"easier questions will pop up in the test if the student is doing poorly and vice-versa"
This isn't necessarily indicative of dumbing down. What may be happening here is a "staircase" algorithm that allows an online test to zero in on the score of a test taker by giving a range of questions of varying difficulties, taking the answers into account, and giving more questions around that level. It allows the test to zero in on the test taker's true level faster than if every test taker has to answer every question. If this is what the SAT does, then not every test taker will get the same number of questions, or the same set of questions, and two people who both got, say, 80% correct would end up with different scores based on the level of difficulty of the questions they were given. It sounds unfair but it is a valid scientific approoach used on some types of tests.
Thank you Michael. So, the level of difficulty would be factored into the final score? So, 2 people can get 80% correct on SAT and one would end up with 600, let's say, and the other with 700?
The dumbing down wasn't referring to the question but either the leaving out of a section, or shortening the reading.....but I can't remember.
Think of it like an eye exam. An eye doctor doesn't make everyone start at the hugest letters and work their way all the way down the chart until the letters are too small for them to read. Instead, he starts on a row somewhere in the middle of the chart, and if the person can read those letters easily, he moves to a lower row, while if the person cannot read the letters at all, he moves to a higher row. Everyone he tests in a day may attempt to read a different number of letters, and different sizes of letters, but at the end of the day the doctor will have fitted everyone with the right prescription.
Something like that. And it is the test taker's own right or wrong answers that lead to the level of difficultly of their exam as a whole. No need to give all of the easy questions to a person who is acing the hard ones, or all of the hard questions to a person who is struggling with the easier ones. But the person struggling with the eaiser ones is getting a lower score.
"easier questions will pop up in the test if the student is doing poorly and vice-versa"
This isn't necessarily indicative of dumbing down. What may be happening here is a "staircase" algorithm that allows an online test to zero in on the score of a test taker by giving a range of questions of varying difficulties, taking the answers into account, and giving more questions around that level. It allows the test to zero in on the test taker's true level faster than if every test taker has to answer every question. If this is what the SAT does, then not every test taker will get the same number of questions, or the same set of questions, and two people who both got, say, 80% correct would end up with different scores based on the level of difficulty of the questions they were given. It sounds unfair but it is a valid scientific approoach used on some types of tests.
Thank you Michael. So, the level of difficulty would be factored into the final score? So, 2 people can get 80% correct on SAT and one would end up with 600, let's say, and the other with 700?
The dumbing down wasn't referring to the question but either the leaving out of a section, or shortening the reading.....but I can't remember.
Think of it like an eye exam. An eye doctor doesn't make everyone start at the hugest letters and work their way all the way down the chart until the letters are too small for them to read. Instead, he starts on a row somewhere in the middle of the chart, and if the person can read those letters easily, he moves to a lower row, while if the person cannot read the letters at all, he moves to a higher row. Everyone he tests in a day may attempt to read a different number of letters, and different sizes of letters, but at the end of the day the doctor will have fitted everyone with the right prescription.
Something like that. And it is the test taker's own right or wrong answers that lead to the level of difficultly of their exam as a whole. No need to give all of the easy questions to a person who is acing the hard ones, or all of the hard questions to a person who is struggling with the easier ones. But the person struggling with the eaiser ones is getting a lower score.