How can tests be biased? I can come up with a racially/religiously biased test right here!!

[slampoet]

I can come up with a racially/religiously biased test right here!!


1. How many gwumpke does it take to feed your boosha until St. Stanislav's Day if today is a week after the Pentecost?

2. Explain the life cycle of growing rice by hand and all the steps from planting until harvest.

3. How many times do you jump the broom if it is your second marriage?

4. How many quinceaneras do boys have in their lifetimes?

5. Explain the difference between Black and Red Caviar and which occasions they are served at.

6. What kind of fish goes with linguisa?

7. What is the Icing rule in hockey?

8. Name the four Germans who had a profound effect on House Music and Hip-hop. What were these Germans known as collectively?

9. If there are Five Forks on your dinner setting and it is summer on the Cape what can you expect to be eating?

10. Explain the differences between Scotch, Bourbon, and Whiskey.

And for a special bonus answer this question that was ON THE SAT or ACT exam until the Early 90's !!!

11. In Which room of a house do you place a piano?

[NoSheep]

1. Good work!

[MercutioATC]

2. My favorite SAT question:

Who wore "a coat of many colors, yellow/green on either side"?

Ok, the bible is a work of literature, but it seems to me that there's clear religious bias here.

[mitchum]

8. Liberace? Bowie in his Ziggy days?

[Igel]

26. Good question.

But the Bible doesn't specify the "yellow green on either side" business, so that's ruled out. Now, if "Joseph" was one of the answers, I guess it might be the right answer--but I wouldn't be surprised if "Joseph" wasn't one of the answers at all. And if it's down between Joseph and a something else, "Joseph" might actually be the wrong answer.

The answer's in a song by Carole King. She provided the "yellow green on either side" bit. Now, Carole King is a musician, but it seems to me that there's a clear racial bias here. Or not, since a lot of people might well be exposed to her music and lyrics outside of their home life.

A lot of the questions in the SAT are properly specific to America. Since it's a test that's supposedly predictive of future success in American colleges and universities it's not supposed to be lack all biases. It's supposed to test some general intelligence, but it's also to test background knowledge, the kind that is likely to be needed in American colleges and universities and which there may well not be time to learn later.

Similarly, I'd expect a similar test in China for Chinese universities or in Egypt for Egyptian universities to focus rather on different matters.

As a Russian prof once told me, the best use a grad student in Russian literature, esp. 19th century Russ. lit., can make of his/her first summer vacation is to find a traditional Russian Bible and read it at least twice. Russian depts. typically teach "stranovedenie", learning the cultural and political specifics about a country. You need to learn precisely such things as what a red corner is (whether 1930 or 1830), what a yellow house was in the 19th century, and all kinds of stuff that seems completely irrelevant to 21st century American life.

[chemp]

3. Obvious!

the piano goes in the sitting or great room.

C'mon!
Everyone knows this.

[slampoet]

4. Actually the official answer is "The Parlor"

This was defended as unbiased because it was published in the Miss Manners book.

[hfojvt]

5. I cannot believe that last question was on the SAT

I took the SAT in 1979. It was all about grammar and math. If it asked something like #11, then that would be AFTER having you read an essay about piano placement.

I am not sure what hockey has to do with race either, as much as it does geography or interest. I grew up in hockey country - our local hockey team was often state champions in SD and I do not know all that much about hockey.

Okay, I do know what the icing rule is - it states that you cannot hit the puck for a long distance across the rink without it being touched by another one of your players. If you do so, then icing is called and the puck is brought back.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I took the SAT and when it was the sat

Moby Dick, at the time, was a minnow.

:)

[slampoet]

7. I wanted to include a question that nearly everyone in Canada knew but only about 2% of Americans

could answer.

I myself used to go to hockey games all the time when i was a kid but i couldn't answer this question.

BTW my honest score on this quiz is about 3 and a half

[lapislzi]

9. Is # 1 a real question?

How much is a gwumpke?

For the record, this cultural ignoramus got about a 2.

[slampoet]

12. The First question you can only get if you are Polish and have a living Grandmother.

Gwumpke are from Poland and are simply a beef/rice mixture, rolled in cabbage leaves, and baked in tomato sauce. Also called "pigs in a blanket"

Boosha - Grandma slang

Saint Stanislavs Day can refer to either Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów (July 26, 1030 – April 11, 1079) who was a Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by Polish King Bolesław II the Bold. Stanisław is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Stanislaus the Martyr

Or it can refer to Saint Stanislaus Kostka who was born at Rostkowo, near Przasnysz, Poland, on 28 October 1550; died at Rome during the night of 14-15 August, 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus in Rome on his 17th birthday (28 October 1567), and is said to have foretold his death a few days before it occurred.

