Midterm Exams on Halloween

Costumed Student Robert

My students at CUNY Queens College took their midterm exams on October 31, Halloween, and I figured that offering students who dressed up for the occasion a few points of extra credit on their exams would bring much-needed levity.

In my American Film Industry class, a handful of students took advantage of my offer, and two even accepted my challenge to dress up as a midterm exam. In the photo above you can see the winner of the Best Midterm Exam Costume prize, which was worth all of five points on the midterm exam. Other students who dressed up for the occasion received a measly three extra-credit points.

Costumed Student Andrew

The New Technologies class also dressed for the occasion, and a few of them actually had some pretty great costumes. One student, from the Film Industry class, tried to double dip and wore his costume to the evening class. I’m not sure how to handle the logistics of the extra credit.

Costumed Student Lore

Costumed Student Michael

If you think that it’s distasteful to offer students extra credit for wearing a costume, please keep in mind that getting credit for a costume equated to less than the value of one true-false question. Anyway, I don’t see the extra credit skewing the results of the exam too much since I suspect very few students will take advantage of the offer.

In any case, I really hope that I don’t have to teach class again on Halloween or, worse, have to give a midterm exam.

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