Jean Shepherd - Test Taking 1976

A professor wrote Jean a letter saying they should get rid of "evil" tests. Shep counters saying tests are key to weed out the people who can't do things
Starts at: 2:16
Shep is a successful test taker. We hear the time that Jean took a test so fast he was excused for the rest of the day, which caused great concern from the faculty...
Story Starts at: 5:08
The worst test that Jean ever had was in Organic Chemistry
Story Starts at: 19:30
[Audio is public domain, Photo © by Roy Schatt]

[@GeraldM_inNC]

I can confirm Shep's experience with multiple guess. Give me an essay test or fill in the blank test on a subject I've studied hard and I'll do miserably. But give me a multiple guess test on a subject I know nothing about and I'll ace it. My PSAT (the junior year of h.s. predecessor to the SAT) my score was so high that I received automatic admission to MENSA and was able to skip straight to college after my junior year. My Graduate Record Exam (also multiple guess) my verbal portion was 99th percentile. My GRE music was something like 75th percentile even though I have little interest in music later than 1600, which was most of the exam. I think I also took the LSAT out of curiosity and aced that too despite never studying law. But years later I egregiously flunked the Notary Public exam, despite having studied the booklet, which was fill in the blank. I wasn't remotely close to passing! As Shep said, it's possible to have a knack for guessing right that makes people think you are smarter or more knowledgeable about a subject than you really are.

[@ricpic1]

I don't think he was talking about guessing. He was just a good test taker.

[@GeraldM_inNC]

@@ricpic1 Only on multiple choice exams, not tests in generating. He specifically says so.

[@gregshirley-jeffersonboule6258]

Lost at C

[@ДмитрийДепутатов]

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