for the SAT ... which is still paper and pencil ... you will find multiple sections ... math and verbal ... as far as i know ... there usually are 3 of one and 2 of the other ... the one with 3 has A section that is called "operational" ... which does NOT count ... but is used for trialing new items ... revised items ... etc.
don't expect them to tell you which one that is however ... in a sense ... they are making YOU pay for THEIR pilot work ... and, of course, if you happen to really get fouled up on the section that is operational and does not count ... it could carry over "emotionally" to another section ... and have some (maybe not much) impact on your motivation to do well on that next section unless it has changed ... At 05:19 PM 1/14/02 -0500, you wrote: >[cc'd to previous poster; please follow up in newsgroup] > >L.C. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in sci.stat.edu: > >Back in my day (did we have days back then?) I recall > >talk of test questions on the SAT. That is, these questions > >were not counted; they were being tested for (I presume) > >some sort of statistical validity. > > > >Does anyone have any statistical insight into the SAT question > >selection process. Does anyone have a specific lead? I can > >find virtually nothing. > >I remember reading a good book about the inner operation of ETS >(administers the SATs), with some bits about the "test" questions >you refer to, but I can't quite remember the title. I've searched >the catalog of my old library, and this _may_ be it: > >Lemann, Nicholas. > The big test : the secret history of the American meritocracy > New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. > >-- >Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA > http://oakroadsystems.com/ >"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?" >"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters." >"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert." >"I was misinformed." > > >================================================================= >Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the >problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at > http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ >================================================================= _________________________________________________________ dennis roberts, educational psychology, penn state university 208 cedar, AC 8148632401, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================
