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Contracting Officer Testing


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Guest Vern Edwards

I found this at the Sparknotes website. It was apparently written for high school studebts. Some of you might find it amusing.

Essay vs. Multiple Choice: Battle of the Exams

By this point in the semester, your tests are probably starting to pile up like dirty laundry. Just when you think you're in the clear and have a few days to relax and focus on homework, you remember that your foreign language teacher added a 50-point "quiz"?which, as far as we're concerned, is a full-on test.

We decided to probe the pros and cons of the two main test types: multiple choice and essay. We pulled an all-nighter comparing these exam options. Here's our crib sheet:

Preparation

Preparing for a multiple choice test is generally pretty easy. All you have to do is recognize the information when you see it.

An essay exam requires that you harness a thorough, working knowledge of the subject, such that you can respond on the spot to any prompt with an interesting and coherent presentation of your ideas. Unless, of course your teacher gives you the essay topic the night before the test, in which case you can compose your essay at home, commit it to memory, and spit it back out the next day. Simple.

Speed

You can complete a multiple choice test in a matter of minutes?whether you know the answers or not. The rest of the period can be used either to nap or to do that math homework you forgot about.

Even if you know what you're talking about, an essay exam takes time. You have to make sure that your thoughts are all in order. And handwriting counts! If your teacher can't read your essay, it doesn't matter how amazing it is.

Smudging

If your multiple choice test is administered using a fill-in-the-bubble sheet, you will need to use a pencil. Pencils increase the likelihood of smudging...which can confuse the electronic-grading-robot.

If you're lucky, your teacher will let you write your essay exam in pen, giving your test a clean, polished look. If your teacher insists on pencil-written exams, make sure you don't wipe your face with the back of your hand.

Hand-Eye Coordination

If you accidentally skip a bubble on a multiple choice test, all your subsequent answers will be off. Hopefully, you will notice your mistake before handing in the test. If not, we're sorry in advance for that "D" that you were sure was going to be an "A" because you knew the material so well after weeks of preparation. (Stupid bubble-sheet!)

If you accidentally skip a line on your essay exam, your teacher will just think you wanted a little extra space for your large, loopy letters. So if you get a "D," you've pretty much earned it.

Creativity

An essay exam lets you express your creativity through language, crafting sentences that convey meaning and beauty all at once.

With a multiple choice test, the only way you can do express yourself is by sacrificing your score to create interesting patterns on the scantron sheet.

BS

If you don't know the answer on a multiple choice test, you've got a 1 in 4 chance of guessing the right one.

If you don't know the answer on an essay exam, you can still come up with a convincing response that makes it sound like you know what you're talking about. Finally! Here's your chance to use all those SAT vocab words.

Giving Up

If you don't want to take your multiple choice test, you can just pick "C" for every answer. Odds are you'll get at least 25% of the test right, and you can make up the difference with extra credit.

Giving in on your way through an essay exam is a little tougher. Either you repeat the same phrase over and over on your paper?which is likely to earn you a trip to the school counselor?or you sheepishly hand in a blank page and slink away.

Celebration

When you bring home a good grade on an essay exam, your parents can bask in the glory of your success by reading and re-reading your essay at the dinner table, heaping praise onto your impeccable prose.

Your parents will be just as proud of your multiple choice triumph, but the experience isn't the same. It's just not as exciting to recite your multiple choice answers out loud. "A, A, C, B, D...Oh wow, I wouldn't have expected a D next."

So which would you prefer? If you could choose, would you pick an essay or a multiple choice test?

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Sparknotes.

Sparknote reference was funny. I am a firm believer in "when in doubt Charlie out."

California Attorney Qualifications.

Vern said, "In California, in order to be an attorney you must pass a first-year law student exam and the bar exam." This statement is wrong. In California, provided you went to law school, in order to be an attorney you need to pass the CA bar exam. The first year law student exam refers to persons who want to become attorneys without going to lawschool.

Charles

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The first year law student exam refers to persons who want to become attorneys without going to lawschool.

