A note on code-explaining examination questions

The BRACElet project, which explores aspects of the way students learn to program, involves questions to assess the students’ skills in tracing, reading, and writing code. In a recent examination based on the BRACElet specification, students’ marks were significantly lower on the code-reading questions than on the other two types. A close examination of the students’ answers leads to the conclusion that a marking scheme for codereading questions should be proposed explicitly, and that work is still required to ensure that students fully understand what sort of answer will earn them full marks for such a question