GERMAN ARBITUR TEST IS OLD FASHIONED LONG WRITTEN PAPER \doc\web\98\10\germtest.txt Hmm, sounds like the very traditional long paper tests they used to give out before they came up with computerized multiple choice tests. Traditionally, computerized standardized tests in K12 are used to show how well a school, system, or state does, but does not have much effect on the student record. The SAT is a college placement test, it is a computer scored multiple choice test for colleges that want to find out how your school grades compare to an "objective" test of your a sample of facts and skills since grades vary widely from school to school. There is no pass point or A+ grading, you are simply ranked on a percentile scale, and each college takes those with the highest scores. The new tests are being used to "force" all students to perform above a minimum standard or be faced with some penalty such as remedial work or repeating the grade, or not getting a diploma. In reaction to the "standardized tests" which are viewed as a variety of evil IQ tests which are harmful to poor and minorities, the new tests require "problem solving" of multiple step and multiple skills, Ironically, the poor and minorities have the worst problems with such complex questions. The questions are short, but may or may not have one or many correct answers. The questions are scored by "trained" scorers who are trusted to (but I don't ) know the difference between responses which are not, partially ,fully, or better than correct. The passing "standard" is set by a committee of educators who by a political process decide what % correct is needed to meet exceed or fall below "standard". One apparent problem is that the tests are made very difficult and 4th grade tests appear to require skills from much higher grade levels than are supposed to be on the test. The purpose of the test is not to measure how well students have learned established curriculums, but rather to "define" what a new "reformed" curriculum should teach that does not exist yet, forcing schools to throw out old methods and replace them with new ones. Testing material that is known to not be taught also has a big impact on the poor and minorities. Furthermore, such tests appear to get easier with time, leading many to believe the real reason for the test is to initially shock people into buying into reforms, and then "proving" that it works since the scores get better over time. Each state is doing their own test, but they are all patterned after the "authentic" or "alternative" assessment movement, and all share most of the flaws The theory, unlike the German system which uses tests to sort out the best students into 3 tracks and into the best universities, is that all students will meet the "highest international standards" by the time reforms are complete. This would be like expected all Germans to pass the Arbitur, or not get any kind of diploma at all. Unlike Germany where a 10th grade exit test is required to exit at 10th grade, most US states require 10th grade skills for a 12th grade graduation, evidently because Marc Tucker first proposed this model based on the German Mittle Reife. He suggested stopping education at G10 for those that did not pass, but this was not adopted by any state. Traditionally, all you needed to get a high school diploma was spending time, taking a few required courses, and getting a "d" average which means you did poorly, but at least learned something. Now some are moving this to a "C" which means either "average" or "minimally but acceptable", plus a "passing" test score on a exit test. Most are accepting this without much controversy. Exit tests typically include algebra and some college-track science, there is no separate test for college-bound or vocational students. Massachusetts has posted their exit test, but it is a 4Meg file at http://www.doe.mass.edu/testing/mcasamp1197.html Where can one get an example of a German Mittle Reife or Arbitur test? Is it correct that every teacher gives their own test, but they must be approved by the education ministry, which also checks scoring? Such a system must be very expensive to administer if every teacher gives a different test. From: "Roland & Christine Wolf" To: Subject: Re: German certificate Date sent: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 22:14:17 +0100 > Hello, I forgot to ask if Germany has one national test that you > must pass to get either a Arbitur or Mittle Reife. > Hi, Arthur, long time no see... > Do you just have to pass enough tests and get good enough > grades to pass, or is there a universal "exit exam"? US states > are now adopting "exit exams" at a 10th grade level to graduate. > Marc Tucker had proposed a national exam. > Both the Abitur and the Mittlere Reife are exams themselves. The Mittlere Reife is a series of test taken at the end of the 10 th grade. You have to pass in all subjects but one, meaning that one "5" , which is your "E" IMHO is OK, but any more and you fail. If the tests in any subject are bad, or if the teacher cannot deceide between two results, an oral test is performed too. The Abitur is a series of tests in 4 subjects. Two of them are in the subjects you took advanced courses in during the last three years. The other two subjects can be chosen by the student with- in certain guidelines. Three subjects are tested in written tests, which usually last 6 hours, while the fourth subject is tested orally. If either the student or the teacher want to, any other subject can be tested orally also. As in the Mittlere Reife, one "E" is ok, any more try again. The results of your tests as well as the results of the other subjects over the last two years are calculated into an average, the so called "Abiturschnitt". That one is important to get a place at University in certain subjects, like medicine. In order to get a place you have to have A- or better. > I suspect that there is no such single exam in Germany, nor is > there a committee that sets the passing "standard". > Every teacher has to send the Ministry of Education three different exam proposals. He has to explain what the standard of the class in question is and what standard he sets for the results, i.e what level of proficency constitutes an "A" and so forth. The Ministry will check whether the test meets their minimum standards at all, and if they do, they will send back two proposals. These two are presented to the class, who may chose individually either of them. The teacher checks the tests and then sends them to the ministry for co-checking. > Are "performance based" tests popular in Germany? These > are scored "holisitically" as falling short ,equalling, or surpassing > "expectations" and are touted as being superior to multiple choice > tests which are graded in rank order without being assigned a > level such as a grade. > Mutiple choice tests are quite unknown at German schools. They are used with private comapnies assesing employee-canidates, by driving instructors and sometimes at the Berufsschulen. >From the 6th, in some