Point deduction

To clarify : Resolved: Point deduction is a better test marking system than the one currently in place Pro proposes a scheme where the value of questions is 2.5* rank if correct, -2.5*rank if attempted and are wrong and -rank if just left out. There is a very simple illustration as to why this system is extremely imbalanced. A1) Let us make a test with 10 questions, all of equal rank. The student looking at the test sees two questions that are both easy to answer and they are certain of the answer. They thus answer those two questions and the spend the rest of the time wondering when will the Reptoids will contact them so they can ascend to the Illuminati. Here is the amazing part, the percentage score they get is 68% and they pass (in the comments Pro clarified that 65% is the pass mark) with only two out of ten questions, or 20% of the testing material answered. If clarification is required, their percentage mark is (2.5 * rank * 10 - 8 * rank)/(2.5 * rank * 10) which reduces to 1-8/25 = 0.68 and 68% Or to look at it another way, they start off with 25 marks, they leave out eight questions and thus they score (25-8)/25 = 68%. Now if Pro attempts to counter with, oh wait what if they get one of them wrong, well yes they fail, but this is just mean to illustrate just how imbalanced the system is in terms of what it will produce and this is because the reward for getting an answer right is so much higher than just leaving it out. If one wants a more general refutation then just consider the following; this is a list of percentages for answering the questions right from one question to ten and leaving the rest out - 64, 68, 72, 76, 80, 84, 88, 92, 96, 100. Note the score starts off at 64% for just one question right! This means if the test was only nine questions then you would actually pass with just one question answered and the rest left out. Now to complete this with more rigor you would want to use the general formula for expected gain (summation of expected gain * probability of gain) but even without this it should b obvious that they proposed system is extremely imbalanced and leads to scenarios which are even on the surface just plain odd and even Michael Tsarion would consider it too unbelievable to support. If this is not convincing enough to refute the resolution then the additional two arguments can be made : A2) It is very difficult for a student to determine what to do in limited time. In the real world the student is often in a situation where they are deciding which questions to attempt as they are pressed for time and as the hour draws near they are thinking should they recheck or continue with new questions. With the current marking system this determination is not overly complicated but nearly impossible to figure out what to do for the student during a test. Imagine if you had to start figuring out what your best path is if the questions have different ranks and you think you know one question maybe 60% certain but it has rank 5 and you know another one of rank 9 but only 40% certainty and you know only almost perfect at 95% certainty but it is of rank 1. Trying to figure out what to do here is almost worst than trying to answer the questions. A3) Marking the tests is much more complicated One of the deciding factors in how much testing to do is actually the amount of time to mark, grade and tabulate scores, more so when there are grading curves. The above system makes it much more demanding on teachers as they now have to multiply ranks, take into account attempts vs blanks and of course when they are making the tests they have to look at question ranks and decide and adjust to make a fair test. This is a lot more work and as the above shows it produces an imbalanced system anyway. To close with a quote, David Icke was asked for commentary on the resolution that such a scheme would offer a significant advantage : "What, that is insane - no one would believe that, stop bothering me with trivial questions. Wait, did you just blink with a second eyelid - REPTOID!" In short : -the system is extremely complicated for the student -it puts more work on the teachers -it is severely imbalanced The resolution is negated.