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The World's Worst Test Question

  • The essay and ensuing questions appeared in a New York statewide 8th grade reading exam.

    The Hare and the Pineapple

    by Daniel Pinkwater

    In olden times, the animals of the forest could speak English just like you and me. One day, a pineapple challenged a hare to a race.

    (I forgot to mention, fruits and vegetables were able to speak too.)

    A hare is like a rabbit, only skinnier and faster. This particular hare was known to be the fastest animal in the forest.

    “You, a pineapple have the nerve to challenge me, a hare, to a race,” the hare asked the pineapple. “This must be some sort of joke.”

    “No,” said the pineapple. “I want to race you. Twenty-six miles, and may the best animal win."

    "You aren't even an animal!" the hare said. “You're a tropical fruit!"

    “Well, you know what I mean,” the pineapple said.

    The animals of the forest thought it was very strange that tropical fruit should want to race a very fast animal.

    "The pineapple has some trick up its sleeve," a moose said.

    Pineapples don't have sleeves, an owl said

    "Well, you know what I mean,” the moose said. "If a pineapple challenges a hare to a race, it must be that the pineapple knows some secret trick that will allow it to win.”

    “The pineapple probably expects us to root for the hare and then look like fools when it loses,” said a crow. “Then the pineapple will win the race because the hare is overconfident and takes a nap, or gets lost, or something.”

    The animals agreed that this made sense. There was no reason a pineapple should challenge a hare unless it had a clever plan of some sort. So the animals, wanting to back a winner, all cheered for the pineapple.

    When the race began, the hare sprinted forward and was out of sight in less than a minute. The pineapple just sat there, never moving an inch.

    The animals crowded around watching to see how the pineapple was going to cleverly beat the hare. Two hours later when the hare cross the finish line, the pineapple was still sitting still and hadn't moved an inch.

    The animals ate the pineapple.

    MORAL: Pineapples don't have sleeves

    The questions that caused the most controversy, I posted below.

    1.
    The animals ate the pineapple most likely because they were

    A Hungry

    B Excited

    C Annoyed

    D Amused

    2.
    Which animal spoke the wisest words?

    A The hare

    B The moose

    C The crow

    D The owl

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/talking-pineapple-question-state-exam-stumps-article-1.1064657#ixzz1stUqH6TW

    This post was edited by dolphin_md on 4/23/2012 at 2:41 PM

    dolphin_md

  • 1. C
    2. C

    "It's just so hard," Greivis said. "It's my heart, my love. Maryland made me who I am."

    RaiseHigh

  • How was the crow wise? He thought the pineapple had tricks and would actually win. Clearly the answer is the owl. I think they ate the pineapple due to hunger. They just spent two hours without anything to eat/drink. That must have been refreshing. Who needs a reason to eat pineapple? I'm also sure it would be amusing to eat a talking pineapple. I go with Owl/Hungry.

    Titanterp ●

  • C
    D (because the "moral of the story" is what the owl said)

    But this is stupid.

    Terpes ●

  • Titanterp said...

    I go with Owl/Hungry.

    That's what I'd put too. I'm almost certain "owl" is right; not as sure about "hungry."

    UMTerp ●

  • Yeah seems like Hungry (A) would be right for the first question, because that is the only one that you can make a real strong argument for. They probably were annoyed, but I don't see how you can say that is the best answer based on what is available. Secondly, I'd say it was the Hare (A) because he spoke da troof. Pineapples can't win races, stupid fucking pineapple.

    CDeacMan

  • I like Hare and Annoyed.

    wisconsin terp

  • I counted at least two grammatical mistakes in that, and I just breezed over it.

    ledterrapin ●

  • I think it's owl/annoyed. Annoyed is the best of those choices because it says the animals all agreed with the crow's thought process that they didn't want to look foolish by rooting for the hare when it loses. Based on that, I think it can be assumed that they were annoyed because they looked foolish by rooting for the pineapple.

    mrterpfan

  • LOL. Were the test writers baked?

    gmanterps ●

  • Titanterp said...

