Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy ambiguous OLSAT question?

My DD9 took the OLSAT yesterday. She said there was a verbal question that confused her. It asked for the word in which the ED was most like the ED in WANTED. She waffled between FILLED (because the ED makes it past tense and comes at the end) and BEDROOM (because the sound is the same). After initially choosing FILLED, she changed her answer to BEDROOM because she said there were a couple of other similar questions with more of an emphasis on sound relationships. Which relationship were they looking for here? Wouldn't it have been better to have another choice, like LIFTED?

Is it just me, or is this a bad question? I guess I see now why some GT kids don't do well on the OLSAT. DD really needs to do well, though, to get identified by the school. Overall, she said that the test wasn't that hard except for that one verbal question and one nonverbal one that she didn't answer because she ran out of time. Too bad we have to wait 4 months to find out how she did.

Yes, I think seeing the actual question would help. DD claimed that the quesiton didn't mention use or sound, but who knows? She's 9.

What a yucky state test question about the grocery items! I would have been confused by that as a kid.

Yeah, it becomes a test of whether you can figure out what the testers are asking rather than a test to show understanding or mastery of certain material.

I wonder if that's why my DD didn't score at advanced in language arts on her state testing last year...

I remember one of her in-class tests had an ambiguous question on it. It was a comprehension question about a short story they had read. It asked why one character had started talking to another character. Well, my DD interpreted this quite literally and described the beginning of the story where the two characters first met. But the answer the teacher wanted was about how the characters started speaking to each other again after a disagreement.

My DS10 was taking a practice test for his upcoming achievement tests and it had the question

What is a way humans do not use dirt? (I'm going to make up some of these as I can't remember exactly)
a. to build houses
b. for growing food
c. as food to eat
d. for potting plants

Well he made an "e" with a none of the above as we had recently discussed how children in Haiti are eating dirt cookies these days because they don't have enough food to eat. I explained he had to go for the answer he knew they were looking for regardless of what extra information he knows. I do think this is why these kids sometimes don't do well on these types of tests, they know more than what they're "supposed" to know at this age.

Maybe the dictator was dictating to the population??? ROFL!!!! (actually I can see where he was going with that answer - what does this say about me????)

Oh, my 2 always have some reason for the crazy things they do. DS10 especially has some creative answers. And the thing is, they usually make some sort of sense!!!

I would argue that one with the testing company, I think! It's not a wrong answer!

Too smart for their own good sometimes...

You are living my life! This is exactly the kinds of answers DS10 gives. And they DO make sense. That's always been the kicker for me. They just have a very different way of looking at things. I love it that he has this ability but it is frustrating on standardized tests. His 1st grade teacher told me I should embrace this quality so I've never tried to squelch it but it does make for some lower grades on these kinds of tests. We've been very lucky in the teachers that he has had. For the most part they've "gotten" him. I just dread the day one doesn't get him. I think it will make life quite miserable.

We are currently going through our state tests (PSSA's). Everynight, DS is asking us verbatim questions from his test to try and see if he picked the RIGHT choice out of the couple of reasonable (to him) options. Last night he was very upset to the point of tears to find out that he had changed an answer from what we think was probably correct to an incorrect answer because he overthought it. I have been really amazed at how many of the multiple choice answers could be correct depending on how you read the question even on the practice pages he brought home during the review.

However, I have to talk to his school also. DS has the idea that if he misses even 1 question he has to repeat the entire concept next year. I really don't know if this is true. It somehow seems extreme. The pressure they are putting on the kids for these tests is terrifying. DS's understanding is that if his class doesn't do well, his teacher will lose her job. I keep trying to tell him that these tests are a test for the school that creates the school's report card. He needs to do the best he can, but not get too worked up over them. I'm really glad today is the last day of testing.

I hate multiple choice tests!!

I always did very poorly on them, although, I did remarkably well on the ACT. It wasn't till college when many of my tests were in essay form that I realized I might, in fact, be somewhat intelligent!

I would suggest you look into test taking strategies. A friend taught me some strategies in college that were very helpful. It's been a long time since I've taken a test, but the one I remember that was most helpful to me:

Don't choose the right answer first! Cross off the most WRONG answer and work backward. Usually the correct answer becomes more clear or at the very least you are left with two answers to choose from. It took a lot of the overthinking/pontificating out of the equation for me and I was more likely to choose the "right" answer.

As for son worrying about teacher losing job. That's classic over at our house. In my girl's case usually they pick up on the panic/importance held by the person, in this case your son's teacher. But they usually don't know why. They "guess" to make sense of it. I really hope your teacher didn't tell them she would lose her job! That would be awful.
Sometimes the other kids hear things here or there from there parents, string miscellaneous snips together to form a "frankenstein" and pass it around the school as fact.
Aren't you glad you're not a kid anymore?



Neato

Oh, yes! I feel so awful for elh's son! So much pressure!

Being an adult is stressful, but nothing compared to all that!