Re: Weight, Mass & Force - Educational Testing Service Responds

[Gary Karshner <karshner@STMARYTX.EDU>]

Larry,
        I think it is a tad bigger then a mole hill. A student who knows physics
could be penalized for knowing that it isn't a correct answer. When I was
in school a close friend of mine and I took a standardized test in which
one of the questions showed a picture of a pool table with the path of a
ball striking the edge of the table and a series of possible directions for
the ball to leave. My friend being an excellent pool player knew from
experience that a real pool ball would leave the edge at an angle greater
then the incident angle. Whereas I picked that the angle would be incident
equal to the angle it left the edge at. I believe that the maker of the
test not being an experienced pool player probably agreed with me and my
friend failed the question because of his superior knowledge. Test
shouldn't penalize one for having more knowledge and experience, but less.
Tests questions shouldn't require the victims to be able to get the correct
answer by testmanship, but by the knowledge that it is supposed to be testing.
        My daughter took the PSAT in question and I showed her our discussion. She
said she had wondered about that question but picked the answer wanted
because she realized that it was a common mistake and the only answer that
appeared to be close to what was wanted. Applying testmanship and not
knowledge.
        One of my favorite Japanese short poems is:
                Men do not trip on mountains,
                But clods and fall.

Gary

> I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill.
>
> ETS has listened to the concern, and responded in a logical and polite
> manner.  It is clear they understand your concern precisely.  It is also
> clear that they view the "verbal" section of the PSAT/NMSQT as a test of
> general language usage, as opposed to a test of technical nomenclature
> for specific intellectual pursuits.  This seems to me a quite reasonable
> position considering what they are trying to accomplish.

Gary Karshner

St. Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas
KARSHNER@STMARYTX.EDU