tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post6543806959170579452..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: ParrotingAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-41477093409159318812022-03-11T19:36:00.118-05:002022-03-11T19:36:00.118-05:00"You have simply exchanged parroting informat...<i>"You have simply exchanged parroting information for parroting the correct attitude." </i><br /><br />Excellent insight. <br /><br />Let me tell you, it's fun getting a Ph.D. without being willing to parrot the correct attitudes. It's fun trying to make a living, too. This is the skill most valued in corporate America, as in academia, at this time.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-72772789052888778952022-03-11T18:05:04.987-05:002022-03-11T18:05:04.987-05:00One reason to move away from a paper and pencil te...One reason to move away from a paper and pencil test has been the very slipshod approach to test security on the part of the testing agencies. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/sat-act-cheating-college-admissions.html<br /><br />The New York Times article lists multiple cheating scandals discovered over the years, including the Operation Varsity Blues cases, which included bribing test centers and sending in ringers.<br /><br />There is expensive test prep. I don't know how effective it is, but any test can be prepared for, especially if the organization reuses test sections, and doesn't do a good job securing its exam. As a comparison, I believe the MCAT (since 2007) and the LSAT (since 2019) are administered online.<br /><br />As to the SAT achievement tests, while 950,000 students took the SAT in 2021, far fewer students sat for the achievement tests. Only 4,606 took the Korean achievement test; as a score of 800 was the 64th percentile, I'm not sure it added anything to the application. As for physics, students probably think there's more value in taking one of the AP exams in physics, which specialize in different fields, rather than the SAT achievement test. (Looking online, it seems there is now AP physics 1, 2, and C.)Cranberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14192766384424717627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-58382167952238006662022-03-11T12:12:54.819-05:002022-03-11T12:12:54.819-05:00Test anxiety....if someone wants to be a pilot, of...Test anxiety....if someone wants to be a pilot, of any kind, then they will need to take both a written test and a practical test (flying with the examiner.) Would anyone seriously propose that a candidate be excused from these tests on the grounds of 'test anxiety'?<br /><br />David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-33965997935618666082022-03-11T08:44:45.482-05:002022-03-11T08:44:45.482-05:00Excellent examples of exactly what yous say. It is...Excellent examples of exactly what yous say. It is not that likely you will score much over your head. There aren't going to be that many "Slumdog Millionaire" questions that you just happen to know. But it is possible to screw up anything, including your SAT's, especially as it is an all-morning test and one of the things being measured is your ability to maintain mostly-sustained focus over that time period. Whether that is truly part of intelligence is an interesting debate. One could argue that there are brilliant people who can only keep focus for brief periods, but the other side is also quite plausible. The harder questions take at least a few seconds of toggling back and forth between partial solutions to get to a final answer. If you can't do that, you're not actually brilliant.<br /><br />And trivia games are not an infallible measure of IQ, but there is an overlap. It's a collection of things that you paid at least brief attention to at one point in your life and put efficiently into storage for retrieval.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-19701620517062086032022-03-10T22:47:29.068-05:002022-03-10T22:47:29.068-05:00When my ACT scores were sent back to my high schoo...When my ACT scores were sent back to my high school, I was called to the counselor's office and her first question was "How did you cheat on this test?" Frankly, I was shocked at my scores too, especially that math was my highest score -- a subject I'd been barely passing since 9th grade. So, I understood why she was questioning it, but I was highly offended that she thought I'd cheated. I didn't think I was smart enough to figure out how to cheat!<br /><br />She thought she was vindicated when my SAT scores came back -- barely average for that high school. I didn't tell her that I didn't quite remember taking the test. One piece of advice I have for parents and students is DO NOT spend the weekend before such a test in a college dorm with a "trusted" family friend introducing you to the wonders of alcohol and partying all night. <br /><br />So, my scores are evidence for both sides of the argument: the high one pointed to an aptitude that didn't result in achievement though I did manage to achieve much more than the lower score predicted. <br /><br />I never experienced anxiety over a written test. I liked taking tests; that's possibly related to why I like trivia games so much.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-47411945265827221912022-03-10T20:26:06.388-05:002022-03-10T20:26:06.388-05:00HR may desire to easily identify difficult people ...HR may desire to easily identify difficult people but they'd much rather do it with a test than make the call about who is being an ass in a real world situation.Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00396671757183163171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-64243105681964984732022-03-10T20:13:00.663-05:002022-03-10T20:13:00.663-05:00I'm not sure how you "score" empathy...I'm not sure how you "score" empathy. That leaves the evaluation arbitrary, and we're back to "who you know." Which is a huge factor already...jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.com