85% missed this one

[lawump]

Originally Posted by UmpJM (nee CoachJM)

While I have probably been as guilty as anyone in terms of "bashing" the FED test (and, by implication, those responsible for producing it), I would like to offer the following....

Writing an effective test is a difficult thing to do.

In my opinion, both the scope (breadth of material addressed, diversity and size of the test-taking population, administrive requirements) and purpose(es) of the FED Part 1 Baseball test increase the degree of difficulty. While I don't "know" this to be the case, I believe that the purposes of the FED exam include trying to insure a minimum level of rules competency among FED-licensed officials, encouraging officials to read/review the published rules materials, and calling attention to the rules which have been revised since the previous year.

While it is easy to find flaws, all in all, I believe they do a decent job of achieving their aims.

On to the question at hand - specifically, Q83.

It seems that the primary objection to this question is that a person could know the rule (that a runner may meet his retouch obligation as soon as the first fielder makes the first touch of the ball, rather than having to wait until a legal catch is "proved") and still answer the question incorrectly.

I would agree.

lawump asserted that 85% of the members of his association answered the question incorrectly. I would be willing to bet that at least half of that 85% understood the rule. (Of course, I believe that lawump is from the Palmetto State, where they still have umps call runners out for appealable baserunning infractions without appeal - so I might be optimistic with that estimate... )

On the other hand, if you DON'T know the rule (that the runner may leave on the first touch), you will ALWAYS answer this question incorrectly. So, it's possible that 42.5% of lawump's assoc. didn't understand this point in the rules.

In some ways, this question is testing the person's test-taking skills in addition to his rules knowledge. If you actually go and read the rule, the test answer becomes obvious.

Now I don't believe test-taking skills contribute in any way to an umpire's competency. However, I believe an in-depth understanding of the rules and their application, even some things that are kind of "technical", does contribute to an umpire's overall competency.

If you can't pass this test, you probably shouldn't be umpiring.

If it upsets you to get a question marked wrong, well, then RTFM. ALL the answers are in the book(s), and it's an "open book" test. A couple of "discrepancies" in the answer key seem to appear every year. Mildly annoying, but it's not worth worrying about.

Those are my thoughts.

JM

Couple of brief thoughts:

More than 1/2 of the 85% that missed this question know this rule. We had a bunch of Division 1 umpires missing this...and they all know it.

Our test is "closed book".

As you implired, for the vast majority, this was an "annoyance" as our association's average score was 92...by far, the highest in SC.

And yes, we still do not have "appeals" in South Carolina high school baseball. (Well, except for checked swings that were adjudged to be a ball by the plate umpire.).

As a result, I'm still waiting for this following play to happen to one of us (SC umpires) in a game:

R1, hit-and-run, BR smokes it to the gap in right-center. R1 puts his head down and is well on his way to third...when F8 makes an unbelievable catch. F8 then fires to F3 to double-off R1, only with F8's adrenaline flowing after the great catch, he sails the throw into DBT. At the moment the ball goes into DBT, R1 is between second and third.

If you read and understand FED Rule 8...and then realize that we have no appeal play in SC...you will understand the craphouse that the umpires in this game are going to have.

It will happen someday, sometime. It has happened to several of our association members in non-high school games....eventually it will happen in high school.