Improvements to an electrical engineering skill audit exam to improve student mastery of core EE concepts

The San Jose State University Electrical Engineering (EE) department implemented a skill audit exam for graduating seniors in 1999 with the purpose of assessing the teaching and students´ mastery of core concepts in EE. However, consistent low scores for the first years of the test suggested that students saw little incentive in reviewing or passing the test. To promote the concept that there is a set of basic skills every graduating senior should master, improvements were implemented that included creating an online exam used for review and requiring earning a 70% or higher score on an in-class exam, a requirement for graduation. After the improvements were made, all students demonstrated at least 70% mastery of the core EE concepts as measured by the improved, in-class skill audit exam. The details of these improvements are presented.