2009 ASA Umpire Exam

[Tru_in_Blu]

I've sometimes been told that I might be reading too much into a question when I take these tests. Question 31 is a good example of that. I am not quite sure if I should try and answer the question as written, or what I think the author was looking for in the first place.

In a similar situation, I have an issue with Question 40:

40) The official bat shall be:
a) Of one piece construction.
b) Multi-piece permanently assembled construction.
c) Two-piece interchangeable construction.
d) All of the above.

This is included in the 2009 Playing Rule Changes, and while the question almost mirrors the Rule: 3 Section 1 K wording, the combination of answers matching the statement portion of the test question are mutually exclusive.

I'd suggest that the wording should have been something like:

The official bat MAY be: [with same answers],

or, the last answer amended to be:

d) ANY of the above.

If this was an SAT or similar test, answer "d" cannot be correct since a bat can only be one piece construction, or two-piece construction, or multi-piece construction. I cannot satisfy all three conditions. Two-piece could be considered multi-piece or vice-versa, but neither of those could be one piece; and one piece cannot obviously be two-piece or multi-piece.

But I think, and hope, that the answer they're looking for is "d". That's what I pick.

Ted