4 ms·

Humm looking at the sample test, the questions are easy, but the presentation and wording is awful "She has 100m of plastic edging to encloses a circular garde

Humm looking at the sample test, the questions are easy, but the presentation and wording is awful "She has 100m of plastic edging to encloses a circular garden." Hard to believe they let this slip through.

AdrianB1 5y ago
The question was written by another teacher, one that failed English?
pbourke 5y ago
These are poorly worded questions. Half the issue with “word problem” test questions is that they assume a cultural context or knowledge. The questions should explain themselves more (what is edging?) or choose a better context.
- matbilodeau 5y ago
  Well Google gave me the answer to "what is edging" and I doubt this has to do anything with math.
  - pbourke 5y ago
    You typically don’t have access to Google when you’re taking a test. The onus should be on the test writer to ensure that what is tested is math knowledge and not math knowledge + some random facts about gardening.
    - matbilodeau 5y ago
      Reminds me of calculus, all I seem to remember from college is that growth rate of a wolf population. And the hearing LIMIT from a high pitched voice.
contravariant 5y ago
Yeah, apart from the terrible typography, which seems to be mandatory for these kinds of test, there are plenty of terribly phrased questions as well: > 7. A number cube is labeled 1 to 6. [...] What's wrong with the word 'die'? > 12. There is a linear relationship [...] What type of variation is this relationship and what is its initial value? What on earth does 'variation' mean here? As far as the answer key is concerned the answer should be 'A partial variation with an initial value of $50.'. Which makes no sense to me whatsoever. > 13. A rectangle has an area of 5^𝑥2 + 15𝑥 square units. Determine expressions for the length and the width of the rectangle. Surely that depends on your aspect ratio? It could be sqrt(5x^2 + 15x) for both. Also their answer key lists the area in question 4 in cm for some reason, if you're going to use units at least use the right one. And you just know someone is going to be anal about question 8, since the answer key doesn't list the exact value '100m/pi' but the approximate 31.8 m. Also I hope they got a calculator otherwise the answer to question 15 which involves trigonometry is downright unfair.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  > > 7. A number cube is labeled 1 to 6. [...] > What's wrong with the word 'die'? One usual excuse is to make it clear that it's a d6, rather than a d20 or something, but that's already clear here. The other reasons are that dice still have a connotation of being related to gambling in some people's eyes, which makes it politically incorrect to use the term, and that "die" being a homonym for life ending means that it's also politically incorrect to say.
- contravariant 5y ago
  I've noticed someone posted a different set of example questions, which seem to be more reasonable, though with a very odd 'pedagogy' section (which doesn't test mathematics knowledge and smells rather political for some reason).

AdrianB1 5y ago

The question was written by another teacher, one that failed English?

pbourke 5y ago

These are poorly worded questions. Half the issue with “word problem” test questions is that they assume a cultural context or knowledge. The questions should explain themselves more (what is edging?) or choose a better context.

matbilodeau 5y ago
Well Google gave me the answer to "what is edging" and I doubt this has to do anything with math.
- pbourke 5y ago
  You typically don’t have access to Google when you’re taking a test. The onus should be on the test writer to ensure that what is tested is math knowledge and not math knowledge + some random facts about gardening.
  - matbilodeau 5y ago
    Reminds me of calculus, all I seem to remember from college is that growth rate of a wolf population. And the hearing LIMIT from a high pitched voice.

contravariant 5y ago

Yeah, apart from the terrible typography, which seems to be mandatory for these kinds of test, there are plenty of terribly phrased questions as well: > 7. A number cube is labeled 1 to 6. [...] What's wrong with the word 'die'? > 12. There is a linear relationship [...] What type of variation is this relationship and what is its initial value? What on earth does 'variation' mean here? As far as the answer key is concerned the answer should be 'A partial variation with an initial value of $50.'. Which makes no sense to me whatsoever. > 13. A rectangle has an area of 5^𝑥2 + 15𝑥 square units. Determine expressions for the length and the width of the rectangle. Surely that depends on your aspect ratio? It could be sqrt(5x^2 + 15x) for both. Also their answer key lists the area in question 4 in cm for some reason, if you're going to use units at least use the right one. And you just know someone is going to be anal about question 8, since the answer key doesn't list the exact value '100m/pi' but the approximate 31.8 m. Also I hope they got a calculator otherwise the answer to question 15 which involves trigonometry is downright unfair.

josephcsible 5y ago
> > 7. A number cube is labeled 1 to 6. [...] > What's wrong with the word 'die'? One usual excuse is to make it clear that it's a d6, rather than a d20 or something, but that's already clear here. The other reasons are that dice still have a connotation of being related to gambling in some people's eyes, which makes it politically incorrect to use the term, and that "die" being a homonym for life ending means that it's also politically incorrect to say.
contravariant 5y ago
I've noticed someone posted a different set of example questions, which seem to be more reasonable, though with a very odd 'pedagogy' section (which doesn't test mathematics knowledge and smells rather political for some reason).