Wednesday, November 28, 2007

“Cross the Wrong Answer”

It was Ibit’s English test.
The instruction was clear. And the example was also clear:
This is a/an orange (the ‘a’ was crossed)

I have explained to Ibit when to use ‘a’ and when to use ‘an’. She understood and she did the test according to the instruction.
But she got an ‘O’. “Teacher said I should have crossed the right answer”. I took a look to her test sheet and saw how her teacher circled the right answer with red pen.
Well, usually, in a multiple choices, the instruction is ‘choose the right answer’ – by crossing the letter in front of it. But this isn’t a multiple choice. There were no letters in front of the choices. And the choices were all the same for all number --- ‘a’ or ‘an’.

So I called the teacher and asked about that, Miss Y insist that Ibit misunderstood the instructions.
“O really?” I asked. I read the instruction and the example slowly and clearly for her. They matched so right. She started to get a doubt and then said, “Ok then. Tell Ibit to bring her test sheet tomorrow, I’ll check it out. I guess I’ll need to tell the whole class to.” And she also said, “Well. This is just a daily test anyway”. Fine. This time is a daily test. What if it happens in a semester exam?

I remember when I was in high school having my final exam, subject Math. I was in physic class. During doing the test, I was wondering. ‘This test is way too easy’. And then, 10 minutes before the time was out, I just realized that I have done the wrong sheet. I worked on the test for biology class, off course they were easy! What can I do in 10 minutes? I’ve been doing it for almost two hours! (Years later I saw in TV Mr. Bean doing math test ‘calculus’ and ‘trigonometry’, and picked the wrong sheet. G, it made me feel so silly). Lucky I got 5. The answer sheet was same for both physic and biology class. I may have done the different sheet, but for the multiple choices, I guess I crossed right for some numbers.

Well. This is a lesson. Be sure to read the instructions clearly.

1 comment:

Claremont First Ward said...

A good lesson........