IAABO Test Results

[BillyMac]

Here in my little corner of Connecticut we offer twelve hours (eight sessions, ninety minutes each) of group instruction with major emphasis on Rule 4 (Definitions) and Rule 6 (Live Ball and Dead Ball); and moderate emphasis on Rule 7 (Out of Bounds and Throw-in), Rule 8 (Free Throw), Rule 9 (Violations and Penalties), and Rule 10 (Fouls and Penalties). Rule 1 (Court and Equipment), Rule 2 (Officials and Their Duties), with the exception of correctable errors which are covered in detail, Rule 3 (Players, Substitutes and Equipment), and Rule 5 (Scoring and Timing Regulations) get little emphasis, with the instructor, our interpreter, just going over the important sections of these rules.

Reftown is utilized, as are old Refresher Exams. Applicants are given written homework, in the form of questions about each rule, after that rule is covered. They are given the correct answers to these questions at the next session. Individual guidance is offered by training committee members one half hour before, and one half hour after, each of the eight clinic sessions, generally to go over homework questions that the applicants got incorrect.

This year approximately thirty applicants took the exam. Almost all passed (86% correct). Two failed the exam outright. Approximately five did well enough to get a retake later, after the mechanics instruction portion of their training. These numbers really don't compare well to past years. Normally we have no outright failures, and just two, or three, eligible for a retake. I've heard that the exam was very difficult this year, but I can't confirm that since I switched from the rules subcommittee to the mechanics and floor exam subcommittee.

As a retired, thirty plus years, middle school science teacher, I believe that our training committee, under the guidance of our interpreter, does an outstanding job. As 26 Year Gap stated earlier, "If you fail to study, you study to fail." Former players often think that they know all the rules and don't attend all of the training sessions that are offered, or they attend and don't take the instruction that they receive very seriously.