he specifically instructs you to "choose the best answer."
"None of the above" should be banned from multiple-choice tests unless it is obvious that the answer is nowhere near the options given. It lets idiot teachers put their feet up and say "well, TECHNICALLY..." when an answer you choose is only mostly correct, or "x was the BEST answer..." if you do choose "none." It's unfair either way; it's like a free pass for penalization if you didn't call a coin flip.
At the beginning of the semester, I was really looking forward to this course. Moreso, even, than my girly sewing class where I get to make pretty dresses. I regret taking it now, but I have no choice but to stick it out until the end of the semester. More than anything, I think, I resent the fact that this professor is going to unfairly cripple my GPA, and my chances of sorely-needed scholarships. :(
