Section 4     Candidate Preparation

b. Content

The following represents an analysis of all students who took the MTTC Physics tests from 7/15/00 through 4/3/04, who reported EMU as their University, and who were pursuing undergraduate majors or minors in physics teaching.

Program	Passed 1st attempt	Passed 1st or 2nd attempt	Did not pass
Major	7	8	1
Minor	1	3	2
Majors & Minors	8	11	3

Overall, 8 of 14 candidates passed the test on their first attempt, and 11 of 14 passed it on their first or second try.  Not surprisingly, physics majors have a higher success rate in passing the test.  However, we have examined the academic history of the 6 students who did not pass on their first try.  In particular, we looked at how they fared in the core junior level (300 level) required courses.  While they were overall successful in the lab courses, their grades in the lecture courses were not particularly good.  Only one of these students received an A in any one of these lecture classes.  Most grades were C’s or B-.  Our conclusion is that poor or even mediocre performance in these core junior level courses is an indication that the students may struggle on the MTTC, and that is as it should be.  As we advise our students in the future, we will bring these numbers to their attention, encouraging them to do extra preparations if there performance in the 300 level courses was mediocre.

We restructured our advising of these students in 2001 to ensure a better pass rate.  All student but one who majored in physics since that time have passes the exam on their first attempt.  We have also replaced elective courses in the minor with a sequence of required courses.  We began advising students on this basis in 2001, and the changes formally took effect in 2003.  We find that if the students take the test at the end of this sequence, they generally pass it.  The two minors who took the test three times and did not pass did so prior to this change (and their cases were part of the impetus for the change).  Those two students aside, we have had only one student not yet pass the test during this period: that student took the test in April of this year and has not yet had time to retake it.