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14:15:45|07-11-2008|3566|marj-test|cu|e|c|c|c||d|c|c|c||c|c|c|c||e|c|c|c||e|c|c|c||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||
15:51:49|07-21-2008|6|marj-test||c|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||
15:15:29|07-22-2008|5015|Kimberly Murphy|Waldorf College|not_answered|b|a|a|maybe the question should be geared more towards the idea that genes make up genomes; the layout of a typical eukaryotic gene|not_answered|a|c|b|"if this cell divides normally" - should normally be defined in the question?|not_answered|a|a|a|dominant, recessive, autosomal, sex-linked, cytoplasmic
if the woman's mom is a carrier, she could be affected
 |not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a|complementation tests; do two mutations affect the same gene|not_answered|a|a|not_answered|somatic versus germline mutations|not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a|I find that students enjoy having a few questions on tests, surveys, etc. that include a figure, diagram or picture - this is a great example of that type of question!

chromosome duplication, chromosome segregation|not_answered|a|a|a|natural selection, genetic drift, etc.|not_answered|a|a|b|could be improved - I marked this choice because I was wondering if you ever supply any kind of figure with this question|not_answered|a|a|a|I used this exact kind of question on one genetics test last semester - the students have to do more than memorize a definition for X-linked dominant, X-linked recessive, etc.  Also, I ask them to provide an example of a specific disease that is inherited via that mode of inheritance. |not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|not_answered|a|A question of this sort may also help describe the mechanisms by which an organism's genome is passed on to the next generation??|not_answered|a|a|a|drives home that one can't correlate chromosome number and genetic information content|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||
12:04:09|07-23-2008|4217|Kimberly Murphy|Waldorf College|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered||not_answered|a|a|a|students must write the genotype for each individual and carry out the crosses

this question also helps the student to be able to draw a pedigree based on a story

I like it!!|not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a|This question fits in with #15 for learning objective #8|not_answered|b|a|a|could be improved - I marked this answer because I think a question that does involve recombination/crossing over would be nice

