Format of examinations

The course's two examinations employ a combination of question formats, including multiple choice (where only one answer is correct), short answer, and essay (100 to 150 words). The examinations' length permits students to complete them without difficulty in the time that the schedule allots, typically about two hours. Students who need additional time should request it from the course coordinators.

Course coordinators require students to turn in examinations with their answer sheets. Copies of examination are the property of the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences. Students who possess copies of the multiple-choice portion of any course examination given after 1990 do so without authorization. Such possession constitutes academic misconduct.

Before the examination, students place all personal items in the front or the back of the examination room. Whenever possible, they sit in alternate rows and alternate seats. A faculty member may direct students to specific seats, depending on the arrangement of the room in which the examination takes place.

Students must bring a number two pencil to mark a computer-readable answer sheet. To help them solve problems, they may also bring a calculator, a single 8"X11" sheet of blank paper, and a single 8"x11" blank sheet of tracing paper or a transparency.

Students are free to write on their copies of the examination. They write their name on each page of the examination, and turn in the examination with the computer-readable answer sheet. Instructors do not answer questions during the examination. Students may write comments on the examination.

The examination's first page offers each student the option of signing a pledge that he or she has "neither given nor received assistance during the examination." Students are free to stand or move about during the examination provided that, in doing so, they neither give nor receive assistance.

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Midterm examination, Fall 2001

For the midterm examination, students are responsible for the following course objectives.

• APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY all the objectives except the one that refers to arthrokinematics, a topic that we'll cover during the semester's second half.

• GENERAL BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES all objectives under this category

• ADVANCED BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES Students are not responsible for any of the objectives in this category for the midterm exam.

• LOWER EXTREMITY objectives 1-9, 11, 14

  Students are not responsible for objective #10, which applies the technique of vector resolution to forces at the hip joint surface. We'll address this objective later. Students are not responsible for distinguishing true synergies (objective 12) at this point; true synergies are more relevant when we address the upper limb later in the semester. Students are not responsible for objective 13 on the midterm.

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Final examination, Fall 2001

The final examination is comprehensive, and students are responsible for the following course objectives.

• APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY all objectives under this category

• GENERAL BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES all objectives under this category

• ADVANCED BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES objectives 1,3, and 4

• LOWER EXTREMITY all objectives under this category

• INTERVERTEBRAL JOINTS AND TRUNK all objectives under this category

• WALKING all objectives under this category

• BIOMECHANICS OF LIFTING all objectives under this category

• UPPER EXTREMITY all 23 objectives under this category

Format

The majority of the examination consists of multiple choice questions. Students also address items that require short answers and definitions. Finally, they write longer answers to biomechanical problems that the instructors pose. Course instructors choose the problems from a list that they distribute to students. Students' responses to the problems should be focused; instructors deduct points for responses that wander or include extraneous material.

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Sample Questions (Multiple Choice)

These questions illustrate the format, if not the content, of multiple choice questions that appear in the course's exams. Only one response is correct. The others are incorrect. We periodically add to this list of sample questions.

1. In anatomical position, the elbows are ______ while the radio-ulnar joints are _____.
   1. extended / pronated
   2. extended / supinated
   3. flexed / pronated
   4. flexed / supinated
   answer

2. When a person stands in anatomical position, the body's center of gravity is located at the level of:
   1. the fourth lumbar vertebral segment
   2. the mid-thoracic region
   3. the second sacral vertebral segment
   4. the umbilicus
   answer

3. When we say that a person or object "weighs" a certain number of pounds, we refer to a measure of:
   1. energy
   2. force
   3. mass
   4. torque
   answer

4. Which of these muscles crosses only the knee joint?
   1. biceps femoris (long head)
   2. rectus femoris
   3. sartorius
   4. vastus intermedius
   answer

5. As the hip flexes in an open chain, the femoral head's convex articulating surface rolls _____ and simultaneously glides (or slides) _____ on the concave acetabular surface.
   1. anteriorly / anteriorly
   2. anteriorly / posteriorly
   3. posteriorly / anteriorly
   4. posteriorly / posteriorly
   answer

6. The knee is close-packed in _____. This is the point in the range of motion when the bony attachments of the joint's major ligaments are _____.
   1. extension / closest together
   2. extension / furthest apart
   3. flexion / closest together
   4. flexion / furthest apart.
   answer

7. Which of the following muscles has a line of application that extends and externally rotates the hip?
   1. gluteus maximus
   2. gracilis
   3. pectineus
   4. sartorius
   answer

8. Muscles that produce internal rotation of the hip include:
   1. anterior fibers of gluteus medius
   2. gluteus maximus
   3. iliopsoas
   4. sartorius
   answer

9. Activity in the flexor hallucis longus produces subtalar _____ and ankle _____.
   1. pronation / dorsiflexion
   2. pronation / plantar flexion
   3. supination / dorsiflexion
   4. supination / plantar flexion
   answer

10. Glenohumeral abduction is limited unless the humerus also rotates externally. Which of these forces cannot contribute to the glenohumeral external rotation that must occur in this range of motion?
    1. activity in the infraspinatus
    2. activity in the subscapularis
    3. activity in the teres minor
    4. passive force developed in the glenohumeral ligament
    answer

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Last updated 12-6-01 © Dave Thompson PT