Slashdot Mirror
German Teenager Gets Job Offer By Trying To Use FOI For His Exam Papers
Bruce66423 writes "A German schoolboy has taken exam preparation to ingenious new levels by making a freedom of information request to see the questions in his forthcoming Abitur tests, the equivalent of A-levels in the UK." and SATS in the USA. The media attention from his FoI request has already garnered him an offer of work from another transparency-related organization, the research website Correctiv. “If I have time before university starts I’ll definitely do it,” he said.
Give this kick a commendation for original thinking.
So he made this request, haha, but who informed all the numerous reporters, and to what end?
I would have replied to the request that he would be provided with the information... and stated the date and time of his exam :)
EXTRA! News Titles Ambiguous Cowards Note
EXTRA! News Titles Ambiguous Cowards Note
AC also objects to contracted subhead text, study finds.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Strangely enough the Graun has more opening commenting than the Telegraph - I read both so I get to hear both sides of the news. If you avoid any of the Guardian US "journalists" then it's not quite so bad.
I'm not sure it could be considered cheating if he was legally given the questions by someone with the authority to do so.
I'll take the Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry for $500 please.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Who the fuck writes "but keeps revising in likelihood request is denied". That isn't even English.
I hate to burst your bubble, but that is English, and British English at that. Revise is being used in the sense of to study:
reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination.
"students frantically revising for exams"
Perhaps your knowledge of English, is shall we say .. in need of revision?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Freedom of information is one of those ideas that's such a popular idea no-one will touch the legislation, but the law is typically worded so vaguely that it causes real problems.
Are legislators just lazier than they used to be?
Arrested? You mean the police wouldn't just shoot him? Sounds like an achievement to me.
While I do think what he did was cheating and he should haven't been able to pass by virtue of that, this sort of thing does indicate a couple of things, which can be good or bad depending on view:
1. That he's not tied into solving problems the way everyone else is; therefore a creative thinker
2. He's got the guts to do something that a lot of people might consider cheating; he covered his ass by saying "I'm studying anyway"
Too often we complain about the school system being used to create automatons that don't think for themselves; separating yourself from the pack is a good way to get attention. Again, I'm not saying what he did was right, but sometimes bad press is better than no press.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
Otherwise known as "The Grauniad", because of the endless typos. Who the fuck writes "but keeps revising in likelihood request is denied". That isn't even English. That's the mentality of the Left wing assholes who produce The Guardian, arrogant, nation-wrecking tossers, who are terrified of open debate. I wonder why.
You certainly read an awful lot into a typo. Reading slashdot must cause you to have regular mental breakdowns.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Because the A+ certification here in the USA is an utter joke.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Who the fuck writes "but keeps revising in likelihood request is denied". That isn't even English.
I hate to burst your bubble, but that is English, and British English at that. Revise is being used in the sense of to study:
reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination.
"students frantically revising for exams"
Perhaps your knowledge of English, is shall we say .. in need of revision?
It's interesting that the majority of examples of the word "revise" in the Oxford dictionary is to change things. The only exception is when referring to studying for exams, etc. "Revising" is definitely a word that is not used this way in the US or in Canada, where I grew up.
So much for reading the actual article....
He has REQUESTED the exams using a Freedom of Information request. They haven't actually given them to him and are very likely going to find a reason not to.
The article says that he is still studying (revising) for the tests because even he doesn't think that his request will succeed.
Slight inaccuracies aside in my initial post, I stand by my initial point. Kid got a job offer because he showed creative thinking and some modicum of courage to ask a question most wouldn't have asked.
He may not be talented, but he's enough of a go-getter (or at least can put on a show of being one) and many companies value that, even if it is for a complete bullshit reason. Sometimes the bullshit is what gets feet in the door.
There's an apparently oft-told fable in a company I used to work for in which an entry-level employee was joined in an elevator by an older businessman. Said entry-level employee remarked on the briefcase of the businessman, and made polite conversation. Upon exiting the elevator, the businessman asked for the young employee's business card, and exchanged his with her.
Apparently, he was a high-level executive in the same company. Because of her initiative to not be shy (that is to say, "network", in the parlance of the environment), said executive was now going to pay attention to this young woman.
I don't know how true this story is (those telling the story neglect to give names, thus the idea that it's more a fable than an actual thing that happened), but the point of the story was that in this organization (whose name you'd know but I will decline to mention), any in-road to making yourself noticed is a good one, even if it's discussing something as banal as a briefcase.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
...claim that the test questions could be useful for terrorists so it's a matter of national security?
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
When and why did certain dialects of English lose the distinction between "few" and "a few"?
I had an Indian professor us "revise" like this and it took a while to figure out that's how the Brits do it.
It's interesting that the majority of examples of the word "revise" in the Oxford dictionary is to change things. The only exception is when referring to studying for exams, etc. "Revising" is definitely a word that is not used this way in the US or in Canada, where I grew up.
To me, this usage of revise (to study) is perfectly cromulent. The only problem I have with it is when I use it in this manner around Americans, who basically say "WTF? What are you going to change?"
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I think it is clearer to say 'in the likelihood that the request is denied'.
But those 3 extra words take up space on the newspaper page that could have been used for something else (advertising?). Yeah I know I read this off a web-page, but the editors of said page would have been educated old skool and are happy to cut out superfluous words.
As written it sounds like an Indian-English-ism
I only get that effect when I shake my head from side to side as I read the sentence.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I see the word: Revise.
I think: To look again. To revisit.
Just because you don't use it in that sense, doesn't mean others can't.
What bothers me about American English speakers is not that they've never heard these words - that's fair enough - but that they can't infer their meaning from the context and from the potential meaning of the words.
