FED Test...Whew!

Whowefoolin · #1 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 12:31am

Just passed my first ever FED test! Interesting. Even if you know the rules, the seemingly simple true/false questions take some thinking.

It is like math: a "-" x a "-" = a "+" ( I think )

The way the questions are written in requards to the title is very thought provoking. Couldn't they make it easier to be more thorough? Even the ones I got correct I had to re-read and figure out how I did it!!!

Patrick Szalapski · #2 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 02:23am

The more it gets you thinking, the better it is. Most of the questions are easy enough to those like us who have hung around the boards, but I can see how they might trick the unsuspecting first-year ump. I'm sure you did fine.

P-Sz

ESL Ump · #3 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 11:36am

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrick Szalapski
The more it gets you thinking, the better it is. Most of the questions are easy enough to those like us who have hung around the boards, but I can see how they might trick the unsuspecting first-year ump. I'm sure you did fine.

P-Sz

It also tricks umps who are not so good at English. Although I know the rules well, I have never been able to score above 75 on the FED test. I always get confused on the tricky language.

I recently moved and we are required to score 80 in order to umpire high school here. Since I got 73 on the test this year, I will have to sit out the season. This would be my fifth season umpiring in the states.

I have been reading this place for three months and it has helped my English. Maybe next year I will do better. My wife helped write this.

Tim C · #4 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 12:00pm

Come thoughts like yours.

I have been taking FED test in basketball and baseball for 35 years and it never ceases to amaze me at how bad the test are written . . . expecially when you consider that they are written by people directly associated with education.

We have, for the last ten years, tried to get FED to recognize that their tests are tests that prove you can take a test, not know the rules of baseball.

Again, I find fault in the basic premise of your post.

It is a very hard test because it is a poorly written test.

Just for you to chew on, this comes from a guy that the last two times he took the test he scored 100. Not that I know the rules that well I just know how to take a FEDlandia test.

Hope ESL can find another avenue to take the test FAIRLY.

Tee

MAC · #5 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 12:28pm

Most people get to take the test with an open book, but the key to passing a fed test is to read the case book, so many question's come right out of the case book and they key on the rule changes of that year , So with a change in the appeal's rule this year you are sure to find a lot of question about these rule scattered through out the test.

Taking the test is a great way to keep up on the lastest changes, My favorite is the way the Batter/Runner is some- times just mentioned as a runner or the double negative in a statment which is rare,The whole test is about keeping current with the rules so it's a good thing.

mac

Tim C · #6 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 12:49pm

"Most people get to take the test with an open book . . ."

MAC:

I have worked in associations from Seattle to San Francisco and NONE of them have EVER allowed an open book test on Test II.

Test I can be used as a take home or open book test but Test II has ALWAYS been closed book in my areas.

Must be a different view from your local group.

Interesting, since you only have to score a 75% to be "certified" by FED I hope you have a 100% certified group.

The "Original"
(And ever slimming),

Tee

Patrick Szalapski · #7 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 12:51pm

There were actually a few outright errors on last years test. I remember mine was scored out of 94, because they apparently threw out 6 questions for everyone.

I'm glad you have joined us, ESL Ump. Indeed, this message board will help your English and your understanding of the rules. Perhaps you can petition the state high school league to somehow get certified; perhaps they will allow you to prove your knowledge in another way. Hopefully, you won't have to sit out of all umpiring; you can usually work subvarsity games without registration.

P-Sz

greymule · #8 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 01:51pm

I admit that after I took my Fed tests, I had no idea that I had "passed with flying colors" as they told me later. We had to get an 85, and if they told me I had flunked, I wouldn't have been surprised. But so many of the questions involved embossed stamps on equipment, balls going over a media area, colored gloves, confining people to the bench, tobacco-like substances, and other things that have nothing to do with the game. I just guessed on those. Usually, at least two answers could be eliminated as absurd (though in Fed, you can't assume anything). Plus, I took both softball and baseball on the same day, which added to the confusion.

And yes, the test is terribly written. So what would it cost them to have a professional editor do the job? A couple of hundred bucks? If Educational Testing Service wrote the SAT that badly, they'd have to rescind half the questions. So ESL, the "tricky" language may well be simply "flawed" language.

Carl Childress knows both rules and English. I'm surprised he hasn't become involved, because the rule books are badly written, too, with dozens of textbook examples of grammatical mistakes. And it's not simply to be a purist with the language. Grammar mistakes very often contribute to misunderstanding. Examples abound in the rule books and case books.

Whowefoolin: Could you go over that math equation again? If you meant minus a times minus a, that equals a-squared.

GarthB · #9 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 03:04pm

"There were actually a few outright errors on last years test. I remember mine was scored out of 94, because they apparently threw out 6 questions for everyone."

I would assume that was done at the local or state level. I don't believe that was an action taken nationally.

chris s · #10 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 03:22pm

6 q's thrown out??????? PsZ you outa try football!!!!!Can't comment on this years bb test, did not take it, only doing fill in work. Got kids....

Rita C · #11 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 08:34pm

As a newly certified teacher (yeah!), I can tell you that the use of true/false tests is discouraged because it doesn't show whether or not a learner can USE the material. A well written multiple choice test can.

Rita

greymule · #12 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 10:09pm

I think the Fed tests should consist of essay questions only.

Whowefoolin · #13 (**permalink**) Sat Mar 01, 2003, 11:39pm

Grey remember, I said...I THINK (grin)

I was instructed in math by the same people that wrote the tests!!!!

5 sport ref · #14 (**permalink**) Sun Mar 02, 2003, 12:20am

The more often you take the test the easier it becomes. 1st time I took the test it took me at least 8 hours. Now I can get it done in about 2. Keep this year's test and at least 5 - 10 of the questions usually will pop up next year. You know those answers are correct and just work on the new ones. The trick is not to read anything into the questions and write the reference rule to the right for easy reference to see where you might have gone wrong.

Patrick Szalapski · #15 (**permalink**) Sun Mar 02, 2003, 01:58am

Quote:

Originally posted by GarthB
"There were actually a few outright errors on last years test. I remember mine was scored out of 94, because they apparently threw out 6 questions for everyone."

I would assume that was done at the local or state level. I don't believe that was an action taken nationally.

That seems likely. I remember the questions were regarding a batter (one that never became a runner), yet the heading for them said, "A runner is out when..."

P-Sz