Before I start writing about the latest absurdity in the SLE testing process, I want to share the latest news with you all… Krystal, who was convinced that she had not performed well enough at her oral interaction exam to get her B, contacted me this morning the minut her results came in!… And she made it!… Consequently, now, she is the proud owner of a BBB language profile and she only has to wait to see if the job offer will follow…. of course, it will not be fun either yet she can sleep at night because she went through this hiring process successfully… She shed so many tears in the past seven months!… She really deserves a break!
Congratulations Krystal!
Now, let’s talk about the last changes in the SLE tests… Sometimes I believe I am now obsessive compulsive with those… well… probably not that bad, but still… I do feel that there is something utterly wrong… something I just cannot grasp… Is it because I am missing something here?… Or is it simply because there is nothing to understand?… I tend to vote for the latter…
You probably remember me writing that the written expression test had been modified in September… prior to that, although not easy, the test was quite balanced… people who needed a B usually got it (and even a higher level in some cases) and those who needed a C also got it, if not an exemption. Then, in September, there were drastic modifications made to that exam… I had enough students who took the test during this period to state that it was the most difficult version of it… ever! All of them barely made it… and they all confirmed that it was very difficult and totally different from the test samples they had been practicing with on Campus Direct (which only features four samples of the 2007 80 question version of the written expression test… then considered the most difficult version of all!)…
Of course, having been informed of those changes early in September, I made sure that everyone who would have to take the written test would know and I pushed them even harder… This month I only had to prepare people for their oral interaction exams, except for Corey who took both his reading comprehension and written expression tests last Saturday… Therefore he was the first one to take the tests in October.
As soon as he went back home after his long day at CRA in Montreal, he gave me a call to update me… I have to say that I was stunned and I did not know what either think or say!
He told me that the first test he had taken that morning was the most difficult one and he had not been able to answer more than 59 questions. I thought he was talking about the written expression exam which, according to everyone, was a real nightmare… BUT NO! He was referring to the reading comprehension test… I could not believe it: I told him he was probably mistaking and he was talking about the written expression one… well… it was indeed the test that had been the easy one for years until now: reading comprehension!… I know there were discussions about changing this test too yet it had not materialized… apparently now it is reality though! He said that most people could hardly answer 40 or 45 answers… given that candidates to the level C need 50 correct answers, I guess many will be eliminated from that hiring process…
Then he told me that he had wrapped up the written expression test in 45 minutes, but he had chosen to stay and review his answers while everyone else had decided to leave… WHAT??? On top of it he said that, in paragraph C of the long questions, the differences in each version of the sentences were underlined… of course, it had saved him lots of time since he had not had to compare each one and look for those differences!…
All I can say is: «tant mieux pour lui!»… since he does need a C, taking an easier version of the written expression test was a bonus. I can hardly wait for hearing from Dick in Toronto who went for that test this morning… Dara will also be taking the two tests in Ottawa next Tuesday… it will be interesting to see if they had or will have the same tests that Corey had last week.
Later last weekend, I did have a chat with Krystal… I asked her if, in the version of the written expression test she had taken in late September, the differences were underlined… her answer was no of course!… Then she wrote: “It is so unfair!!! If I had taken the test a few days later, I would have had a C!!!”… and she was so right!
The so-called panel of experts at the PPC can make any changes they want, yet they should not modify the difficulty level of the tests… because it only invalidates them!… What will they need to open their eyes to reality and realize that they are experts of nothing when it comes to language skills assessment?… When will the Bureau de la vérificatrice générale make an audit of this non sense process?… Not only are we talking about a waste of tax payers’ money on something that is totally useless and invalid, but where are the candidates’ right to fairness and equity?… According to me, that right is violated big time!… and something will have to be done sooner or later… yet… I am not banking on it!… These people live in their own world and they are totally disconnected from reality… Anyone else could not sleep at night… but I am sure they do, convinced that they are the experts and they know what they are doing! It is pathetic, is it not?…
“L’aberration est de se croire objet unique et de faire de sa petitesse infinitésimale une puissance que jamais l’univers ne pourra reconnaître”
Yves Thériault
De quoi en perdre son Latin!!!
