Changing the way questions are worded

[Just Curious]

Anyone know who generates the questions for the Study Guide/Classification Exam? The questions, of interest, are the ones that address the "Tap" vs. "Grab and Shoot" with .3 seconds.
In our association, I've found it interesting when I ask fellow officials.... Well what happens if there's only .2 or .1 seconds on clock? I was amazed at the answers I got... Can't score... Game over..
Now it's perfectly clear what happens when you look at either the rule or case book, but as we know, not everyone does...
So my thought was, what if the questions were rewritten to reflect situations with less than .4 seconds instead of the specific .3 seconds.... "With less than .4 seconds on the clock. A1 taps the ball......"
This seems to address situations of less than .3 seconds as well.
Any comments?
jc

[BktBallRef]

How is saying "With less than .4 seconds remaing,..." any different than saying "With .3 seconds or less remaining,..."? If you say "less than .4," people are just going to say "Well, how can I answer this if they don't give me the exact time?".

If people don't understand it, I don't think changing the wording is going to help much.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Finally a question that this structural engineer could sink his teeth into. I have been telling everybody for years that a good grasp of the language of mathematics is essential for officiating basketball.

When the clock shows the time in tenths of a second, saying less that 0.4 seconds is the same as saying 0.3 seconds or less.

If I had proper mathematics symbols on this keyboard I would write it out in a mathematics sentence.

But one should remember that if a clock that shows time in tenths of a second then if 0.3 seconds is showing on the clock there is actually anywhere from 0.39 seconds to 0.30 seconds left on the clock. The same applies when a clock shows time in seconds: if the clock shows 4 seconds then there really is anywhere from 4.9 seconds to 4.0 seconds left on the clock. This is why it is possible to have all zeros on the clock and not have the horn sound yet.

I apologize for this treatise on the language of mathematics but you know the old saying: "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bulls**t."
But what I have said really is true about what the clock shows and what time really remains.

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

This is why it is possible to have all zeros on the clock and not have the horn sound yet.

That's true for most clocks, Mark, but there is one brand (which name escapes me) that sounds the horn as soon as it reaches 0:00. IOW, this brand "waits" a second before displaying 7:59, whereas most clock turn to 7:59 immediately after they're started.

[Just Curious]

I know this is probably a trivial issue, but while the rule and case books actually state ".3 of a second or less" the study guide and classification exam does not. They state specifically "with .3 remaining" which is reasonable considering real game scenarios are tried to be implied through the questions.. But as a teacher, I find that many of my students are going to learn just enough to get by and never push to go beyond the expected. That's why it doesn't exactly surprise me when you ask the question " What happens with only .2 seconds left on the clock....
Ask the question yourself and see what kind of answers you get in your associations...
cl
PS.. Mathematically speaking, I always thought that the range of, lets say, .3 would be from .25 to .34....

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by Just Curious
PS.. Mathematically speaking, I always thought that the range of, lets say, .3 would be from .25 to .34....

Depends on the clock. You could have the clock show :01, yet there could be anywhere between 0.1 and 1.9 seconds left, depending on the model.

Of course, my favorite is the fans who "count down" (way too fast) with a 1/10th clock. 2.9 - they say "2"; 1.9 - they say "1"; 0.9 - they say "0" and wonder why the clock operator screwed up and didn't hit the horn.

[rpwall]

Originally posted by bob jenkins

That's true for most clocks, Mark, but there is one brand (which name escapes me) that sounds the horn as soon as it reaches 0:00. IOW, this brand "waits" a second before displaying 7:59, whereas most clock turn to 7:59 immediately after they're started. [/B]

I worked an all day HS scrimmage (alone, but that is another story!) at a gym where at one end was a clock that went to tenths ("The Official Clock") and at the other end, was a clock that only went to seconds.

The problem was the one that had only seconds went to 0:00 while the other clock was counting down from 0:00.9 to 0:00.0. It was driving me crazing looking up at the 0:00 clock and hearing no horn. For some reason the play was more often than not going that direction at the end of the quarter, or so it seemed.

I described the problem to the coach and he thought I was dense. Next time I was there (to watch a game) the "seconds-only" clock was dark! I had a good chuckle, they solved one problem for the officials but caused a new one.

[Mark Dexter]

They should see if there is a way to just turn off the 1/10ths on the clock that shows them.