The post-simulation exam gives instructors the option of testing how well each class member understands the many strategy-related aspects of running a BSG company in a wise and proficient manner. The test is designed to be administered at the conclusion of the simulation, and it consists of 40 multiple-choice questions. The test bank for the exam consists of 5 versions of the same 40 questions. Each class member’s set of 40 questions consists of a random selection of the 5 versions of each question; moreover, the 5 answer-selections for each question appear in a different order for each test version. The random selection of the question versions, coupled with the random ordering of the questions and the 5 answer selections for each question, make it hard (virtually impossible?) for students to sit side-by-side and collaborate on the answers to the post-simulation test questions (especially given the time limitations on completing the exam).
Many of the question topics concern the relevance and decision-making value of the industry statistics, the benchmarking data, and the competitive intelligence (each company’s prices, advertising expenditures, footwear quality, and so forth) provided to all company managers after each decision round. Most of the remaining question topics relate to the strategic and operating issues that company managers have to address. The exam is predicated on the expectation that by the end of the BSG simulation exercise, all class members should have a strong grasp of (1) basic strategy concepts and principles, (2) the strategic thinking and analysis surrounding many of the decision entries that have to be made each decision round, and (3) the different strategic actions and initiatives that can be taken to improve one or more aspects of the company’s performance and perhaps achieve a competitive advantage over rival companies. The default time for taking the exam is 1 hour and 45 minutes, but you have the option of extending the time.
The exam should be considered as “open book.” Prior to taking the test, all participants are informed that they should not begin taking the test unless they have (1) a printout of the Footwear Industry Report for any year, (2) a printout of the Competitive Intelligence Report for any year, and (3) a calculator (calculations are required for a few questions). Furthermore, they are informed that they are allowed/encouraged/expected to consult any of the Help Pages for any of the decision screens and reports for assistance in answering any of the questions. Rest assured that the “open book” nature of the exam does not translate into test questions that are “easy” or “dumbed down” to where all class members will be able to earn an A or B without really knowing very much about the athletic footwear marketplace, the competitive maneuvering of their footwear rivals, and how to make good business decisions that result in acceptable company performance. Indeed, as you will quickly discover from perusing the test scores for your class, the questions are challenging and probe fairly deeply into how much students really know and have learned from the BSG exercise.
While it is very desirable to learn how well class members grasped the strategy and managerial “lessons” to be learned from running a BSG company, an even larger purpose of having students complete the post-simulation comprehensive exam is provide you with a percentile ranking of (1) how each class member’s score compared against the scores of all other students worldwide who took this test in the past 12 months and (2) how your class as whole performed vis-à-vis all other students worldwide taking the test in the past 12 months. Such data regarding how well students at your school performed on the exam vis-à-vis students at hundreds of other business schools worldwide can be used by your department or school/college to evaluate the business acumen of class participants and the caliber of the associated academic program(s). Many schools are utilizing the BSG Learning Assurance Reports to provide strong, empirically-based evidence of compliance with AACSB standards—there are few other ways to measure the performance and knowledge of students at your institution against the performance and knowledge of thousands of students at scores of other institutions on the very same test/simulation exercise.
