http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/originals/bs80424.htm BW: It has been suggested that the CAT's scoring methodology completely changes the manner in which a test taker should prepare for the test. That if you do well on the first 10-20 questions -- which determine the level of difficulty and point allotment per question -- that you're home free. Wilson: That's dead wrong. I've heard that same claim being made by both Kaplan and Princeton Review (two prominent GMAT preparatory services), and their material is simply wrong. The logic that an individual who answers the first 20 questions correctly doesn't have to worry about the rest of the questions in the test is absurd. For example, a particular test taker did well for most of the test, but then guessed on the last 10 questions because he figured he had it made. But that just wasn't the case: He went from a projected 640 to a 420. We now have the capability to save each stroke you make on your CAT keyboard, as well as measure how much time elapsed between each of your answer selections. That allows us to go back and evaluate each individual test. I know, if you took an average of 107 seconds for the first 15 questions, and 3 seconds for the last 15, that you guessed for your last 15 questions. It's unfortunate that people follow the "first 10 strategy" because that just isn't the way the algorithm works. BW: How does the algorithm work? Wilson: The first questions do in fact signal whether you go on to more or less difficult questions. That's one of the functions of the adaptive test: It responds to your response. However, that function doesn't stop after a given amount of questions. It continually adapts questions and point allotments based on your response. The bad information being put out there is that once you get to a certain level, after a specific number of questions, that your score isn't going to fluctuate too much. That's just wrong. I'm sorry that's the advice that's being put out there. And we actually advised to the contrary in November of 1996, in a letter that we sent to all of the test prep organizations. BW: Do you have plans to work with Kaplan or Princeton Review to correct the situation? Actually, within the next week (4/27), we'll be sending out a letter to all schools and test prep organizations explaining what we feel is misinformation.
[此贴子已经被作者于2006-10-17 10:47:04编辑过] |