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From: andrew@lemming.gwd.tek.com (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: A test of discernment/employment
Message-ID: <9066@tekecs.TEK.COM>
Date: Fri, 28-Aug-87 16:45:25 EDT
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Posted: Fri Aug 28 16:45:25 1987
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[]

	"The fact that college freshman can't cope with it any better
	than 4th-graders probably says something about the ability of
	people to learn to take directions.  Pretty sad."

I disagree with the conclusion.  People in an academic environment
learn quickly what to expect from a typical test, and approach new
tests with a mind set based on their experience.  They "stereotype" the
test.  This heuristic lets them complete a normal test much more
quickly than if they approached it with a completely open mind,
reexamining all their fundamental assumptions about test taking each
time.

Giving a test that is radically different from other tests, but which
attempts to pass itself off as a normal test until the hooker at the
end, is nothing more than a practical joke.

(When I took the test in 4th grade, I got it "right."  I expected
practical jokes from that teacher, based on past experience.  A similar
joke was an assignment to rearrange the letters dejnoorstuw into just
one word.)

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)       [UUCP]
                        (andrew%tekecs.tek.com@relay.cs.netM"6SpSpSALC