All over campus, students file into classes and wait anxiously to receive their midterm scores. The results of this test, coupled with an equally stressful final, comprise the grades students receive at the end of the term.
But not in Paul Dassonville’s Biopsychology class.
Beginning four years ago, Dassonville, a psychology professor at the University, pioneered a new testing method in his PSY 304 course in hopes of leveling the learning field for his various students.
“The students take their (midterm) exams in class, then they have the opportunity to take the exam again,” Dassonville said.
He said the course, which involves an in-depth look at the human brain and how it works, attracts students from many majors who may or may not have any previous background in psychology.
Because of the diverse group of students, Dassonville said it was difficult for him to mold a course outline that was accommodating to everyone.
“Because of the lack of prerequisites in this class, some of the students struggle through no fault of their own,” Dassonville said.
Initially, he said he found himself heavily curving his tests.
“I would have to give a pretty large curve,” Dassonville said. “And I didn’t like the arbitrary nature of a curve.”
In 2004, Dassonville tried something new, which he hoped would give students the chance to improve their grade, as well as use their exams as a learning opportunity.

Students in the course have the option to retake their two midterm exams, which are then averaged together. This option is not available for the final exam because it would be difficult to schedule a time to re-take it.
Dassonville said one of the purposes is for students to walk away from the first test with an idea of what subjects they were not as solid in and need to study further.
“This way students can improve their scores … and have the opportunity to cement the information in their brain,” Dassonville said.
The class’ first midterm was Tuesday, and students had the option to retake this test again in their lab section Thursday or Friday, said Matthew Ash, a third-year psychology major who is taking the course this term.
Ash said many of the students in the course met together earlier this week after the test to study the questions they were unsure of.
“They went over all the questions they could remember from the test,” Ash said. “I’m pretty sure everyone is going to do pretty well the second time around if they take the time to study.”
While Dassonville admits this style of testing creates more work for both the students and the test graders, he still feels the overall benefit is well worth the extra effort.
“I enjoy it,” Ash said. “I just overall think it’s unnecessary to take the same test twice, but its a good opportunity to improve my grade so I can’t complain.”
Employing this method of testing is not feasible in most University courses because of time constraints, Dassonville said.
“Unfortunately, it’s not possible in every class,” Dassonville said. Biopsychology is the only class for which the system works, he said, because the class meets often enough with discussion and lab sections to use an additional class period for test taking.
Dassonville said he feels his method has been very successful in this course and plans to continue with it for as long as he is teaching this course.
“This is my favorite course – I hope to teach it forever,” Dassonville said. “It gets a better level of discussion than the other courses I’ve taught.”
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