A critical analysis of university examinations in mathematics

In many Universities, mathematics examinations use a timed, closed-book format. The paper discusses what areas of ability are being assessed in these examinations, and to what extent the procedure might foster possible educational objectives. We describe a list of ten qualities by which a mathematics question can be graded in order to see what skills are needed for its solution, and some examples are discussed, as well as the background system in which the procedures are set.Part II of the paper (to follow) will discuss the results obtained from a study which applied this procedure to a large sample of questions set in examinations in ten British Universities.