Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Why I hate Scantrons

So I just got out of my Developmental Psych test, and it went fairly well. I'm expecting somewhere in the B range, because there were a few questions that threw me off, but I'm not talking about the content of the test. The thing with me being a math major is that I notice patterns in everyday life, even if I don't look for them. I'll see patterns in numbers, images, whatever. With Scantrons, my pattern-seeking mind actually has an impact on the future - I noticed that of the first 40 or so questions, I only answered D once (multiple choice with A-D). And there was an obnoxiously recurring pattern of A-C-C that came up about 6 or 7 times in the 75-question test. When I notice things like that, I always wonder if which option the answer is is selected randomly, or if the professor arbitrarily does it. Now the professor can say that s/he didn't know what options were selected as the correct answer before, but that doesn't mean that I can expect an equal proportion of A's, B's, etc. Patterns may arise in those situations, so I'd much rather have a professor use a random answer generator so I have no second-guessing about which answer my be right. Of course...I could just know developmental psychology better.

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