Split Thread The ability to read and follow exam/test instructions

[EHocking]

I just suddenly had a flashback to Kindergarten. The teacher took us outside to play Simon Says, and I was the first one eliminated. She just assumed that everyone knew how to play and didn't provide any instructions, while it was my first encounter with the game.

I always thought Simon was an overbearing, power hungry, micromanaging prick.

**** Simon.

 

[The Man]

This depends on the exact wording in the test ...

Unless one of the directions was to NOT answer the questions, then answering the questions does not violate the directions.

As the post you quoted only part of says, that was the first direction.

Unless the directions instructed you to complete the test, then writing your name on the test is not following the directions, although it does not violate the directions.

I can't say, as I recall, once hearing the intent, I only checked the last direction to confirm the validity of the information.

(My class got hit with this once, and it seemed the test writer just had their own different set of assumptions and reliance on conventions that fell apart when examined carefully.)

Might well be the case with most casual, or non-legal, communication. Hence the intricacies of legalize and still courts and judges are required to render interpretations.

 

[Innocuous]

As the post you quoted only part of says, that was the first direction.

The first direction was to read all the directions. There was no direction to not answer the questions. So you could follow the directions and still answer the questions.

(I am not nit-picking you here -just the test itself. It is definitely a gotcha type thing, but I think it has gotchas-right-back. It may show that people don't read instructions, but it might also show that people can't write instructions.)

 

[Bikewer]

The importance of following directions is somewhat dependent on the accuracy of the directions.... Anyone buy anything from China lately that you have to assemble?

And, when was the last time anyone read all the way through and “end user agreement”?

 

[TragicMonkey]

The importance of following directions is somewhat dependent on the accuracy of the directions.... Anyone buy anything from China lately that you have to assemble?

And, when was the last time anyone read all the way through and “end user agreement”?

I don't recall the details but someone actually won a court case when the court actually ruled that nobody can reasonably be expected to read user agreements.

 

[The Man]

The first direction was to read all the directions. There was no direction to not answer the questions. So you could follow the directions and still answer the questions.

Thread split from here where the posts were off-topic.

Posted By: Agatha

I remember a test is high school, all kinds of questions and directions. The first direction was to read all directions before starting the test. The last direction was that the only thing you needed to do to complete the test was to write your name on it. Can't tell you how many people just started answering question and trying to follow the directions for each question. Instead of following the first direction which was to read all directions first.

ETA:

Decades of doing the Publishers Clearing House contest entry jigsaw directions has trained me well.

So the first direction was to read all directions before starting the test. The full sentence matters, as answering the questions would have been starting the test.

The last direction was to simply write your name to complete the test. Heck, you could then write an essay about how you felt about the test for all it mattered, it just wasn't part of the test. For all I can recall that last instruction could have been more exclusionary but I can only relate what I can (or at least think I can) recall.

(I am not nit-picking you here -just the test itself. It is definitely a gotcha type thing, but I think it has gotchas-right-back. It may show that people don't read instructions, but it might also show that people can't write instructions.)

Of course it was a gotcha and as you note there can be other unintended gotchas. Again that was the point, the gotcha could be intentional, unintentional or merely the result of the reader trying to retain their own assumptions and context as opposed to trying to take the perspective of the writer, or in the case of fiction, the character. Probably why I have such a major difficulty with written fiction, I just can't seem to get myself into the character(s) frame of mind.

 

[The Man]

I don't recall the details but someone actually won a court case when the court actually ruled that nobody can reasonably be expected to read user agreements.

Wasn't that Kyle Broflovski vs The HUMANCENTiPAD?

 

[Carrot Flower King]

Third grade is about the level that most "team building" classes or exercises operate at.

You were lucky you had things which reached that level: most of the ones I was forced into (yeah, how's that work for "team building"?) seemed to depend on everything fitting into the shape of a triangle or a square or somesuch and having the evidence base of a plucked out of thin air thing (yes, you berks who insisted on using Belbin, I'm looking at you. And as for you lot with your Myers-Sodding-Briggs, there is a circle of hell especially designed for your sort of wilful ignorance!).



Anyway, back to the attention to detail test thingy: the version I did was during my nurse training when we were looking at communication, leading on to how to train people, and it was definitely a valid way of making a point in that context (yes, I was the only one who didn't start jumping up and down, asking for green pens and saluting north nor any of the rest, merely turned my paper over at the end per instruction).

