Students often find biology courses to be very difficult and isolating, particularly if they identify as part of a group that has been historically excluded from STEM. Some of this anxiety and isolation comes from high-stakes exams. We decided to use the collaborative structure of two-stage exams to try to overcome the isolation of assessment. In two-stage exams, students take an individual exam, and then immediately get into groups and take the exam again, discussing the questions and the ratio…