Predict the products: 201
Draw reagents/intermediate: 49
Give starting material: 11
Provide mechanism: 50
Other: 23

James – did you do a breakdown of how many points these questions make up? Given that breakdown, I wouldn’t be surprised if the “provide mechanism” questions constitute almost half the points.

This is the type of place where the “instructor provides old exams” can be most useful, because it can help you figure out the types of stuff to study for. A former ChemEd grad student actually did an assessment of my exams once to get a breakdown of the types of questions I ask. I don’t remember the results, but I also think that’s evolved over time. Nowadays I write a lot more free response and essay questions to test understanding. It’s a bear to grade, but that’s what I like. I’ve also learned to expect a 50% average for simple “predict the product” problems so I don’t put too many of them on exams any more.

I think a lot of the improvement that occurs in Orgo II comes from the fact that the students understand the instructor better (typically the same instructor for both semesters). I give all my students 3 years worth of exams, so they should have a good idea of the type of stuff I like. The downside is that too many of them just study the old exams, instead of using the old exams to determine whether their preparation is adequate. Unfortunately for students, I have lots of questions in my head with different ways to present them, and so don’t end up recycling a lot of old exam material.