Advantages of computerised tests - Kaplan NEW

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Computerized multiple-choice testing has significant advantages. For one, tests can be administered anywhere, at any time, with little infrastructure. Also, the results can be analyzed and quantified much more precisely than is possible with open-ended tests. On the other hand, timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students and often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight.
The statements above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?

A. Issues identified by computerized multiple-choice testing should be of little concern to students and educators.
B. Computerized multiple-choice testing could result in the waste of educational resources used to address unimportant issues.
C. Open-ended tests are better suited to most students than are multiple-choice tests.
D. An open-ended test is cheaper to administer than a multiple-choice test.
E. A computerized multiple-choice test yields results faster than a traditional open-ended test.

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by patanjali.purpose » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:14 pm
coderversion1 wrote:Computerized multiple-choice testing has significant advantages. For one, tests can be administered anywhere, at any time, with little infrastructure. Also, the results can be analyzed and quantified much more precisely than is possible with open-ended tests. On the other hand, timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students and often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight.
The statements above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?

A. Issues identified by computerized multiple-choice testing should be of little concern to students and educators.
B. Computerized multiple-choice testing could result in the waste of educational resources used to address unimportant issues.
C. Open-ended tests are better suited to most students than are multiple-choice tests.
D. An open-ended test is cheaper to administer than a multiple-choice test.
E. A computerized multiple-choice test yields results faster than a traditional open-ended test.
IMO B

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by coderversion1 » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:33 pm
A. Issues identified by computers are related to anxiety caused amongst students, which MAY or MAY NOT need prescription of remedial programs (to address MINOR issues). Hence it must be of little concern to students and educators. Seems to be correct. Contender. Let's see others

B. Refers only to this part of premises "timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students and often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis CAN highlight." 'CAN' makes the difference. Data analysis can show minor issues, but only when chosen to do so, it does not affect computer tests. Data analysis is a separate process not affecting computerized multiple choice testing. Also its not mentioned if this data analysis is also carried out with open ended tests. Seems deviated and illogical to me.

C. Advantages of open ended tests not mentioned. So we cannot make this comparison.
D. Not mentioned.
E. Not mentioned.

IMO - A. OA is unknown. Expert replies needed.

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by BlindVision » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:35 pm
coderversion1 wrote:Computerized multiple-choice testing has significant advantages. For one, tests can be administered anywhere, at any time, with little infrastructure. Also, the results can be analyzed and quantified much more precisely than is possible with open-ended tests. On the other hand, timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students and often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight.
The statements above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?

A. Issues identified by computerized multiple-choice testing should be of little concern to students and educators.
B. Computerized multiple-choice testing could result in the waste of educational resources used to address unimportant issues.
C. Open-ended tests are better suited to most students than are multiple-choice tests.
D. An open-ended test is cheaper to administer than a multiple-choice test.
E. A computerized multiple-choice test yields results faster than a traditional open-ended test.
E
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by rkanthilal » Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:31 pm
coderversion1 wrote:A. Issues identified by computers are related to anxiety caused amongst students, which MAY or MAY NOT need prescription of remedial programs (to address MINOR issues). Hence it must be of little concern to students and educators. Seems to be correct. Contender. Let's see others

B. Refers only to this part of premises "timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students and often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis CAN highlight." 'CAN' makes the difference. Data analysis can show minor issues, but only when chosen to do so, it does not affect computer tests. Data analysis is a separate process not affecting computerized multiple choice testing. Also its not mentioned if this data analysis is also carried out with open ended tests. Seems deviated and illogical to me.

C. Advantages of open ended tests not mentioned. So we cannot make this comparison.
D. Not mentioned.
E. Not mentioned.

IMO - A. OA is unknown. Expert replies needed.
Hi coderversion1,

Not an expert, but IMO B... Let me know if you disagree with the following...

The passage provides two positives and two negatives of computerized multiple-choice testing. We need to choose the answer that is the best supported conclusion.

Positives:
1. Tests can be administered anywhere, at any time, with little infrastructure.
2. The results can be analyzed and quantified much more precisely than is possible with open-ended tests.

Negatives:
1. Timed computerized tests cause anxiety for many students.
2. Timed computerized tests often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight.

Notice how the negatives are stated in the passage. The negatives only refer to "timed computerized tests".

A. Issues identified by computerized multiple-choice testing should be of little concern to students and educators. INCORRECT. One negative of computerized multiple-choice tests mentioned in the passage is that "TIMED computerized tests often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight". Timed computerized tests are a subset of computerized multiple-choice testing. Just because timed computerized tests often identify minor issues, that does not mean that issues identified by all computerized multiple-choice testing should be of little concern to students and educators.

Further, the passage states that timed computerized tests "OFTEN" lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues. "Often" is not the same as "only". Just because timed computerized tests often identify minor issues that does not mean that they do not also identify major issues. We cannot conclude that all the issues identified by these tests should be of little concern to students and educators. In my opinion, the passage does not give us enough information for this answer to be correct.


B. Computerized multiple-choice testing could result in the waste of educational resources used to address unimportant issues. CORRECT. One negative of computerized multiple-choice testing is that timed computerized multiple-choice tests "often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues that overly sensitive data analysis can highlight". Timed computerized tests are a subset of computerized multiple-choice testing. The fact that "timed computerized tests often lead to the prescription of remedial programs to address minor issues" implies that timed computerized tests (which are a subset of computerized multiple-choice testing) could result in the waste of educational resources used to address unimportant issues. This is exactly what this answer choice states.

C. Open-ended tests are better suited to most students than are multiple-choice tests. INCORRECT. The passage compares "open-ended tests" to "computerized multiple-choice tests". This answer compares open-ended tests to all multiple-choice tests.

Furthermore, one negative of timed computerized multiple-choice tests is that it causes anxiety for many students. This fact alone does not necessarily mean that open-ended tests are better suited to most students than are multiple-choice tests.


D. An open-ended test is cheaper to administer than a multiple-choice test. INCORRECT. The cost of the tests is not discussed in the passage.

E. A computerized multiple-choice test yields results faster than a traditional open-ended test. INCORRECT. One of the positives of computerized multiple-choice test are that they "can be analyzed and quantified much more precisely than is possible with open-ended tests". This does not mean that the results can be obtained faster. It may or may not be faster. We don't know.