Re: SAT Question Selection

2002-01-14 Thread Dennis Roberts

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



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Re: SAT Question Selection

2002-01-14 Thread Stan Brown

[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."


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Re: SAT Question Selection

2002-01-13 Thread Rich Ulrich

On Sun, 13 Jan 2002 13:04:14 GMT, "L.C." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

> 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 believe that they have to change their questions a lot more
often than they used to, now that they occasionally reveal 
some questions and answers.

The Educational Testing Service has a web site that looks
pretty nice, in my 60-second opinion.
   http://www.ets.org/research/

They do seem to invite communication -- I suggest you e-mail,
if you don't find  what you are looking for in their 8 research areas,
or elsewhere.

It seems to me that I found a statistics journal produced by ETS  
when I was looking up references for scaling, a year or so ago.
But I don't remember that for a fact.

-- 
Rich Ulrich, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html


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