Errors in the tests

[Zarghuna]

Hi
It's the elementary level no. 3. Each time I take the test I get new answers marked corect. This is totally unfair :(
I selected "listing" this time because it was marked correct the last time i took the test, now when I've taken it again, the answer has changed!

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

This is a test on tag questions, and the comma separating the tag question from the rest of the sentence is missing in all 10 questions:
http://www.english-test.net/esl/learn/english/grammar/ei035/esl-test.php
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Hi Zarghuna
I can't tell you whether anything has changed in that test, but when I looked at it, all of the answers were correctly given and the MP3 recording also has all of the correct answers.
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

Thanks a lot pointing out those things -- we've changed them and the new version will go online soon.
Regards,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: The cycle race

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten and Alan

It seems that you are completely against editing and peer review prior to publishing a test. I don't understand this at all. I do understand that there is a lot of thought and effort required to produce a test, but it seems to me that a final critical step in the test production process is pretty consistently omitted here. This fact seems completely inexplicable for a site having English tests as a primary focus.

http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic29871.html
In the test question above, I agree with Dan that there is no clear-cut "correct" answer. The word "always" seems just as acceptable (possibly even more so) to me as the word "ever". This test sentence should be edited, and I think this sentence is a good example of a situation in which peer review would have been very beneficial. To tell a test-taker that the only correct answer (in the test sentence above) is "ever" simply because the test focuses on the words "ever" and "never" doesn't make sense -- especially since the words "always" and "sometimes" are correct answers elsewhere in the very same test.

It's nice when the author of a test explains what he or she had in mind when writing a test, but a test should not require an ESL student to be clairvoyant in order to find the correct answer. As I've said many times in the past, I think that presenting a completely valid option as "wrong" hinders rather than helps an ESL student, and it defeats the purpose of the test.
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Yankee]

Some adjusting is needed here:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic29941.html

Both of these tests are still waiting for repair:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic789.html
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic1890.html#110456
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I'm not sure whether you can or even want to repair this:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic29979.html#111206
http://www.english-test.net/esl/lesson-plans/phonetics_e-a.html
The word "mad" is completely out of place in that recording.
If you decide to fix the recording, the "mad-made" pair could be replaced by "met-mate", for example.
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Yankee]

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English-test.net still has not corrected the blatant error in this test.
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EDIT:
Moving this post from the test thread (where I originally posted it) to this thread does not repair the error in the test.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Yankee]

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Still waiting for the blatant error in this test to be corrected:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic1890-15.html#115947
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

Hi Amy

[Yankee]

[Alan]

I am referring to your allegation that we are misleading and misinforming ESL students, which you must know is complete rubbish. I have enough evidence to show that is not the case.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Yankee]

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

[Alan]

Hi,

I am referring to your allegation that we are misleading and misinforming ESL students, which you must know is complete rubbish. I have enough evidence to show that is not the case.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Yankee]

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Do people know and/or use the term "dumb blonde" in the UK?

(Actually, that was a rhetorical question because I already know that they do.) ;)

Your test still gives incorrect information to test-takers, by the way:

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

Instead of investing all your time and energy telling us that we are misleading our users you could have finally created at least one test or any other piece of material yourself.

TOEIC listening, talks: A mail voice message asks for confirmation of the receipt of a fax