Logic Certification Exam

[jake benson]

Would you pay an extra $250 to take that test? Most people wouldn't.

 

LOL...well, I'd already be paying $799. That doesn't include a hands-on test?

 

A test is always going to be imperfect. Your solution is far from being ideal (aside from the fact that it would be much more expensive), because it means the teacher (or the person making you take the exam) would have control over the results of your test.

 

Picture this: I ask you "Can you zoom in for me?".

 

You say "Yes, sure" and use the zoom scrollbars. Me: "OK, but can you do it using key commands?". You: "Yeah" and control arrows.. still not the answer I want. Me: "What if you want to zoom in quickly on exactly this area of your arrange window?". You: "oh let me try, is it Option... or Shift-Option.. no wait... Control-Shift... no.... oh yeah it's Control-rubber band. OK so I'm going to be a good sport and count you right on that question.

 

Easy solution. Teacher elaborates the question so there's no room for confusion, just as a question on a test would do in case there's ambiguity:

Teacher: "Can you zoom in quickly over region-X and region-Y together without utilization of control arrows or zoom scrollbars?"

 

And a separate monitor would record the movements on the screen and judge accordingly. It's now unbiased.

 

I know I know. More expensive. And I'm just being a pansy for not remembering the English symbol of what an actual task is. And of course your version of the question tests more extensive knowledge that logically deduces if students know the representation of the English symbol, then they know how to perform the task itself. I just thought my approach was more practical.

[David Nahmani]

LOL...well, I'd already be paying $799. That doesn't include a hands-on test?

No, but it does include a proctored online multiple-answer test. If I have 8 students and need to spend 2 hours with each one individually to test them, that's going to cost me more, and I'm going to charge the students more.

 

Easy solution. Teacher elaborates the question so there's no room for confusion, just as a question on a test would do in case there's ambiguity:

Teacher: "Can you zoom in quickly over region-X and region-Y together without utilization of control arrows or zoom scrollbars?"

 

And a separate monitor would record the movements on the screen and judge accordingly. It's now unbiased.

Oh boy. You and I both don't even start to realize the openings for all sorts of bias in the judgement. What if the guy quickly grabs the scroll bar? What if another students take 30 seconds to think, but finally does it in one fell swoop with the Control-rubber-banding technique? What if he selects the regions and use a key command? What if he had a screenshot with a higher zoom level and recalls it? And we're only dealing with one simple, stupid question!

 

OK now don't get me wrong. Obviously your solution would be a better way to test the aptitude of a student, but for the many various reasons I listed, it is just impractical.

 

But when you want to become a certified trainer then the evaluation is different. There is another multiple-answer test, much like the End-user certification, but there is also an oral testing of each and every single student, who have to teach a chapter of the Logic curriculum to their fellow future-certified-trainers. That's great, but that's $1,500, and you don't get to learn anything about Logic (the class is about teaching Logic).