lines depicting chromosomes do not show up well on the figures

helps students tie together replication, transcription and translation - students tend to think of these as three separate events that have no relation to the other events|not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a||not_answered|a|a|a|It seems as if this question also falls under Learning Goal #1 just like question #14
|not_answered|a|a|a|answers C and D also make the student think about learning goal #1 (Describe the molecular anatomy of genes and genomes)|
23:56:27|07-23-2008|4957|Barbara Wakimoto|University of Washington|e|b|b|b|A bit vague; I would state the organism (one with eyes to color!); also "specifies" might not be a familiar enough term in this context for beginning students |c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a|is "primarily" necessary?|a|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|b|"discovering two independent mutations "in a population of GENETICALLY IDENTICAL mice" could be confusing; you might want to say "STARTING from a population"... or indicate NEW mutations|d|a|a|b|" which statement is most correct" is a little awkward.  Reads better to ask: "which of the following is most likely?" |b|b|b|c|My stressed undergrad mentality could cause me to "overthink" this question; I wonder whether you want me to tell you the max # of alleles in a human cell (in which case the question is more complicated than needed to get that answer) or am I supposed to be thinking hard about the maximum # possible somatic changes throughout ALL cells WITHIN a single individual.  If the latter, then I'm thinking the # of somatic variants could be even more than the maximum number of alleles identified and if these variants do not give rise to cancer, I'd say this person is still "normal" .  (I'm a complicated undergrad, you see) |d|a|a|a||d|a|a|b|Works well if given as a question on paper in which case I could easily flip a page if needed to refer to the sequence and genetic code again answer the question.  If the Q is given electronically, repeat the reference sequence and genetic code so they occur on the same screen as the answer choices.   Otherwise, I'm scrolling up and down for each choice and I've forgotten what I'm looking for.|c|a|a|b| I would change the awkward phrase "Sue's chromosome #18s"  awith "Sue's chromosome #18 pair" |b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||b|a|a|b|I am depressed by "the death due to political unrest in their country" and therefore could give you the wrong answer, (since I'm stressed already as an undergrad taking a test).      I much prefer to think that grandma and grandpa outlived their kids (and the kids' spouse)  because of their better lifestyles.  |e|a|a|b|you might consider referring to Prince as "newly discovered" rather than a "new species" in the Question; this allows you to keep who derived from whom more mysterious for option (c).  Actually for option (c), would you rather Prince evolving from King? |c|a|a|a||d|a|a|b|I would replace "the same autosomal chromosome PAIR" in the Question with on the "same autosome"|c|a|a|b|Delete word "both" in option (c);  Strictly speaking, this requires that students know that CF has a lung clearance problem in humans.  Most students know this, but perhaps a few don't?  Although not for CFTR, it is possible that a human gene can rescue a mouse phenotype, but the domain that does that no longer serves that same function in humans. Picky,, but may be better to say "the mouse and human genes encode proteins that CAN serve similar function" 
|not_answered|a|a|a||e|not_answered|a|b|I did not find the boxed information necessary|b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|b|"eye cells" could be replaced with cells of the retina, sounds better|
12:28:41|07-25-2008|4838|Scott Freeman|University of Washington|e|a|a|a|Not sure why b) is there. |c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||a|c|a|a|This is low-level; just asks definition of mutation. Doesn't seem to test learning goal. Also, in the question you may want to expand mRNAs to simply RNAs, as non-coding RNAs become more emphasized. |c|b|a|a|Maybe change wording to emphasize more efficient reproduction (important to emphasize differential reproductive success, rather than just survival). 
Possible to change the correct answer to add the idea that it would have been eliminated in a population that didn't eat grass (where the mutation didn't confer a fitness advantage)?|b|b|not_answered|b|Specify many (or few) offspring from cross? 
I found this question very difficult. |d|b|a|a|This may be a common misconception, but biologically it tests a fairly low-level concept. Consider asking a similar question about plants? Or contrasting plants and animals? |b|b|not_answered|b|You are excluding mutation within the individual, yes? 
Should this be under the molecular anatomy learning goal, or basic transmission genetics? |d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a|I didn't read #9 correctly until reading #10. |c|a|a|a|Need to specify that #18 is the only instance of a separation problem? This is picky. |b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|I am confused here. The DNA sequence will diverge more due to silent site substitutions, but the mRNA and proteins should show the same amounts of change. Did I read this wrong?|b|b|b|b|Are the horizontal bars linking sibs in III missing on purpose? 
Also, this only tests knowledge of maternal inheritance in mammals ... is this a big enough piece of genetics to include? |e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||d|a|a|b|Need to say 'same chromosomal PAIR'?|c|a|a|a||a|a|a|c|Missing the second chromatid in the left-hand homologs in a). |d|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||
16:59:12|07-26-2008|7721|Jiro Yasuhara|UC Berkeley|e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a|I think "(versions or variants)" should be removed. Students should know what alleles mean.|c|b|a|a|I think this would be a more effective question if students are asked to explain the reasoning for the answer choice.|a|a|a|a||c|b|a|b|a) could be interpreted as correct if it is a general statement that implies in itself the emergence of new mutations and successive natural selection events over generations. (Granted "optimal" is not an appropriate word for correct answer)  |c|a|a|b|I don't like the expression "same DNA base" because one gene obviously contains many many As and many many Ts and so on. I think "same base position" or "same nucleotide position" is what you mean.|d|a|a|a||b|b|b|b|I don't like this question. If the four alleles are nucleotide variations at one position of the gene, then you can have only two alleles. However, if the allelic variations are found in different positions of the gene, then you can potentially combine more than two of them.
|d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|b|a|a|Again, it would be more effective if students are asked to explain the reasoning.|b|a|a|a||c|b|a|a|I think the words in the parentheses are not necessary because students should understand the words like autosomal and carrier.|c|a|a|a||c|b|b|b|I'm not a fan of this question because DNA sequence similarity and amino acid sequence similarity are not the same scales. For example, amino acid sequence similarity also takes into account the residues that are hydrophobic, basic, acidic, aromatic etc. |b|c|c|c|I don't know if it's my computer or what, but some lines are missing in the chart.|e|a|a|a||e|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||a|b|c|b|Again, some lines are not displayed on my computer screen.
