Once again, I am frustrated… if not simply angry with the whole PSC SLE testing process and inconsistencies… Fortunately, in this maze of confusion, I have my true happy moments… On Monday, I received an email from Amelia who got her required B in oral interaction…
Congratulations Amelia!
Then, earlier today, I got a message from Dick in Toronto who got his C in both written expression and oral interaction… He is now the proud owner of CCC levels, consequently he should get the job position he applied for in Ottawa…
Congratulations Dick!
I now realize that my students’ rate of success at those absurd tests is very high!… Some would say that I am a real expert at coaching them… am I? I think so… yet I know how much effort and work my trainees put in their preparation and I tend to give them most of the credit for their success!…
In spite of the good news that come in on a regular basis, I am still quite disturbed with what I see and what I hear… The SLE testing process is certainly not improving!… The more the so-called panel of experts at the PPC brings change, deeper into confusion and irregularities they get in… It would not be that serious if their decisions were not affecting so many people’s future… who cares if some individuals are incompetent, as long as it stays among themselves?… If it were the case, I would not be so loud… actually I would probably take it with a grain a salt and I would make fun of this ridiculous process… Yet, here, we are talking about a system that is affecting thousands of people across Canada… therefore I cannot just sit here and observe without saying something.
Dick did not mention about the written test he took last week, therefore I cannot tell if he had the same one Corey had had in Montreal a few days earlier… but Dara sent me a message saying that here, in Ottawa, she had the same tests as before… meaning that the reading comprehension exam was way too easy and the written expression one was way too difficult: the exact same comments I had had from Melody, Candice, Edna and Krystal… and she took her tests yesterday!… Therefore the tests Corey took in Montreal almost two weeks ago were totally different from the ones that have been around for a couple months (written expression) and for years (reading comprehension).
Last week, one of my students came across some information concerning the reading comprehension test… apparently, it will be changed in April 2010… this is no news since this rumor has been circulating for almost a year now…
Yet, before implementing the new version, the PPC is running some kind of pilot project… they are inviting civil servants to volunteer and take the new test… if they ever get a higher level, they will be granted this new level… but if they get a lower level than the one they already have, they will not be penalized and they will maintain their current level… It makes sense!… I have no problems at all with pilot projects as long as they do not affect people’s future…
What happened in Montreal 10 days ago?… Why did the candidates take two tests that were absolutely not the ones that are given right now in the National Capital?… Corey told me that there were around 50 people being tested that day: all candidates for job positions within the PSC… in other words, none of them were civil servants… Would it be that the PPC used these people to test their new exams?… I thought about it and, unfortunately, I could not come up with another explanation… According to Corey, no one managed to finish the reading comprehension test in 90 minutes… and many did not even go beyond questions 40 or 45… since the cut off mark for the C level is 50, what does it tell you?… Many people there will be eliminated from the hiring process based on the fact that they failed this test!… Is it fair?… On the other hand, is it fair that they took a very easy written expression version of the exam while many others here struggle and sweat to get their levels?… Are all these people the scapegoats of the PPC?…
It does not take a doctor in linguistics to state that this testing process is invalid… unless everyone is taking the same tests, the results do not reflect anything except the true incompetence of a bunch of idiots who have no clue whatsoever about how to design tests that are assessing language abilities…
Anyways… before I get angrier, I will wrap up this post… because, if there is one thing I cannot stand, it is unfairness… and this whole process is utterly wrong and unfair!…
“Taire ce qu’il ne faut pas dire et savoir supporter l’injustice, voilà des choses difficiles”
Chilon
Unfairness, Incompetence or… Both?
Once again, I am frustrated… if not simply angry with the whole PSC SLE testing process and inconsistencies… Fortunately, in this maze of confusion, I have my true happy moments… On Monday, I received an email from Amelia who got her required B in oral interaction…
Congratulations Amelia!
Then, earlier today, I got a message from Dick in Toronto who got his C in both written expression and oral interaction… He is now the proud owner of CCC levels, consequently he should get the job position he applied for in Ottawa…
Congratulations Dick!
I now realize that my students’ rate of success at those absurd tests is very high!… Some would say that I am a real expert at coaching them… am I? I think so… yet I know how much effort and work my trainees put in their preparation and I tend to give them most of the credit for their success!…
In spite of the good news that come in on a regular basis, I am still quite disturbed with what I see and what I hear… The SLE testing process is certainly not improving!… The more the so-called panel of experts at the PPC brings change, deeper into confusion and irregularities they get in… It would not be that serious if their decisions were not affecting so many people’s future… who cares if some individuals are incompetent, as long as it stays among themselves?… If it were the case, I would not be so loud… actually I would probably take it with a grain a salt and I would make fun of this ridiculous process… Yet, here, we are talking about a system that is affecting thousands of people across Canada… therefore I cannot just sit here and observe without saying something.
Dick did not mention about the written test he took last week, therefore I cannot tell if he had the same one Corey had had in Montreal a few days earlier… but Dara sent me a message saying that here, in Ottawa, she had the same tests as before… meaning that the reading comprehension exam was way too easy and the written expression one was way too difficult: the exact same comments I had had from Melody, Candice, Edna and Krystal… and she took her tests yesterday!… Therefore the tests Corey took in Montreal almost two weeks ago were totally different from the ones that have been around for a couple months (written expression) and for years (reading comprehension).
Last week, one of my students came across some information concerning the reading comprehension test… apparently, it will be changed in April 2010… this is no news since this rumor has been circulating for almost a year now…
Yet, before implementing the new version, the PPC is running some kind of pilot project… they are inviting civil servants to volunteer and take the new test… if they ever get a higher level, they will be granted this new level… but if they get a lower level than the one they already have, they will not be penalized and they will maintain their current level… It makes sense!… I have no problems at all with pilot projects as long as they do not affect people’s future…
What happened in Montreal 10 days ago?… Why did the candidates take two tests that were absolutely not the ones that are given right now in the National Capital?… Corey told me that there were around 50 people being tested that day: all candidates for job positions within the PSC… in other words, none of them were civil servants… Would it be that the PPC used these people to test their new exams?… I thought about it and, unfortunately, I could not come up with another explanation… According to Corey, no one managed to finish the reading comprehension test in 90 minutes… and many did not even go beyond questions 40 or 45… since the cut off mark for the C level is 50, what does it tell you?… Many people there will be eliminated from the hiring process based on the fact that they failed this test!… Is it fair?… On the other hand, is it fair that they took a very easy written expression version of the exam while many others here struggle and sweat to get their levels?… Are all these people the scapegoats of the PPC?…
It does not take a doctor in linguistics to state that this testing process is invalid… unless everyone is taking the same tests, the results do not reflect anything except the true incompetence of a bunch of idiots who have no clue whatsoever about how to design tests that are assessing language abilities…
Anyways… before I get angrier, I will wrap up this post… because, if there is one thing I cannot stand, it is unfairness… and this whole process is utterly wrong and unfair!…
“Taire ce qu’il ne faut pas dire et savoir supporter l’injustice, voilà des choses difficiles”
Chilon