Final Exam Questions Weights

The North Carolina Computer Applications I curriculum released in the summer of 2008 contains a provision for a separate mid-term exam from the final exam. Extrapolating the course weights for the latter half of the objectives results in the following table.

Objective Number	Objective Title	Course Weight	Number of Questions
4.01	Spreadsheets	20%	34
4.02	Charts and Graphs	5%	9
5.01	Database Tables	20%	34
5.02	Database Queries, Forms, and Reports	5%	9
6.01	Presentations	3%	5
6.02	Presentation Procedures	5%	9
		58%	100

In summary, the final exam can be expected to be 1/3 about Spreadsheets and 1/3 about Databases with the remainder split among the other four objectives.

Presentation Procedures Mnemonic

[Update: This mnemonic device no longer applies to the curriculum. With the changes to version 2 over the summer of 2009 also came a change in the procedure list. Be advised.]

The North Carolina Computer Applications I curriculum released in the summer of 2008 contains a somewhat arbitrary procedure for creating a professional presentation using presentation software such as Microsoft’s Powerpoint. The official list follows:

• Determine the Purpose
• Identify the Target Audience
• Storyboard the Content
• Plan the Design
• Edit the Master Slide
• Enter the Content
• Add and Format Graphics
• Add and Format Audio and Video
• Add Transitions*
• Add Animation

(* Note that Transitions were somehow overlooked in the official list. I include them before Animations because it seems the most logical place.)

The above list can be greatly simplified by picking out the nouns and removing everything else. Applying that process results in the following list:

• Purpose
• Target Audience
• Storyboard
• Design
• Slide Master (or Master Slide)
• Content
• Graphics
• Audio / Video
• Transitions
• Animations

This in turn further results in the following string of letters:

• P
• T/A
• S
• D
• S/M
• C
• G
• A/V
• T
• A

I held a small contest with my students to come up with a mnemonic to remember it. One of those entries rose to the top and is just too good not to pass on. Here is her mnemonic for remembering the order of presentation procedures:

• Powerpoints
• That
• Suck
• Don’t
• Make
• Cool
• Grades
• And
• Trash
• Averages

40% Complete

I just uploaded a new Pie Chart activity which changed my completion status to just over 40% complete.

Hooray! (I’ve been muddling around in the 30s for a while now.)