Probing university students’ understanding of direct-current (DC) resistive circuits is still a
field of active physics education research. We report here on a study we conducted of this
understanding, where the cohort consisted of students in a large-enrollment first-year physics
module. This is a non-calculus based physics module for students in the life sciences stream. The
study involved 366 students enrolled in the physics (bio) 154 module at Stellenbosch University in
2015. Students’ understanding of DC resistive circuits was probed by means of a standardized test
instrument. The instrument comprises 29 multiple choice questions that students have to answer in
~40 min. Students were required to first complete the standardized test at the start of semester
(July 2015). For ease of reference we call this test the pre-test. Students answered the pre-test
having no university-level formal exposure to DC circuits in theory or practice. The pre-test
therefore served to probe stu…