subjects 7th grade onwards, students are expected to write presentations about the questions forming the test. Examples are an interpretation/analysis of an historical text or showing whether historical facts show up in literature. My test for Abitur in history was the text of the (in-) famous Goebbes speech "Wollt Ihr den totalen Krieg" which had to be analysed in context with the political and military situation of that time. I remember to have written some 20 pages of about legal format. While the teacher has to formulate standards before the test is taken, the approach is quite similar to what you cite. The Gauss distribution is often used as a model for that. How do the tests at the end of high school lool kike in the US ? Take care, Roland Wolf From: "Roland & Christine Wolf" To: Subject: Re: What's in the German CIM Test Date sent: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 08:38:45 +0100 > Hmm, sounds like the very traditional long paper tests they used > to give out before they came up with computerized multiple choice > tests. > Yes, it is. We tried the Multiple Choice Tests here too. While the teachers liked the easy scoring on these tests, the consensus is that long tests force the students to aquire more skills in formulating answers. In fact all tests, not only the German or english ones are among other things rated by spelling and style. It makes some sense when you see the school as a preperation for University, where you have to preseent papers as well. > > The new tests are being used to "force" all students to perform > above a minimum standard or be faced with some penalty such > as remedial work or repeating the grade, or not getting a diploma. > Sounds like the German system. You are taking 2 tests per subject and year, 60 % of the results are taken from that. If you fail in more than 2 subjects, you go back a class. Same goes for Abitur or Mittlere Reife, but you are allowed only one subject. Remedial work is voluntary. > In reaction to the "standardized tests" which are viewed as a variety of > evil IQ tests which are harmful to poor and minorities, the new tests > require "problem solving" of multiple step and multiple skills, > Ironically, the poor and minorities have the worst problems with such > complex questions. > The problems of minorities play a smaller role in German school policies. Germany had a massive influx of immigrants over the last two decades, and we are just learning to cope with the problems in education they brought with them. Some primary schools in the big cities are having more students who don`t speak German well than native speakers. Since that means that they don`t score very good in primary school, they are mostly send to the Hauptschule. This isn`t a good idea, so we will have to form classes with non-german speakers and teach them German first before anything else. Dual-language education is a non-option, since we have immigrants from so many different countries. The Abitur is so old and traditional that it is a bit "above" political concerns. My children will probably have to take an Abitur that is not so different from mine. > The questions are short, but may or may not have one or many > correct answers. The questions are scored by "trained" scorers > who are trusted to (but I don't ) know the difference between > responses which are not, partially ,fully, or better than correct. > The questions in German Abitur tend to be quite short either, see examples below, but you have to write your own answers. This allowes the teacher some leeway in interpreting your answers. > The passing "standard" is set by a committee of educators who > by a political process decide what % correct is needed to meet > exceed or fall below "standard". > This standard was set by the ministry of education long ago. To pass a test, Abitur or otherwise, you have to score a 50 % or better result. An a is anything above 91 % and so forth. Since most tests are written, the teacher has to sum up what answers could be expected from the students for the given test. He than ranks the answers to percentiles. In case of the Abitur all this is checked by the ministry of education. > > Where can one get an example of a German Mittle Reife or > Arbitur test? > That is the problem, since every class gets it`s very own test and they are kept by the school for a couple of years. But to give you an idea, my Abitur tests looked like this: History: The complete text of the Speech "Wollt Ihr den totalen Krieg" by Goebbels. The question went like this: Show how this speech fits in the political, iedeological and military situation of that time. It was expected that you showed the connection (while not mentioned in that speech) to the battle of Stalingrad, the bombing champain against Germany and the loss of the Afrika Korps. It was also reqired to show the totalitaristic character of the German gouvernment by placing the text in comtext. It required an answer of about 15-20 pages. I ranked 13 out of 15 points. English: An analysis of "Macbeth", which we had covered half a year ago. The text was provided. The question: Show the motivations of the main characters. Cite the main characters and explain why you think they are meant as main characters. I wrote some 13 pages about that, and if I remember correctly, that was the average. I scored 9 points out of 15. Chemistry: We were given some hair, haircurler , the necessary lotions and a hairdrier ( no joke, but it looked funny) We were required to aplly a perm wave to the hair. Then we haid to explain (in writing) how the chemical process had made the hair curl u permanently (Changes in the creatinin chains and so forth) The rest were a couple of questions concerning mostly organical chemistry. One was calculation the molar weight of oxygen for experimental data. I scored 10 out of 15 points. Geology (hard to translate, in fact this is called Erdkunde in German aand teaches facts about foreign countries like social makeup, some history climate and the like) This was my oral test and I was given the questions with one hour to prepare. The test went for 45 mins. The questions were: - How is it possible that it snows in Florida in Winter while this rarely happenes in shouthern Italy. (Short answer: The Alps are in the way) - What is a Hurricane, where do they happen, how do they start and what do they look like. - What are the current problems of the german economy and how does it comapre to the US. I scored 9 out of 15. That was my Abitur. While every Abitur is different, that was is considered about standard here. Not much changed since I took it, but for a stronger restriction of subjects you might choose from. > Is it correct that every teacher gives their own test, but they must be > approved by the education ministry, which also checks scoring? Such a > system must be very expensive to administer if every teacher gives a > different test. Of yes, it is. In fact, since he gives two tests for the students to choose from, it is even more work. That it probably why they pay our teachers very well.