On Sunday, I had a very short item in the paper. It was about the question that students found the toughest on this year’s TAAS, the state standardized test here in Texas. Here it is:
Rachel’s house is 12 miles due west of Highway Exit 16B. Keitha’s house is due north of the same exit. The two houses are 13 miles apart. How much farther does Rachel live from Exit 16B than Keitha does?
Your choices: 11 miles, 10 miles, 7 miles, 5 miles, or none of the above.
The correct answer is in the story linked above. (Try the problem yourself before proceeding.) But, as I’ve mentioned before, there’s a downside to publishing a sample math question in the paper: everyone thinks they can do high school math. Unfortunately, lots of them can’t.
And if their rusty math skills produce an answer different from what you publish, they write you nasty emails calling you an idiot.
I got more than a dozen emails from people complaining I’d screwed up the answer. A sampling of their comments (names omitted to protect the mathematically challenged):
– The Pythagorean Theorem states that, “the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two opposite sides”. Either your writer, Joshua Benton, or Pythagoras is wrong.
– I’ll bet you get a lot of mail on this one. TAAS is bad enough without this. You should certainly run a correction in the same place.
– This must be about the 200th message on this subject you’ve already received this morning, since it is already 8:49 AM. Nevertheless, I am pointing out to Mr. Benton that the reason so many sophomores got that Hypotenuse Theory question on the TAAS “wrong” was because the TAAS folks — AND Mr. Benton — were not crediting them with the correct answer. Please sharpen your pencil and try again.
– I was explaining three weeks ago to my 7th grade son about test taking and what to look for. This morning at the breakfast table, I showed him this simple 5, 12, 13 triangle. I worked out the equation for him, but alas, your answer was wrong. Just, umm, pointing out the correct answer, which is 5.
– The story was wrong and it is someone at the DMN who should be repeating a grade.
My favorites were the ones who were apologetic about pointing out my “error,” but felt their immense mathematical skill obligated them to educate poor incompetents like me.
– As a CPA, one-time math major and a math nut since being taught arithmetic as a “game” at age 4, let me be among the first to point out that the TAAS people failed their jobs…The reason so many students picked 5 is because 5 is the correct answer! Not to investigate WHY the most-missed answer was missed is dereliction of duty (aka laziness!).
– I’m not a math teacher, but I do have a Gifted and Talented class out in East Texas, and last week’s lesson in critical thinking would not allow me to pass this up.
– Sorry, I’m an engineer, and the mathematics are second nature to me.
Today we had a follow-up story.
11 thoughts on “taas math question complaints”
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no josh. sorry. you’re wrong! as an accomplished writer and former english major, i can tell you i know nothing about mathematics. but you’re wrong. i just know it.
i’m kidding, of course. i got a big laugh outta’ this one.
Actually I think this post illustrates exactly why that question is the most missed one on the exam. It’s a trick. And if you think you’re suppose to be in human calculator mode you don’t often catch the “gotcha” of word problems like this.
I know it was just a short piece, but your original article would have been more interesting/educational if it had pointed out the slyness of the question.
Hey, no fair! This was supposed to be math, not reading comprehension!
(Heeheeee.)
I’m wondering why standardize tests always have a trick in them. As if real life wasn’t tricky enough.
Since when does DallasNews.com require registrtation to view the articles? (Bleh) Or, does metafilter/metafilter or one of those work? 😉
a trick? i agree- the question tests reading comprehension just as much as math skills- though at the end of the day, it’s all language, ya?- but i don’t think we can call it a trick question. it requires some careful attention.
reminds me of the passage in A Prayer for Owen Meany where owen rails on about how being an english major requires no special intelligence. all you have to do is PAY ATTENTION.
i think people were more confused by their anxieties about the potentially indeterminate gender of “keitha.” Keitha, take that exit and run for the hills!
Funny. I was relating this story to some coworkers and they both said something to the effect of “Whoa! Throwing that 16B exit number in there is just no fair! Talk about confusing!” One of them was a history major…
I still don’t have a problem calling it a trick, though. The people who make these exams know how the majority of the test takers would read the question of first glance, and they throw the twist in to get away from that. It’s just a game. Slight of hand using words. That’s why learning HOW to take standardized test is often a better way to improve scores than learning more material… Which is why I don’t really like standardized tests. (For the record, I take these tests well, so it’s not like I’m bitter.)
I hadn’t considered the “Keitha” factor, though.
Alex, DallasNews.com’s used registration for probably about a year now. Come on, suck it up and register! Takes 10 seconds, and in exchange you get unlimited free content. Not a bad deal.
Jake, I’ve got no problem with the question. If a kid can’t be bothered to *read the question* and actually see what it’s asking for, he should miss it. (Or, as Christy would put it, he/she should miss it. 🙂 ) The idea’s to prepare the kid for the real world, and the real world doesn’t come neatly packaged in two defined variables and an obvious query.
now hold on there a minute, mr. benton.
standardized tests in no way prepare kids for the real world (nor, i would submit, are they designed to do so). they prepare kids for standardized tests.
you want a math question that helps kids prepare for the real world? try this one on:
“Susan earns $27,000 per year* as a legal secretary. She has been offered an increase of either 4% immediately or 6% over the next six months. Find the more lucrative offer.
If Glen, her boss, has been asking her every morning for coffee with double cream, and Glen’s body mass index is known to be in the heart disease danger zone, show whether his risk is greater than hers.
If Glen has rested his hand lightly on Susan’s shoulder while asking her to accompany him for dinner nights they work late, prove that this relation is or is not improper. (And what of Glen and his loneliness? Solve that.)”
-from Problems, Rhea Tregebov
* amount given Canadian funds, in 1995
I’m with Salmon.
Standardized tests teach kids to take standardized tests. That’s it.
On a bored evening I was ego-surfing and was quite surprised, chuffed too, to see my poem quoted here…Strange world, isn’t it? RT