Charles

See http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/Pamphlets/...ingALawyer.aspx number 7. Essentially, if you go to an ABA-approved law school, and you have at least two years of undergraduate study, you can be exempt from this exam. Otherwise, you must take it. This exam is often referred to as the "Baby Bar."

Back to the OT, why go through the extra work of an exam for a warranted officer? What about the work that is currently being performed? Contracts, contract mods, PNMs, etc, so many things out there that can already be "graded."

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Guest Vern Edwards
The first year law student exam refers to persons who want to become attorneys without going to lawschool.

Charles

Thanks, Charles, but that, too, is wrong. The first-year law student exam is also required for persons who attend an unaccredited law school. See the Rules of the California State Bar, Title 4, Admissions and Educational Standards, Division 1, Admission to Practice Law in California, Rule 4.55, First-Year Law Students? Examination requirement:

A general applicant intending to seek admission to practice law in California must take the First-Year Law Students? Examination unless the applicant

(A) has satisfactorily completed

(1) at least two years of college work as defined by these rules; and

(2) the first-year course of instruction

(a) at a law school that was approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee when the study was begun or completed; and

(B) the law school has advanced the person, whether or not on probation, to the second-year of instruction; or

(B) is exempt by reason of study in a foreign law school as provided by these rules.

Rule 4.55 adopted effective September 1, 2008.

In California you can study law (1) in an accredited law school, (2) in an unaccredited law school (which includes correspondence schools), (3) in a judge's chambers or a law office, or (4) by any combination of (2) and (3). See Rule 4.26, Legal Education:

General applicants for the California Bar Examination must

(A) be graduates of law schools approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee; or

(B) demonstrate that in accordance with these rules they have

(1) studied law diligently and in good faith for at least four years in a law school registered with the Committee; in a law office; in a judge?s chambers; or by some combination of these methods; or

(2) met the requirements of these rules for legal education in a foreign state or country; and

( C) have passed or established exemption from the First-Year Law Students' Examination.

Rule 4.26 adopted effective September 1, 2008.

http://rules.calbar.ca.gov/LinkClick.aspx?...&tabid=1227

I learned that the following lawyers did not go to (or graduate from) law school:

Abraham Lincoln,

John Jay (first chief justice of the Supreme Court)

William Wirt (former U.S. attorney general)

John Marshall (another chief justice of the Supreme Court),

Roger Taney (yet another chief justice),

Robert Storey (a former president of the American Bar Association), and

Clarence Darrow (!)

Clarence Darrow is the one that surprised me. He quit after one year of law school and then studied in a law office. And no, that does not change my views about CO exams.

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Vern, my response was intended for the majority of persons who take this monster exam. I should have been more specific. What the "basia" can I do? Also, active attorneys who have practiced for so many years are allowed to take the California attorneys' exam. So, it appears anyone in CA can become an attorney B)

If anyone is considering Law School, please go to an ABA accredited school. Your options are limited if you do not attend an ABA school.

My incoherent ramblings on KO testing

IMO, bar exams are a form of Intellectual-Darwinism. I do not think bar exams other than the MPTs test what attorneys do. Should KOs have a similar test? If I am a bad test taker then I would argue no we should not have bar exam type tests. It is unfair, it is biased, it does not test what KOs know and do. If I am a good test taker then I may argue KOs must maintain minimum levels of professional competency, blah, blah, therefore, a test is necessary to measure, maintain, and perform quality control on these standards. Consequentially or perhaps beneficially, having bar exam type tests limits persons who can become KOs. Limiting KO's could potential increase KOs salaries (supply and demand). For example, AMA. Bad example, ABA. Most professions have tests. Why should KOs be any different? Or are KOs merely quasi-professionals?

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Guest Vern Edwards

charles:

I think that in the fifth sentence of your fourth paragraph you meant to say: It is unfair, it is biased, it does not test what KOs know and do.

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This topic was closed, modified, and an account deleted. The account was deleted because it was created and used as a bogus multi-user account. The rule on the Wifcon.com Forum is: one account, one individual user. I will be adding that to the list of rules later today.

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