Parse Tree <parsetree at hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:kBMY8.596$Kb.149937 at news20.bellglobal.com...
> "The 9th Witch" <appalachian_witch at hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:ah044j$oqm9k$1 at ID-131540.news.dfncis.de...> >
> > Bob LeChevalier <lojbab at lojban.org> wrote in message
> > news:1k37juss6m9iuahd47ubpglru223okfpj2 at 4ax.com...> > > "Parse Tree" <parsetree at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > >A properly constructed test wouldn't have been multiple choice. The
> test
> > is
> > > >essentially meaningless.
> > > >
> > > >I like how you admit that they're multiple choice now.
> > >
> > > Actually the test is well-constructed, since the various multiple
choice
> > > answers each corresponds to a particular conception or likely
> > misconception
> > > of the problem. When one is constructing a normed test, guessing is
not
> a
> > > problem. One can adjust scores for guessing by including a guessing
> > penalty
> > > (this happens on the SATs for example) or one can simply compare
> > percentages
> > > choosing each answer with those of other populations (which is what
> TIMSS
> > > does). TIMSS is not designed so that ANY kid could get a perfect
score
> or
> > > anywhere near a perfect score, and I've never read a report that
> suggests
> > > that any kid did so. There are easy problems and there are hard
> problems,
> > > and the problems are weighted by the difficulty that they were found
to
> > > present to the entire test population.
> > >
> > > TIMSS also included many problems that were NOT multiple choice, BTW,
> and
> > you
> > > could not get full credit unless your work was shown and contained the
> key
> > > steps expected in the solution.
> > >
> >
> > Well, shit, I'd would have missed it too. I never write down the steps,
> just
> > chicken scratches and the correct answer.
>> When I was littler, I was always scolded for not showing enough work.
They
> expect so many unnecessary steps. While they may require multiplication
to
> be explicitly written out, I most certainly do not. And what's with
proper
> notation? Just useless memorization.
My instructors scolded me as well, as if I could guess the outcome! Yeah,
out of 1000 gazillion numbers, I "guessed" the answer was, for example,
2.9967...
"Well, your answer is correct, but do you understand how you got it?"
"Yeah, but apparently you don't."
T9W
