Grandma Never Dies During Finals: A Study of Makeup Exams

• Published in: Marketing education review 2010-07, Vol.20 (2), p.103-114
• Main Authors: Abernethy, Avery M., Padgett, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1052-8008; 2153-9987
• DOI: 10.2753/MER1052-8008200201

Even though makeup exams are a time-consuming task occurring every semester, they have received almost no attention in the marketing education literature. Makeup exam policies can influence student satisfaction, and evidence from other disciplines indicates that many students use fraudulent excuses. We discuss some common makeup exam policies and the costs and benefits of a student's decision to take or miss an exam. We collected two sets of data on makeup exams. One hundred and forty-six syllabi over a three-semester period were analyzed to gain an initial perspective on the range of makeup exam policies used by business faculty at one large university. We also collected data on the excuses given for missing an exam and test miss rates for over 400 undergraduate students taking principles of marketing classes over multiple semesters. We find that students are significantly less likely to miss the first exam and the final exam. These differences in miss rates between exams are so great that it provides compelling evidence that some students unethically use faked excuses to time when they take tests. So few students miss final exams that it seems as if Grandma never dies during finals.