Also I don't like the expression "first meiosis" because it sounds like the first meiosis you have in your life. "Meiosis I" is more appropriate.|e|a|b|b|I'm not sure what the point of this question is.|b|a|a|a||b|a|b|b|Upon first reading the question I was a little confused. For example, I thought it meant "three variants in each human individual".  It wasn't immediately clear what "Marker S50 size" meant either.
Also, strictly speaking, all bands should NOT be equally intense. Higher molecular weight DNAs should be more intense whether it's ethidium bromide or anything else. I don't think the statement about band intensity is necessary anyway.
  |not_answered|a|b|b|"Active mutant opsin1 gene" is confusing (Doesn't the mutation inactivate the gene?).  It should be "Active X chromosome that carries the mutant opsin1 gene" or something like that.  |
14:14:57|07-28-2008|2126|David Dunbar|Cabrini College|e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||a|a|a|a|I think many of my students will wrestle with this question.  |c|a|a|a|Insightful question on the process of natural selection.|c|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|b|a|b|This seems to be a rather confusing question for me.|b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a|Great question!|c|a|a|a|My sophmore level genetics students will struggle with this question.  |c|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|not_answered|I can't answer the question because the schematics are not clear enough.  Either that, or I'm clueless.|e|a|a|a|Time consuming for me to come up with the correct answer.|b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||
15:28:11|08-01-2008|4722|Glenn Yasuda|Seattle University|e|a|a|b|Although it is not necessary to answer the question, students may find it confusing that an organism is not specified.  |c|b|a|c|The question does not state that this is a germline cell prior to meiosis.  Since this is the only representation of the cell shown, it is not clear that this is not a cell entering meiosis II.  The students should realize this from the word "pairs" in the question, but it does leave open the possibility of misinterpretation of the drawing.  The question does not state that the dark circles represent centromeres.  The final question should probably ask what the "possible " sperm genotypes could be for this cell.   |c|b|a|a|I understand that the desire may be to test this by presenting a more complex situation, but I wonder whether this is the best way assess this learning goal.  This question may be a good way to assess students understanding for the interaction between genes and internal environment. |a|b|a|a|I think this is a good question but I do not know how well this question by itself tests the relationship between changes in DNA sequence and changes in mRNA and protein.|c|a|a|a||c|b|a|a|Since you start by stating you have a single population, I  don't know if this really makes it clear how you then have two strains that breed true for recessive seizure mutations.  In order to test understanding of complementation, it seems more important to have the scenario emphasize the true breeding nature / homozygosity of the mutations.       |d|a|a|a||b|a|a|b|Is the intent for students to demonstrate that they know that an individual can carry at most two alleles of a gene?  What if the MLH1 mutant forms associated with cancer are all dominant?  I wonder if the question may create possible confusion that could cover up a student's basic understanding of the inheritance process.|d|b|a|a|Unless this question this is part of a series of questions using the initial set up, it seems like a question that will take awhile for a student to process in order to assess a single concept.   .. Sorry, I just saw the next question|c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||e|a|a|a|I'm not sure about the level of the course you have in mind for this assessment, but it seems like it might be possible to assess this goal regarding genome anatomy with questions concerning allopolyploidy, or various chromosomal mutations such as the connection between duplications and evolution of new functions or the relationship of inversions & translocations to speciation.  Another way to go could be to ask about the affects of chromatin differences on gene function.  |c|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||c|b|a|a|I don't know if this really assesses goal #9.  Unless I answered incorrectly, it seems to get at the same thing as question #15.|a|a|a|a||e|b|a|a|I'm not sure how #1 adds to this question.  #2 and #3 asks about linkage.  #1 asks student to recognize possible symbols that can be used to represent someone who is heterozygous for two genes.  Wouldn't it be more informative to give possible combinations that are not possible?  like A---a / R---r |b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||
06:12:03|08-02-2008|1493|Didem Vardar Ulu|Wellesley College|e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|b|a|a|I think another answer of a mutation in Y chromosome would be good to address some other misconceptions.|a|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|b|I feel that the wording "is almost certain to result in" might distract students' focus.  For the purpose of testing the learning goal "will result in" might be clearer.|c|a|a|b|See Q9|c|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||e|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||a|a|a|a||e|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||d|a|a|a||
15:44:40|08-11-2008|1295|Jim Smith|Michigan State University|e|b|a|a|Learning goal not very well defined.|c|a|a|a||c|c|a|b|I'm not sure what you're getting at here.  Students must come up with their own family history?  What kinds of things affect only females in humans (on a genetic level)?  Tough conceptually.|a|b|a|a|Might want to call this a "genetic" mutation.  A phenotypic mutation doesn't exist here at a gross level (most of the time), only at the molecular level.|c|b|a|b|Could word correct foil to be equivalent in verbal complexity to the others.|c|a|a|b|Is an allele a gene?  You always use gene in this exam to refer to the locus.|d|a|a|a|Good Q.|b|a|a|b|The word, "normal", though technically correct, carries a charged connotation.  |d|a|a|a|Would be really tricky if Q 10 did not follow.|c|a|a|a|Tough, but good.|a|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||b|a|a|a||c|a|a|a|Good Q.|c|c|a|a|You seem to really be testing here whether or not students understand that amino acid sequences will be less divergent than the nucleotide sequences.  Unclear why the model organism is important.|b|a|a|a|Good Q.|e|a|a|a||e|c|a|a|What information was obtained about genes, alleles, and gene functions?|d|a|a|a||c|a|a|a||a|a|a|a||e|a|a|b|Different representations are a bit confusing.|b|a|a|a|Good Q.|b|b|b|b|Good, but tough Q.  Needs explanation of pedigree symbols, as in prior Q's.  Connection to Learning Goal #9 tenuous.|d|b|a|a||