 

[jadebox]

I was subjected to that silly test in elementary school. As I recall there were ten instructions on it. The first said to read all of the instructions and the last said to just write in your name. The others had you do things like touch the doorknob or whatever.

Seeing the conflicting instructions, I intentionally decided to get correctly execute 80% of the instructions and skip the first and last. Scoring 80% on a test is better than 20%.

 

[Vixen]

As one of those teachers who used to give that 'test', it was not for the purpose of being a 'gotcha' but to help the students realize the importance of following instructions. I cannot tell you how many times students lost points, therefore received lower grades, because they failed to follow instructions on assignments and tests. How many people's votes are going to be invalidated because they failed to follow simple instructions for voting by mail? Perhaps if they'd learned to read and follow instructions in school, their votes wouldn't end up in the trash in 2020.

The best way to deal with this common phenomenon is some good advice I once heard and which I have always followed to my benefit, is to read the question twice. Then half way through your answer STOP. Reread the question and ask yourself: 'Am I answering the question asked, or the question I was hoping for?'

At least at the half-way point you have the opportunity to change tack and answer the question as set.

In my accountancy exams, there were actually courses in how to answer a question properly and understanding what is required by the use of words in the question, such as, 'define', 'explain', 'describe', analyse', 'compare and contrast' and 'discuss' as so many people failed, not because they didn't have the necessarily knowledge, but because they didn't register correctly what the examiner was demanding in the question.

 

[Vixen]

And yet I have found it to be sound advice when, for example, I find myself assembling furniture from Ikea, or troubleshooting computer problems, or constructing wastewater processing plants...

Except these days, the stuff having been made in Taiwan comes with a cartoon-like illustration.

To show why you should nail your furniture to the wall shows a comic strip of a bookcase falling on someone's head.

(I have been assured you don't need to do this. They include this to stop people suing them when little Johnny climbs up said furniture and it all comes toppling down on him.)

 

[The Man]

Except these days, the stuff having been made in Taiwan comes with a cartoon-like illustration.

To show why you should nail your furniture to the wall shows a comic strip of a bookcase falling on someone's head.

(I have been assured you don't need to do this. They include this to stop people suing them when little Johnny climbs up said furniture and it all comes toppling down on him.)

Shouldn't the illustration then just show nailing little Johnny to the floor?

ETA:

Heck, with the cardboard backing most of them come with nowadays , that would just stay nailed to the wall as the rest came tumbling down. I tend to replace them with Luan, also helps make the bookshelves stable enough to move when fully or partially loaded.

 

[arthwollipot]

The first direction was to read all the directions. There was no direction to not answer the questions. So you could follow the directions and still answer the questions.

(I am not nit-picking you here -just the test itself. It is definitely a gotcha type thing, but I think it has gotchas-right-back. It may show that people don't read instructions, but it might also show that people can't write instructions.)

It was many years ago, but I still remember clearly the test I was given. The first instruction was "Read all questions carefully before proceeding". The second was "Write your name at the top of the paper". The last instruction read "Now that you have finished reading through the instructions, do only 1 and 2."

 

[TragicMonkey]

It was many years ago, but I still remember clearly the test I was given. The first instruction was "Read all questions carefully before proceeding". The second was "Write your name at the top of the paper". The last instruction read "Now that you have finished reading through the instructions, do only 1 and 2."

Read all the instructions carefully:

1. Read all the instructions carefully.
2. Read the above instruction carefully.
3. Exercising care, read this particular instruction.
4. Fremblo aargbach isshalnop grembph!
5. Read the above instructions, but without being careful.
6. You may or may not read an instruction with or without any given degree of care.
7. Do not read this line.
8. Do not read the above line.
9. Go ahead and read them, it's okay, I forgive you.
10. By reading this line, you fail the test. But by failing the test, you pass the real test. To finalize your successful test score, give me five dollars.

 

[Chanakya]

Read all the instructions carefully:

1. Read all the instructions carefully.
2. Read the above instruction carefully.
3. Exercising care, read this particular instruction.
4. Fremblo aargbach isshalnop grembph!
5. Read the above instructions, but without being careful.
6. You may or may not read an instruction with or without any given degree of care.
7. Do not read this line.
8. Do not read the above line.
9. Go ahead and read them, it's okay, I forgive you.
10. By reading this line, you fail the test. But by failing the test, you pass the real test. To finalize your successful test score, give me five dollars.

... "WHAT do you think you're doing there, young Toobin?"

(Teacher screams and faints. Thus proving that either instructions must be very brief and to-the-point; or else very detailed and exhaustive, covering all possible eventualities.)