2015 ASA Umpire Exam questions

[IRISHMAFIA]

Or maybe it was worded perfectly with the intention of catching the umpire looking for something that isn't there. That can be an issue as is demonstrated with this thread

[Tru_in_Blu]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Or maybe it was worded perfectly with the intention of catching the umpire looking for something that isn't there. That can be an issue as is demonstrated with this thread

That's giving way too much credit to the author of the question.

Wait... did you submit that question for the test?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

That's giving way too much credit to the author of the question.

Wait... did you submit that question for the test?

You need to remember, it was simply a true/false question and no. I could offer the best question in the world and ASA would not use it until they could find a way to make it theirs

[EsqUmp]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

You need to remember, it was simply a true/false question and no. I could offer the best question in the world and ASA would not use it until they could find a way to make it theirs

It's either a "gotcha" question or an improperly worded one, because who the hell else would care? Get real.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by EsqUmp

It's either a "gotcha" question or an improperly worded one, because who the hell else would care? Get real.

I have proctored these tests for a little over a decade and constantly run into umpires who want to parse every 20 word question into a 70 word situation instead of just reading what is there and giving the appropriate answer.

I've never seen a "gotcha" question on an ASA test. In my experience, the ASA test has one purpose: to make the umpire think. From the discussion, it seems that is exactly what it did.

[Tru_in_Blu]

In some cases just reading what is there may not be enough. In some cases a relevant piece of information is missing. So while they may not be intended as "gotcha" questions, there have been several corrections to the test answers over the years.

When I attended a class to become certified as an ASA umpire, the UIC giving the class had us review the previous 5 years umpires' exam. Rule changes notwithstanding, there was often a question or two that he told us to ignore because they were "bad questions".

I think things have improved in the past few years, but from my original post, there are still some nebulous areas on the test. I'm all for "thinking" and some say that I think too much at times. I usually try to envision a test question scenario to something I may have seen at some point. Often times that's easy. Sometimes I have to play it out a bit more and check the book for the answer.

And that's a good thing.

[MD Longhorn]

The thing that is irksome is this: On one question, what seems to the reader to be an error, typo, or oversight turns out to be the test-writer's way of seeing if the reader is paying attention... but on another question, what seems to be an error or oversight is indeed an error or oversight.

So if the test-taker takes the question at it's word, they'll miss 1 of the 2 above ... but if they put away the lawyerese and answer what they think the test-taker meant to be asking, they will also miss 1 of the 2.