Score on Classical China, about which I already have fairly extensive knowledge, and read the chapter on: 28/30
Score on Classical India, about which I knew literally nothing, and did not read the chapter on: 29/30
I mean, what the fuck? Am I lucky enough that I am legitimately better off drinking myself into a haze so that I cannot remember any prior knowledge, not reading the chapter, and just guessing than I am answering the questions based upon what the chapter told us?
Yes, sadly, it would look that way. Guess I’ve gotta go pick up a bottle and forget the number of "e"s in “Greece” to ace this next one. If I die, tell my family it was in the name of education, and whatever failures my liver had, my brain more than made up for.
I think this should become a thread where all the smartest people complain about how badly they did on standardized tests. Like, “Shit, a 39 on the MCAT. I didn’t even break 40!”
I’m not upset with the 93, just the fact that it is lower than the 97.
For example, if you retook the LSAT and got a score in the 99th percentile while acid, under the belief you are writing a history of the catfish people, you might lose faith in the validity of the exam. Or, in a more realistic example, if you took a test on a subject you knew virtually to literally nothing about, did not read any of the reccomended material, and scored 4 percent higher than you did on the LSAT.
I mean, come on. That is just fucking stupid. Pure luck, knowledge of Buddhism, and a very lucky Blue Oyster Cult reference on the “short response” question (Dharma) got me a better score than reading the chapter which the test covered, independant study in Classical and immediately post-classical Chinese political philosophy, history, and culture, not to mention the fact that I was reading Analects at the time we were studying Confucian doctrine (through pure coincidence, I might add), and thus had, if anything, more knowledge than anyone else in the class on the subject.
This is the kind of shit that causes one to believe in the Hoodoo magic of Marie LeVeaux, the Witch Queen of New Orleans.
Not flawed test-making.
Fucking Hoodoo.
Have you considered that every test is only accurate within a margin of error, due to the possibility of getting lucky or unlucky in the questions that are selected? A Confucius scholar could have gotten a lower grade than you on the China test, if the test happened to focus on Chuang Tzu. And maybe your pop-culture knowledge of India was exactly what your teacher thought was important out of the thousand facts available.
But more importantly, this is no longer the thread’s topic, and therefore these posts serve only to derail an important discussion. In future posts make sure to mention your abominable standardized test scores.
Well, actually, there is a completely legitimate reason for the difference in points, and I recognize that. The China test was heavily based on confucius, but the problem was that I knew too much. I was supposed to regurgitate what the chapter mentioned about his philosophy, but instead pointed out other things mentioend in Analects, some of which went against AP-Textbook Chapter 2 Doctrine. So those details in the short answer were marked wrong, while my extremely vague knowledge of Dharma (taken literally from the fact that I knew the singer named himself that because he wanted to follow a moral path and absolutely nothign else), combined with my distressing ability to write for long periods of time without saying anything had nothing that the chapter would mark as “incorrect.”
However, I was briefly in denial of the fact that formally-worded ignorance was graded better than additional research (which I could cite, and demonstrated such) in the classroom.
Although, the multiple choice questions I scored the same on in both tests were completely luck in India’s case. I literally guessed on every single one and missed only one. China I missed one because Tang was apparently “technically” farther removed from the classical period than “Shang” but I really have my doubts as to whether or not my teacher actually knows this, or just knew there was such a dynasty and hoped it was later on. India I missed one because my randomly marked answer was wrong.
You have to agree, 18/20 multiple choice questions correct is simply unnatural based on pure guesswork and on one question based on vague knowledge of Buddha’s life and guesswork.
Besides, all tests are equal and perfect.
As explained before, Hoodoo is the causation of any problems with their validity.
One time, I had to take placement testing so I could get into a logic course at community college because I didn’t feel like digging up my high school transcript or the record for my 5 in the AP Calculus BC exam. They were impressed at both my results and the speed in which I produced them.
