Parsons problems are a type of programming activity that present learners with blocks of existing code and requiring them to arrange those blocks to form a program rather than write the code from scratch. Micro Parsons problems extend this concept by having students assemble segments of code to form a single line of code rather than an entire program. Recent investigations into micro Parsons problems have primarily focused on supporting learners leaving open the question of micro Parsons efficacy as an exam item and how students perceive it when preparing for exams. To fill this gap, we included a variety of micro Parsons problems on four exams in an introductory programming course taught in Python. We use Item Response Theory to investigate the difficulty of the micro Parsons problems as well as the ability of the questions to differentiate between high and low ability students. We then compare these results to results for related questions where students are asked to write a single line of code from scratch. Finally, we conduct a thematic analysis of the survey responses to investigate how students' perceptions of micro Parsons both when practicing for exams and as they appear on exams.

翻译：帕森斯问题是一种编程练习形式，向学习者呈现若干现有代码块，要求他们排列这些代码块以构建程序，而非从零开始编写代码。微型帕森斯问题延伸了这一概念，要求学生组合代码片段以形成单行代码，而非完整程序。近期对微型帕森斯问题的研究主要集中于辅助学习过程，而其在考试题目中的有效性、以及学生备考时对其的认知仍存疑问。为填补这一空白，我们在采用Python授课的编程入门课程中，于四次考试中引入了多种微型帕森斯问题。我们运用项目反应理论分析微型帕森斯问题的难度，以及题目区分高能力与低能力学生的鉴别力。随后，我们将这些结果与学生从零编写单行代码的相关题目结果进行对比。最后，我们对问卷调查反馈进行主题分析，以探究学生在备考期间及考试过程中对微型帕森斯问题的认知态度。