[CW] Dissing the ARRL

[N2EY@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/11/04 12:53:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
kd5wlx@familynet.net writes:


> Here's an experiment to try:  Read "Now You're Talking" chapter by chapter,
> then take a Tech test, but don't look at the back of the book.  Don't read a
> single question in the pool before taking the test.  For that matter, take a
> tech test WITHOUT boning up at all.

I do that a few times a year - for all the written tests. I use one of the 
online practice exam sites. To make it more of a sporting course, I don't use a 
calculator or even scratch paper - I do all the math in the old Mark 1 noggin. 
(Yes, I pass all of them easily). 

It's a good way to keep track of whether I really know the current rules.


> 
> The reason for the answers and the multiple choice is more for the
> convenience of the VEs. 

True to an extent. But from what I've read, the exams were all multiple 
choice as far back as 1961. 

 Essay tests are problematic, as the grader can
> 
> grade easier or harder, just like whoever makes the test.  Multiple choice
> is much easier to maintain consistency.  

Exactly. With multiple choice, there is one and only one right answer - all 
the others are wrong. But with essay or even fill-in-the-blank, the result is 
far murkier and open to interpretation.

And using multiple choice means that the grader does not need to know 
anything about the subject material, and mistakes in grading are few.

Also, test generation programs can
> 
> "scramble" the order of the choices.  You can't memorize T3A1 is answer "B",
> because on the test you'll see, you get one question from section T3A of the
> pool, but it's just question #8, you have to figure out that it's #1 of the
> subgroup, not #21.  And there are 24 possible arrangements of the possible
> choices, so you still have to know the answer, not the correct answers
> position.

Of course - but that's not how most people would memorize the pool anyway. It 
makes much more sense to go through  the pool with a highliter and mark the 
correct answers, then just read the questions and correct answers over and over 
again. 

For example, if the question is 

"How many frufnagles are required to properly snazzle an immenfranz?"

and the possible answers are:

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4

then it makes sense to simply highlight the correct answer and learn that "3" 
is the correct answer.


> 
> Not all VEs currently generate their tests in this manner, but the all
> could, the means are readily available.
> 

Most of those that I know do it already. 

The fact of the matter is that as long as we have VEs doing the testing, 
we're pretty much stuck with the multiple choice format or some close variant 
(such as "match the terms") because FCC isn't going to accept anything that 
requires interpretation in grading. Nor should they! For example, if the question is 
"what is the length of a 7.050 MHz halfwave dipole of #12 wire in free space" 
the multiple choice format allows one answer to be declared correct. In essay 
or fill-in-the-blank format, what tolerance should be allowed - 1 foot? 1 
inch? 0.1 inch? Try to control such a thing over all VE sessions and all 
questions....

We're also not going to see a return to secret (unpublished) tests either. 
Dick Bash made sure of that. Even if FCC could be convinced to go that way, and 
all the VEs complied, somebody would do what Bash did. And if FCC tried to 
prosecute, their nonprosecution back in the 1970s would set a precedent that was 
tough to defeat.

And unless FCC gets a ton more resources, they're not going to take back the 
testing job they tossed to us 20 years ago. Think what a neat move that was - 
a government agency got a bunch of unpaid volunteers to take over almost the 
entire job of test preparation, examination sessions, reporting, paperwork and 
record keeping. The program costs the govt. practically NOTHING! All FCC has 
to do is process the incoming applications (which have been double-checked by 
the VEs) and rubber-stamp what the QPC folks come up with. Slick, really slick. 
 

So any improvements to the test system have to happen inside that framework. 
Personally I think the best system was what the FCC did in the late 1970s 
(unpublished tests, FCC office exam sessions *and* traveling-road-show exams at 
hamfests and conventions) but that's not going to come back any time soon.

73 de Jim, N2EY


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