"From 2010 onwards, secondary school will be more flexible. This is good, so that kids have more time to talk about Lady Gaga or Justin Timberlake, instead of mathematics or history. Therefore, this is how exams will be. Argentina advances.
1) Multiple choice questions with a small help.
Question: What was Albert Einstein's biggest contribution?
a) The theory of relativity. b) He donated 300AR$ to Goodwill. c) He gave 600 yellow roses to Oprah.
Apart from these alternatives, there will be an additional comment to help the student. For example: "Let's see whaaaaaaat the right answer is" or "Remember who Aaaaaaalbert Einstein was".
2) Multiple choice without multiple choice.
Question: What's the current president of Argentina?
a) Cristina Kirchner b) Cristina Kirchner c) Cristina Kirchner
This way, not only does the student answer correctly but he also ends up learning who the president of Argentina is, which as everyone knows is... is...
3) Simplification of the multiple choice
Question: Which country does Argentina border with to the west?
a) Chile
This way, there's no place for doubts or witty alternatives coming from professors who only wish to ruin the student and his future career.
4) Disappearance of multiple choice.
Question: Which country called Canada has the city of Ottawa as its capital?
Careful, it's not that easy! You have to find the data inside the question, you have to dive in the sentence, and this is good so that students learn to investigate and know how to look for information inside the very sentence.
5) Multiple choice inside the multiple choice.
Question: Which of these works was written by Shakespeare?
a) The Odyssey b) Romeo and Juliet c) Martín Fierro d) Sexus e) The smartest Galician jokes f) Frankenstein g) The La Paloma Tenement
It is here where the student can opt for three answers. For example, he picks: a, b and f.
If any of those three is correct, the answer is valid.
This multiple choice inside a multiple choice can be wider, taking all answers but one. For example, the student says: "d" is wrong. And with that it'd be already answered.
6) Answer auction (special for private schools with wealthy kids)
Question: What's the capital of the province of Buenos Aires?
And the answer goes into an auction where students make bids. The highest bidder receives the right answer to that question. One can bid for the necessary answers to attain a 4/10 mark. If he wants to spend more money and get a 10, it's his money so let him do what he wants.
7) Choose the answer you know.
The question is formulated this way:
Who was ______________________________?
And the student writes a question pertinent to a topic he knows about on the blank. Then he writes the answer.
If he only knows how to write the question, and unfortunately doesn't know the answer, he gets half a point, due to the important achievement of managing to write a question.
With these changes, at least exams won't be as traumatic for students, and we won't have to read those Argentine psychic health-altering polls where they say we're all donkeys."
Source: Los exámenes de un secundario menos exigente - Taringa! (Translated and "globalized" by me)
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