Executive summary: These questions have many flaws. (Details can be
found in section 2 i.e. http://www.av8n.com/physics/ca-test-questions.htm#sec-specifics )
But you presumably already knew that. Anybody with rudimentary physics
knowledge and teaching ability could see that in an instant.
It is not important to quantify just how awful this test is, or to see
how/whether we can improve specific test-questions. The real issue has
to do with the process. How can the system be so broken as to produce
questions like this? How can we improve the process?
This is called a “Standards Test”. Where is the standardization? What
standards are being upheld?
I am informed that the taxpayers paid some company to produce these
questions. Well, they should demand a refund. Whoever prepared these
questions should be disqualified from doing so in the future.
More generally, whoever prepares questions in the future should provide,
for each question, a brief statement as to its rationale. That is, they
ought to tell us what the question is supposed to test for. Also the
preparer should be responsible for vetting the questions, and should
provide evidence of validity and sensitivity. That is, does the question
do what it is supposed to do? This includes making sure the intended
answer really is better than the others, and that each of the
distractors really serves some purpose.
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