http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... wanted=all
i was just looking for something else and came across that and i laughed a bit
quick summary: school test questions can have unexpected answers because the question isn't precise enough or the student thinks of a creative way to solve the problem and this trips things up
it reminds me of my WORST school test dispute of all time. the class was called "basic computing" in high school and we were using microsoft works or excel. it was a spreadsheet program anyway
the question was "there is no way to clear a cell only using the mouse true/false"
and i said false because there is a way. in fact i think there's three ways.
but i got it marked wrong. i went up and said "wtf here take a look i'll show you"
and the teacher's response: "you didn't learn that in class" and overruled my objection. no points.
fucking ridiculous. but this was just a factually wrong teacher. the link discusses a much different and more interesting problem and oyu might get a laugh reading it too.
(what i was searching for was if there's been studies on if people are reluctant to claim "none of the above" when it isn't an option, even when they know it is. For example:
1) 2+3 =
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
how many people would second guess their basic math because of the presented options? would they go ahead and make a choice of those anyway? idk)
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