4 ms·

No multiple choice test can protect against a list of questions and answers.

• ATsch 11y ago
  America uses a multiple choice test for university admission?
  • ikeboy 11y ago
    Both the SAT and the ACT are mostly multiple choice, with one essay.
  • superuser2 11y ago
    Alongside high school transcript, essays, extracurricular activities, and demographics, yes. It's usually not a simple threshold or ranking, but it gives admissions officers a normalized view of something approximating intellectual horsepower (rigor and quality of high schools varies enormously and mostly responds to socioeconomic status of the neighborhood). SAT and ACT each have a timed handwritten essay component, but it's not very well-regarded. There is no long-form working of problems, though that does appear on AP/IB subject tests which are also necessary to be competitive at highly selective schools.
  • serge2k 11y ago
    The american education system seems obsessed with standardized tests.
• ISL 11y ago
  The Amateur Radio license test in the US is a random selection from a large published set of multiple choice questions. Studying for the test can consist of learning the answers to all of the questions. It's very educational. http://www.arrl.org/question-pools http://www.arrl.org/question-pools I don't know if something like that would work for the SAT, but if the question pool were large enough, it would.
  • ikeboy 11y ago
    That's meant to be a knowledge test. The SAT isn't.
    • Houshalter 11y ago
      Than what exactly is it testing?
      • ikeboy 11y ago
        "Exactly": test taking skills. Less exactly but still useful: critical thinking, intelligence, ability to solve problems quickly. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/04/what_do_sat_and_iq_tests_measure_general_intelligence_predicts_school_and.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...
      • wiseleo 11y ago
        Scholastic aptitude (SAT === Scholastic Aptitude Test) - learn random and possibly useless things and pass a test on them.
• alanwatts 11y ago
  Maybe we should come up with a new testing model then. As it stand the current model is akin to a game show like Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
  • ikeboy 11y ago
    It correlates pretty well to intelligence. What specifically do you object to? Just the multiple choice nature of answers? http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/04/what_do_sat_and_iq_tests_measure_general_intelligence_predicts_school_and.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...
    • alanwatts 11y ago
      "Never memorize something that you can look up." Intelligence is dynamic and amorphous and is not something that can be measured on a single linear scale. My biggest objection to the current paper-and-and-pencil-and-no-technology test taking model is the inherent Luddism which stresses an obsolete method of learning.
      • ikeboy 11y ago
        Have you taken the SAT? Your description is inaccurate. You can use calculators on the test, and most questions are analytic, not the kind you can look up. What evidence do you have for your claim about intelligence?
        • alanwatts 11y ago
          The calculators you are forced to use were invented decades ago. The students possess a calculator that is billions of times more powerful in their pockets but are not allowed to use them. That is Luddism. Edit: correction: the TI-82 has a 6MHz processor where as an iPhone has a 1.4 GHz processor
          • ikeboy 11y ago