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The Fallacy of Hard Tests
Al Feldzamen writes in with a blog post on the fallacious math behind many specialist examinations. "'The test was very hard,' the medical specialist said. 'Only 35 percent passed.' 'How did they grade it?' I asked. 'Multiple choice,' he said. 'They count the number right.' As a former mathematician, I immediately knew the test results were meaningless. It was typical of the very hard test, like bar exams or medical license exams, where very often the well-qualified and knowledgeable fail the exam. But that's because the exam itself is a fraud."
Ok... the test will be on... girls. Huh? What do you mean that isn't fair?
in college that gave very hard tests. Intel Assembly class. For a midterm, we had to decipher Object-Oriented Assembly, and decipher self-modifying code. After 3 weeks of introduction to Assembly.
I got an A, with an average of 58% in the class.
For the 2-hour final, he got up at the 1-hour point, and yelled: "The test is over. All pencils down." We just sat there dumbfounded for about 10 seconds, and then he said, "Just kidding. I always wanted to do that."
Ya, a real great pal there!
Worst teacher I had in college. He didn't last long
Don't steal. The government hates competition.
he can't spray and pray
Yeah, but if he fails the test he will always have a job as the whino on the street corner who shouts about Jesus while urinating in public!
TFA makes sense. Observe:
News for nerds?: yes[ ] no[x]
Stuff that matters?: yes[ ] no[x]
Clearly the editorial process is fraudulent - as this is a multiple choice, it is obvious that guessing tends to count much more than knowledge.
From this we can conclude one of two things:
1) Zonk is bad at guessing
2) The author is speaking out of his ass
Tempting as it is, I am going to stick with 2... But I could, of course, be guessing.
At last! A scoring method that will naturally penalise me for my lack of self-confidence!
I have the same combination on my luggage!
Having done experiments on MBA students
See, I KNEW they were good for something. Let me guess, the reason you opted for MBAs over mice is that there is far less protests when you do cruel medical experiments on the MBA students than with mice, correct?
Monstar L
Somebody has done it before. I applied for a job as an English language teacher, and a lady interviewing me said that it is company's policy to test every applicant no matter what certificates and diplomas they have. So i was given the test quickly done the 2/3 of it and then discovered that in the most difficult rest all the answers were wrong. I noticed that some of the answers were SLIGHTLY INCORRECT, so after correcting them i marked them accordingly I have passed pack the test paper. Later the lady told me she was impressed with my test results, as few people saw the trap in the test.
A person has heartburn, do you:
A) Perform a colonoscopy
B) Perform open heart surgery
C) Tickle him
D) Fart
E) Refer him to Cowboy Neil
I'm going to Mexico for my next check up. At least you'll get tequila first....
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
A test on girls isn't fair because no matter what answer you give, it'll be wrong.
No. I think what he was trying to say was that no matter what, you'd never score with a girl. ;)
I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
-1 for an incorrect answer? That's pretty weak. As an air traffic control student, our wrong answers get punished with planes full of dead people.
Well, as a (happily) married man and considering the 6 point odd billion global population, I'd say it isn't quite impossible to score with a girl. You just have to learn that there is no correct answer, especially on multiple choice. ;)
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
>That just means that the maximum score is 0 :p
So it's rather like darts? You start with a constant number of points, say 300, and then with each answer you give points are subtracted from your total score. The game ends when you inevitably reach 0.
You just described every relationship I've ever been in.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Do not try to answer the question... that's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth... There is no answer.
The relationships last longer if you stop throwing darts. :)
Well, since you are much more of an authority in this subject area than most of us on Slashdot, perhaps you could give me some insight on this little conundrum?
If a man is walking in a forest, and he's talking to himself, and there are no women around, is he still wrong?
I guess it depends on where you work, but my friend's experience was that things changed immediately when he got his first job. Everyone is keenly aware of the potential of a malpractice lawsuit, but the doctors talk pretty freely with each other behind the patients' backs, laughing at the nut cases and making fun of the pill tourists. One guy kept a known addict who came in with "back pain" in an exam room for six hours, coming in between his other patients, bringing exotic-looking implements into the examining room and holding them against the patient's body, furrowing his brow, making serious noises, and then disappearing for half an hour. At the end of the day he told her to take three Advil a day and "come back as often as you feel is necessary."
I don't know how freely the doctors admit mistakes, but my friend tells me about his colleagues' mistakes every once in a while, so they aren't exactly secrets.