Pretty appalling really. Not a trick question, simply a bad one. A good exam question should either
demonstrate good practice or expect the candidate to critique bad practice. Here the candidate is
expected to draw an inference from a badly-constructed diagram. Well, I suppose that's a real-life
skill we all need, and which would be hard to examine in any other way - but surely this isn't what
an A level exam is about!
>>> Graham Upton <[log in to unmask]> 17/01/08 11:35 >>>
I agree that this is an unfair question. It would be acceptable (I suppose)
if frequency density was spelt out as individuals 0.5 minute range --- but
since the times were measured to the nearest minute, this would be a very
curious choice.
I hope that students who reply 6 will get full marks!
I was mortified to find that in my own A level books I too have written
frequency density without any units --- so I cannot be too critical!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Taylor" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 8:21 PM
> To understand this email requires reading the following link
>
> www.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~charles/S1Jan08Q3.pdf
>
> which is a scanned page from yesterday's maths A-level paper (Statistics
1).
> (allstat does not allow attachments).
>
> I am sending this as a follow-up to the discussion on "frequency density"
> which appeared a few months ago on allstat, but anyone who teaches first
> year students should find it of interest.
>
> If you have any comments, or would like to submit your answer, please send
it
> to me and I will collate and circulate. However, for starters I offer the
> following comment from an allstat colleague:
>
> "Placing trick questions in an exam in inexcusable, and the
> examiner and scrutineer (person who checked the paper) should
> be sacked."
>
|