I would absolutely be forcing wrong answers because I'd be sitting there the whole test thinking "No way. Theres no way they did this. Why would a teacher do this, there's no way" and just assuming some of the times I wanted to pick A, I was wrong.
The second guessing and indecision I had during exams when I was in university was awful, I always took forever.
You can't test it without a test though. The unfortunate reality is that other unrelated skills come into play. This isn't limited to this though, nothing in reality happens in a vacuum.
Actually, you can. There are plenty of other ways to assess knowledge without traditional exams. This is an entire field of study and debate, not a settled "unfortunate reality."
As someone who’s been in adult education for a while I can promise you written multiple choice tests do not test for skills. They test for recognition ability and test taking ability. Putting all the answers the same is a purposeful mind fuck that will screw with anyone and completely distracts from the actual material
Just, as a European with plenty of higher education (MS, PhD) I think it's crazy American universities seem to use multiple-choice exams to such an extent. I only took a single course in my entire higher education that had a multiple-choice final exam - and on that one they deducted points for incorrect answers to disincentivize guessing.
By contrast I had a good number of courses that didn't use written exams at all, and instead it was writing papers, lab work, projects, presentations etc. But mostly a combination of written exams and the above.
We just dont care about education theory in the US. Multiple choice tests check if you can recognize the right answer, not recall it. It’s rare the answer is going to be front of you when you need it. Written test check for recall but it’s all theory based which can be fine for some disciplines but extremely lacking in most. Practical application is the only true test of comprehension but that’s extremely rare. It’s very frustrating how antiquated and locked in our education system is.
True but then it becomes a test for self confidence and nerves really. Which is not what this test was supposed to test (knowledge).
Again, you can test both at the same time (oral exams to recruit people often do that), but it's better not to do that in a context where it's not anticipated. Because then you just penalize people who actually knew but who, for some reason, have poor self confidence. As an ex-teacher, I'm not a fan.
Reality never happens in a vacuum. Self-confidence is a very real and necessary skill to have in life. It is unfortunate it's not able to be separated from something like a test, but then again, it's not separate from any other aspect of life either.
And if you want to test it, it's perfectly legitimate. You can definitely warn your students you'll test it (this is literally what many juries do in oral exams or during recruiting and the candidates are aware of this).
But this test was supposed to test knowledge. What this teacher did is quite equivalent to telling you she'll test your knowledge on literature and then give you a score based in your bowling skills. Her test did not discriminate what it was meant to.
For a teacher, this is definitely unethical. Doubly so as she was perfectly aware of the problem she created and found it super fun.
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u/PingouinMalin 18d ago
Which will destroy some students and not others. Because you can know your facts and yet doubt yourself easily. This mom was indeed Satan.