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January 2nd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
By
Lynn Davidson
Last updated at 11:35 PM on 1st January 2012
Multiple choice exams are more difficult than tests which feature short written questions, according to the head of Britain’s private school sector.
Chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), Barnaby Lenon, said using more multiple choice questions across coursework and exams would help raise standards.
He said using the method would enable exams to cover an entire syllabus, and would make marking the papers easier, as mistakes would be more easily spotted.
Raising standards: Multiple choice questions are harder and would make exam marking ‘easier’ says a top head
Mr Lenon, who is a former headmaster of Harrow, admitted he had previously considered multiple choice exams to be easier.
He said: ‘I tell you they are really difficult. I came to understand the hard way that multiple choice questions well set are really difficult.
‘If you have got to choose one out of five answers you are not going to get more than 30 per cent just by guessing.’
And he criticised the current system of relying on exams which feature short written questions.
He said: ‘We all hate teaching to the test, learning the correct way of writing an answer. That’s something we need to get away from.
‘Quite frankly, a multiple choice-type exam is better than a short answer-type exam where you can write in a formulaic way.’
Conflict: The head of the ISC he disagreed with proposals by Education Secretary Michael Gove, pictured, for one exam board for each subject.
He added: ‘Multiple choice questions are an important method of examining that are under-utilised in this country compared to other countries.
‘The great advantage of multiple choice questions is it is a very quick way of covering a large area of the syllabus and it is very easy to mark.’
Mr Lenon, who retired from Harrow in the summer, said he believed multiple choice questions should be combined with extended written answers in interpretive subjects such as English or history.
In reference to the allegations made against examiners last month, Mr Lenon said both exam questions and syllabuses should be vetted in each subject by an expert panels which should include university academics.
But he disagreed with proposals by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, for one exam board for each subject.
He said: ‘Independent schools’ main concern about the public examinations in recent years has been about the quality of marking and grading.
‘We are anxious that there should be greater consistency between and within boards in relation to marking and grading. The system cannot cope without a degree of teacher assessment.’
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Answering multiple choice questions is more difficult than just ticking a box, it is more about choosing the correct answer from a list of answer options. A test provider will include a level of ambiguity within the question and answer options that requires a student to use a process of verbal reasoning to attain the correct answer. The multiple choice testing systems could be used effectively from Key Stage 1 through to GCSE for most subjects (not all) and could be utilized as part of A level assessments at the AS stage.
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Multiple choice questions aso make it impossible to test such attributes as the ability to analyse the demands of a question,select relevant material, construct and develop a coherent argument,manage one’s time, etc.Of course they may be machine-marked and therefore save money but the greatest attraction is that they allow incompetent/lazy/unprincipled teachers to programme pupils and turn them into little robots, capable of retaining odd facts and ticking odd boxes. The idiocy of Lenon’s comments is amply exemplified by the experiment undertaken by head of geography who thought these tests entirely worthless. He gave blank answer grids to a group of 11-year-olds when they came into the school and asked them to fill in the grid by choosing whichever letter they liked – of course they had no question papers. Across the group, and entirely by the operation of chance, the results were an almost normal distribution of marks, including those of at least one child who got over 80%.
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Rubbish, you just have to look at the spelling on this site to see tick boxes are a way of concealing the quality of written English from the governments inspectors.
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It is possible to construct multiple choice answer questions that require significant effort to answer. Such questions can test detailed understanding.
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The issue of guessing is quite easy to overcome by deducting a point for an incorrect answer, I.e. 1 point for a correct answer, 0 points for a question unanswered, -1 for an incorrect answer.
As for teachers being lazy, this is irrelevant to the testing process as teachers do not write tests, that is done by the examining boards and test providers. Teachers do not write course books, their primary role is to teach the content of the syllabus using whatever tools are available to them.
As technology becomes more accessible there are greater opportunities for parents to provide additional resources and for students to undertake independent learning which will hopefully lead to an improvement in education standards.
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Just done one of my Computer Marked Assignments (CMA)for my Open University Maths course which was 30 multiple choice questions. Each question had 8 possible answers and each were very similar. With having 8 possible answers, the probability of being a good guesser is greatly reduced. Also what I like about these CMAs is that you only get one chance, no marks for working out so if you do not know the syllabus there is very little chance of passing these assignments.
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Who wants to be a millionaire?
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Teachers…shift per essay 5-10 minutes at a time. Education is about be as lazy and easy as you like.
– Lee, London England, 02/1/2012 01:23
I don’t know where you got your information from but it takes me at least one and a half hours to adequately mark and give feedback for a 3,500 word essay (at graduate level) and I am by no means an exception, nor in a minority in higher education. The complexity, depth of understanding and level of argument/written justification required to answer some essay questions is substantial and this in turn means essays can take quite a lot of concentration to mark (particularly if not well constructed). On another point entirely, although OK for some subjects and subject matter, MCQs can lead to students merely memorising material instead of making an effort to understand it. We want people who can think for themselves, not just be good at memorising.
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Multiple choice is easier. You just need to know how to read, and move on to the next question if you do not know the answer. But in fact reading is probably optional too. Just tick, and if you don’t know check your neighbour’s answers.
The last such exam i did, the examiner said if you don’t know just tick randomly?? Since when does knowledge is associated with luck??
Got top mark with 93% on 50 questions, but still don’t feel like an expert on the subjects, and it doesn’t allow the examiner to assess the thinking process at all, nor does it will help in the future in a work situation.
I still haven’t found that job where you just tick boxes.
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easier to mark is the more likely reason!!
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