If it is the Martyr then his feast day is April 11th, May 7th (traditional Roman Catholic) or May 8th (Polish Catholic)

If you are in the USA most likely you are referring to Saint Stanislaus Kostka in which case his feast day is usually August 15, and rarely November 13

Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks (49 days) after Easter Sunday and as you know Easter suday varies from year to year because it is based on lunar cycles.



This has got to be one of the most unfair questions i have ever asked anyone. Although is still isn't as difficult as the Geography question i had once which was "Name all the Countries in Africa that touch salt water." At the time i was asked this question there were 22 on the west coast alone!

[jwirr]

10. Best example I have ever seen.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

11. Christ, man, NOBODY knows number 7. Good work.

[Odin2005]

13. That is exactly why most IQ tests are BS, as well.

[MellowDem]

14. So how many tests nowadays...

that are standardized have these kind of questions?

[slampoet]

15. How about "runner" is to "marathon" as "oarsman" is to "regatta" ?

This is very recent question that is obviously biased against anyone who didn't grow up on the East Coast. Being from Ohio you must be able to see how this question favors people from the original 13 colonies and especially those who went to prep schools.

Take a look at how many children take the SAT in Ohio versus how many take the ACT test instead. A lot of the reason is due to the SAT having Old New England Biases for the questions because the test is geared to send kids to old Ivy League schools where as the ACT is geared towards equally as good Midwestern schools like U of Chicago or U of MI.

[CBGLuthier]

16. It's called an education

I grew up in Oklahoma and I know what a regatta is.

[slampoet]

18. Wasn't it as Oklahoma's favorite son, who once said.....

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."

[MellowDem]

25. Does the SAT even have those types of questions anymore?

I've always been a bigger fan of the ACT personally.

[slampoet]

27. I am a fan of the ACT also.

Let's face it, Human knowledge breaks down to more than just math and "verbal"

Plus isn't it odd they call it "verbal" when you don't say a word during the test?

There are a lot of biased questions Still on test sites for instance i found this one


Joshua's radical ideas were frowned on by most of his coworkers, who found them too ------- for their conservative tastes.
(A) heretical
(B) meticulous
(C) precise
(D) incoherent
(E) sagacious



http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/sent_comp/prac09.html


It's a pretty obvious teabagger bias.

[Starry Messenger]

17. I couldn't answer any of these.

I'm especially curious about the four Germans.

[slampoet]

19. Kraftwerk.

This shows my Detroit House music bias.

The main melody of "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force is borrowed from the title track of Kraftwerk's influential album Trans Europe Express, while the drum pattern is based on the song "Numbers" from the Kraftwerk album Computer World, another popular underground club record. Planet Rock helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music and is widely credited as being the first House Music Single.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Rock_(song)

[Starry Messenger]

22. Wild.

Thanks. I've heard of Kraftwerk but had no idea they went on to be so influential.

[Stevenmarc]

20. Kraftwerk, boys don't have quinceaneras, and I don't place a piano, that's the piano movers job

[Stevenmarc]

21. .

[wishlist]

23. National Merit Scholarship test asked what company sponsored opera on radio

I was surprised when I took the National Merit Scholarship test (that was supposed to be unbiased and rewarding scholastic merit) in 1970 to see a question asking what company sponsored the Saturday radio opera broadcasts (Texaco). I knew that answer after having spent many weekends with my grandfather, an Italian immigrant living in NY, but many students from other backgrounds would have had no clue.

[howard112211]

24. I know "Fantastische Vier"

:)

[Number23]

28. lol Excellent work. Don't know what prompted this but good job

As a black person, I'm personally particularly in love with question #7. :rofl:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

29. A biased test can be created. Other than that do you have a point?

[jmowreader]

30. Let me try it...

1. Depends on how big she is.

2. a. Flood field; b. Sow rice; c. Sit in swamp with 12-gauge shotgun to deal with nuisance waterfowl.

3. Just once.

4. Boys never have quinceaneras.

5. Black caviar is from sturgeon, red from salmon. Black is reserved for the fanciest occasions.

6. Redfish? And check out http://www.sanleandrobytes.com/attractions/santos_linguisa.html

7. No shooting the puck across two red lines.

8. (Insert the names of four members of Kraftwerk)

9. You're at a clambake.

10. Whiskey is made from grain. Bourbon is at least 51 percent corn, aged in charred oak barrels and made in Kentucky. Scotch is made from malted barley that was dried over a peat fire, and it is made in Scotland.

11. In whichever room of the house it will fit through the door.