Gfyuki

If I am using a test bank to formulate a test based on a textbook, should I be concerned about students getting access to the test bank? I have read that student use of a test bank is cheating, but I guess I don't agree with that 100%. If I am drawing test questions out of exercise sets, how is that any different? The test banks usually have hundreds of questions to choose from, so if the students are learning the test bank well enough that they can answer some fractional selection from that test bank, it seems like a win to me. If they are studying questions, at the end of the day they are learning. Or is that the wrong way to look at it?

As long as the test bank as enough questions to cover the material I'd not be concerned. Those who work at it will learn. I've given my own students "sample exams" for years, then put some of the sample questions on the real exam. The students who were going to earn grades of A anyway got them right. The students who were going to earn unsatisfactory grades anyway did not.

A colleague performed the experiment of handing out the course final exam a week before the exam date. Students were encouraged to get help studying, but then had to take the exam again in class. He says it did not change the grade distribution at all.

I use the test bank to feed a quiz of 10 questions, each question comes from a category that has between 15 to 80 questions.

The students get access through a review quiz that has 10 questions with the same time limit as the real graded quiz of 10 questions. So, more practice = better grade...

If the test bank is generally available then assume they have all seen it. But better yet, IMO, is to point it out to them and recommend it as a resource for studying. Tell them that they shouldn't expect any of those exact questions on any test, but that it will give them insight into the kinds of things that the author (and maybe you) think are worth asking.

For your part, you can then use the bank as a source of ideas for questions, though probably less for the questions themselves. If that is your general practice, you can even salt exams with a few of the questions themselves, just to ease the burden.

Directed study guided by a test bank is good. It isn't the only thing that is important, but it gives them a start. Since this is most likely an entry level course for which such things exist it can mean that those that work the hardest get good marks.

In other words, I think your view of it is good and if you don't treat it as cheating then it won't be. But you might also warn them that not every professor will see it the same way, so they should use caution in extrapolating.

If I am using a test bank to formulate a test based on a textbook, should I be concerned about students getting access to the test bank?

No more than you should be concerned about students getting copies of old test, which happens in (almost) every class. Fraternities and Sororities keep copies of old test, and students post them on the internet. Trying to keep all your test questions out of students hands is an already lost battle.

Ask students to show their work or explain their reasoning. That makes it a harder to memorize, and makes it more likely the student has to understand the question to answer it.