Before I start writing about the latest absurdity in the SLE testing process, I want to share the latest news with you all… Krystal, who was convinced that she had not performed well enough at her oral interaction exam to get her B, contacted me this morning the minut her results came in!… And she made it!… Consequently, now, she is the proud owner of a BBB language profile and she only has to wait to see if the job offer will follow…. of course, it will not be fun either yet she can sleep at night because she went through this hiring process successfully… She shed so many tears in the past seven months!… She really deserves a break!
Congratulations Krystal!
Now, let’s talk about the last changes in the SLE tests… Sometimes I believe I am now obsessive compulsive with those… well… probably not that bad, but still… I do feel that there is something utterly wrong… something I just cannot grasp… Is it because I am missing something here?… Or is it simply because there is nothing to understand?… I tend to vote for the latter…
You probably remember me writing that the written expression test had been modified in September… prior to that, although not easy, the test was quite balanced… people who needed a B usually got it (and even a higher level in some cases) and those who needed a C also got it, if not an exemption. Then, in September, there were drastic modifications made to that exam… I had enough students who took the test during this period to state that it was the most difficult version of it… ever! All of them barely made it… and they all confirmed that it was very difficult and totally different from the test samples they had been practicing with on Campus Direct (which only features four samples of the 2007 80 question version of the written expression test… then considered the most difficult version of all!)…
Of course, having been informed of those changes early in September, I made sure that everyone who would have to take the written test would know and I pushed them even harder… This month I only had to prepare people for their oral interaction exams, except for Corey who took both his reading comprehension and written expression tests last Saturday… Therefore he was the first one to take the tests in October.
As soon as he went back home after his long day at CRA in Montreal, he gave me a call to update me… I have to say that I was stunned and I did not know what either think or say!
He told me that the first test he had taken that morning was the most difficult one and he had not been able to answer more than 59 questions. I thought he was talking about the written expression exam which, according to everyone, was a real nightmare… BUT NO! He was referring to the reading comprehension test… I could not believe it: I told him he was probably mistaking and he was talking about the written expression one… well… it was indeed the test that had been the easy one for years until now: reading comprehension!… I know there were discussions about changing this test too yet it had not materialized… apparently now it is reality though! He said that most people could hardly answer 40 or 45 answers… given that candidates to the level C need 50 correct answers, I guess many will be eliminated from that hiring process…
Then he told me that he had wrapped up the written expression test in 45 minutes, but he had chosen to stay and review his answers while everyone else had decided to leave… WHAT??? On top of it he said that, in paragraph C of the long questions, the differences in each version of the sentences were underlined… of course, it had saved him lots of time since he had not had to compare each one and look for those differences!…
All I can say is: «tant mieux pour lui!»… since he does need a C, taking an easier version of the written expression test was a bonus. I can hardly wait for hearing from Dick in Toronto who went for that test this morning… Dara will also be taking the two tests in Ottawa next Tuesday… it will be interesting to see if they had or will have the same tests that Corey had last week.
Later last weekend, I did have a chat with Krystal… I asked her if, in the version of the written expression test she had taken in late September, the differences were underlined… her answer was no of course!… Then she wrote: “It is so unfair!!! If I had taken the test a few days later, I would have had a C!!!”… and she was so right!
The so-called panel of experts at the PPC can make any changes they want, yet they should not modify the difficulty level of the tests… because it only invalidates them!… What will they need to open their eyes to reality and realize that they are experts of nothing when it comes to language skills assessment?… When will the Bureau de la vérificatrice générale make an audit of this non sense process?… Not only are we talking about a waste of tax payers’ money on something that is totally useless and invalid, but where are the candidates’ right to fairness and equity?… According to me, that right is violated big time!… and something will have to be done sooner or later… yet… I am not banking on it!… These people live in their own world and they are totally disconnected from reality… Anyone else could not sleep at night… but I am sure they do, convinced that they are the experts and they know what they are doing! It is pathetic, is it not?…
“L’aberration est de se croire objet unique et de faire de sa petitesse infinitésimale une puissance que jamais l’univers ne pourra reconnaître”
Yves Thériault