Pavement. Yeah, it's an odd word. But it's obviously something that's paved. Paving. Words that you have in your "dialect" too. The inference, however, never seems to be made.
And yet, when Americans/Canadians use words oddly, we're required to understand what they mean.
You don't need to be spot-on, but sometimes just a brief stint in etymology or even thinking of similar-sounding word-roots would help immensely in your understanding of "our" language.
And, on another note, stop using everything as a verb.
(You will "ace" the test, etc.)
Give it up Britain, you lost. Get over it. American English is the future, British is the language of top hats and handlebar mustaches. Don't worry, we'll keep you around for historical reenactments.
You mean, stop verbing nouns?
It's not classified. I'm sure they'll comply with his FOI request for exam questions... on exam day.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
When I wrote exams for my students I always gave them an outline. The outline was based on the syllabus. My goal was to get them to study the core material which they would need to advance their knowledge. The test was as much a tool to spur learning as it was to evaluate learning. Though I always warned them that there would be one 'zinger' in the lot to help me sort the A's from the B's.
I also had instructors who published prior years exams so you could prep for the current exam. They would often promise to use at least one question on the exam
from a prior exam which often to my delight actually occurred. In doing so I often took prior years' exams meaning I reviewed the material several times before actually taking the exam. Once again the test was a teaching tool.
A good "heads up" test writer knows this.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I don't see why he's still doing the automaton thing going to college, though, when he now has a career offer. I dropped out of college because having a career was better, and I had a career; it wasn't worth dropping out of my career for college.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
I would bet money she expressed curiosity and interest in his job.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Not quite as embarrassing as asking someone in the streets of SF where you can buy a pack of cigarettes (but with the English slang term). It made people pull very very weird face.
I was more struck by the lack of an articles or possessives. It does sound more stunted than
"...but keeps revising in the likelihood that the request is denied" or somesuch.
If their FOI requests are like ours, probably not. There are strict rules one has to follow including time frames. Provided he did the request enough in advance, failure to produce the results within a very specific allotted amount of time could have big repercussions.
FOI abuses happen all the time. I get them. There are ways to sometime turn them down depending on the situation. However usually you still have to go through all the motions, do a ton of work, and waste a lot of time. From my experience, if this kid were really smart he would have not only did an FOI for the questions, but for the ANSWERS as well...
Even if the answers do not exist as records, in many cases they would be obligated to actually come up with them. I do analysis all the time for questions posed in FOI requests which I like to call working as a free consultant for the public... I mean why hire some consulting firm, when you can just get some poor jerk to do it as part of an FOI request... Not that I am bitter or anything.
Had this taken place in the US at a USian university he would have found a reason to arrest him under the USSR^h^hA Patriot Act and/or permanently expelled from uni with no job prospects other than "Do you want fries with that" if he is lucky enough to get one at all. .
Pretty much the type of off-topic post I'd expect from someone that uses the word USian. Why that anyways? Why not USish? USAish? USAn?
Well, I guess when you try to copy and use a made up word enough to get people to think it's a real word, you can use whatever you want to.
Doesn't this just open up a market for using a contractor to administrate these exams? The questions and answers would become trade secret rather than public record.
And there you go, proving his point...
TFA (and many articles on the subject - disclaimer: I live in Germany and read local news sources, too) forgets to mention something important which is very likely the reason that he gets job offers:
He didn't just send a "here's my cute idea" letter. He actually studied the law in question, his letter is said to be full of legalese mentioning all the important paragraphs. The letter is so that the agency responsible for handling them is now looking if they can find an actual, valid reason to refuse his request, because they couldn't on purely formal reasons (which they usually use when refusing a request they don't like).
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
That's a funny answer, but an illegal one. He took great care to make sure that the deadline set by law for their answer is ahead of the exam date.
Just because he gets the answers legally doesn't mean he's allowed to use them and not be cheating. Cheating isn't usually illlegal, but it does have academic consequences. Personally I would probably give him a little award of some kind he can stick on his resume (e.g. a commendation for original thinking) but tell him he can't sit for the exam on that date.
I've been watching the mainstream papers, the tabloids barely cover the election, I've been surprised by the level of support for Miliband from papers that were Tory backers at the last election. It's honestly left me wondering if they no longer see the Tories as good for the economy (economists mostly say they are not good).
Tories are the millionaires party, if you're not rich then you'd have to be a bit thick to vote for them.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
"offer of work from another transparency-related organization" it illustrates just so well how the 'transparency related organizations' work and what are their true objectives.
Do they care that guy tried to use flaw in law to get unfair advantage -NO
Do they care if guy knows something and in fact could be an imbecile - NO
Do they care if all this case is silly hype - NO
I guess all these 'transparency-related organizations' ever want is attention, noise, proving somebody (but the best - be it government or corporation) being idiot or villain, regardless of facts, causes, any purpose or any common sense.
Mandatory testing specifically for university placement is the bigger problem. It forces people to take paths that are unsuitable for them, just because "the test said so". For that, I applaud the person filing the FoI and hope that none of the snark, redaction, or delays gets in the way.
The Abitur is simply a part of a flawed system where a few mandatory test scores divine out the rest of your life. On the other hand, the US system doesn't have these flaws - it allows more people to receive higher levels of education.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Pretty much the type of off-topic post I'd expect from someone that uses the word USian. Why that anyways? Why not USish? USAish? USAn? Well, I guess when you try to copy and use a made up word enough to get people to think it's a real word, you can use whatever you want to.
(Apparently I made a similar comment years ago. Interesting.)
Per a former Spanish teacher of mine, if you take the word for "citizen of the United States" and translate it to English as a literal word, you get United Statesian. I agree that it's not valid English and sounds dumb, but after hearing it all those times, it sounds almost right to me.