The number of pages and the dimension of the paper shapes the content of a book. This statement is unremarkable on its face value. In this post I will argue that the dimension of the examination question paper and number of pages decides (influences) what can be asked and explains what is being asked in Bachelor of Engineering examinations in Nepal.
A few weeks ago, I was preparing the internal examination question paper following the sample document circulated by the exam division. First thing I notice was that the size of the question paper is A5 (half of A4). In the first page, which contains preamble and the header, I could fit about 200 words. How many words I can write is further constrained by the whitespaces - the spacing between question number and the question text, the question text and marks allotted to it, the spacing between two questions, and the margin width/height. In the back-page, which does not have the preamble or the header, I could write about 300 words. These numbers are ballpark figures and accurate measurements are not integral to my arguments. I am actually being generous in the estimates.
It is rare to find an examination question paper that spans more than a single-page (double-side print). I do recall personally using A4 in internal exams but they are outliers. The single-page double-side limit has become a self-enforced hard-limit. It is unlikely to have been mandated by the university or the college rules. If it has been mandated, then it is questionable: why did we end up with A5? Let us forget about this question for the moment. This limit is however implicitly taken into consideration by question setters. Consequently, the questions setter unknowingly rules out many types of questions. I give three examples to make this point clear. I am sure my colleagues can add many more.
- Questions that have diagrams/tables/charts
I ask myself, could I fit three questions that require the examinee to refer to the diagram and not exceed the one-page (two-sided) A5 limit? The answer is No. I could manage to fit two such questions if the diagrams can be squeezed to the sides and the question text is short. Including diagrams constrains the length of other questions. I end up asking a single-line "define X" questions to adjust to the space the diagram has gobbled up. Tables that span more than four rows are simply out of consideration. - Questions that have a narrative/background/scenario
I like to give students a scenario and ask them to propose a design that addresses the challenge. The issue for me is that the description of the scenario takes substantially more than a couple of lines. Consider the context where I am setting a question whose scenario spans 4 lines followed by a single line question. I have spent about sixteen percent of the available space in the page for a single question. I ask myself, how many such questions can I ask? Actually, four lines for a scenario to an engineering problem is small. There are technical terms that needs to be explained, symbols/equations occupy more space and so on. The answer to the question is one. Two if the context text is less than four lines. - Algorithm-based questions
I teach Artificial Intelligence. It has algorithms, a lot of them. AI is not an exception. Computer science subjects will have algorithms. To non-computer science folks, writing an algorithm requires a lot of vertical and horizontal space for it to be readable. If I were to ask a question where I provide a search algorithm (or pseudocode), the smallest algorithm will take ten lines. The question text will take two more lines. How many such questions can I ask given the one-page limit? Zero. It has taken space of three questions which I do not have the luxury of spending.
Before I conclude, I also must add the observation that to accommodate about fourteen questions along with the preamble and header in a single (double-sided) A5 page, the font-size is kept small and diagram-sizes are scaled to a level where they are difficult to read. There have been question papers where I have had to squint to read the tiny numeric values in the down-scaled diagrams. Anyone who has had to design fill-in forms such as bank account application forms and admission forms knows it is not a trivial task to fit everything in a single (double-sided) page. It is an engineering problem, a constraint-satisfaction problem.
I therefore asked, why are exam questions printed on single-page A5? My answer was that it is the outcome of a self-enforced hard-limit. The self-enforcing is due to conditioning that the academic institutions are unknowingly doing by prescribing a rigid template. Furthermore, a fresh faculty who has gone through the same BE programme is likely to emulate what they have always seen. They have always seen the question paper printed on a one-page (double-sided) A5 paper. They have never seen examination question papers printed on an A4 or even spanning multiple A5 pages. The thought never cross their mind. This has consequences in evaluation such as the three examples presented earlier. For something that is critical to evaluation of a student, question papers as a technology does not get the attention it needs.