    How was the crow wise? He thought the pineapple had tricks and would actually win. Clearly the answer is the owl. I think they ate the pineapple due to hunger. They just spent two hours without anything to eat/drink. That must have been refreshing. Who needs a reason to eat pineapple? I'm also sure it would be amusing to eat a talking pineapple. I go with Owl/Hungry.

    Because if you don't know the answer or don't care, the answer is C.

    "It's just so hard," Greivis said. "It's my heart, my love. Maryland made me who I am."

    RaiseHigh

  • I'm going to need to see Matt's kids responses.

    b1210k ●

  • gmanterps said...

    LOL. Were the test writers baked?

    From the pic, Pinkwater is definitely a smoker.

    To me, this is the remarkable part of the article...
    Deborah Meier, founder of the progressive Central Park East schools in New York City, who has lectured and written widely about testing, said the pineapple passage was “an outrageous example of what’s true of most of the items on any test, it’s just blown up larger.”

    In the world of testing, she said, it does not really matter whether an answer is right or wrong; the “right” answer is the one that field testing has shown to be the consensus answer of the “smart” kids. “It’s a psychometric concept,” she said.

    Even very intelligent children, she said, can sometimes overthink an answer and get it wrong.
    _________________
    I give state tests at least three times a year. In the "special ed" room I read the entire tests aloud. You'd be amazed at the poor quality of these tests. For one, they've been using the same passages on the English test for at least the past three years. So when I start on a short story some of the kids will say "Oh no not the one about the man's dying wife again!" (There is no story about a man's dying wife. I made that up for fear that someone would think I was leaking questions. But the kids say that about the recycled stories.)

    On a number of the questions on the English exam I would have said "A", for example, but could tell that they were looking for "B".

    I hate when lefties complain that standardized tests are completely invalid because there was a question about fishing or golf three years ago that was unfair to city kids, like those questions were the only things keeping scores down, but the tests really are remarkably crappy.

    This post was edited by mattw75 on 4/23/2012 at 5:28 PM

    Standardized Testing Is Blamed for Question About a Sleeveless Pineapple - NYTimes.com

    Part of an eighth-grade English test has baffled students and given ammunition to activists who say that it shows the absurdity of standardized testing.

    www.nytimes.com

    mattw75 ●

  • No way a rabbit could run a 2 hour marathon.

    sniper_terp

  • http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/04/20/daniel-pinkwater-on-pineapple-exam-nonsense-on-top-of-nonsense/

    High Noon

  • I did not find a definitive answer to #1 on the Internets.

    The answer for #2 is the Owl (I picked crow). Sure, the moral of the story is what the Owl said but his observation is in no ways "wise". If anything it's naive.

    My wife picked Owl and we actually got into a little argument over it.

    dolphin_md

  • Besides, by the logic that it is the owl...why not the Hare.

    Look at the similarities in the two passages below:

    “No,” said the pineapple. “I want to race you. Twenty-six miles, and may the best animal win."

    "You aren't even an animal!" the hare said. “You're a tropical fruit!"

    “Well, you know what I mean,” the pineapple said.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "The pineapple has some trick up its sleeve," a moose said.

    Pineapples don't have sleeves, an owl said

    "Well, you know what I mean,” the moose said. "If a pineapple challenges a hare to a race, it must be that the pineapple knows some secret trick that will allow it to win.”

    dolphin_md

  • Noah Cross ●

  • i have a worse question. this was for an economics class and this question makes no sense to me at all. here it is...

    Charlie is home one winter day studying for an exam. It is lunch time and he is hungry. Instead of making a sandwich from roast beef in the fridge, he drives to Taco Bell and spends $3 for 2 tacos, a burrito and a Dr. Pepper. He reasons that he can make $10 per hour cutting lawns so he really saves $7 by going to Taco Bell rather than preparing his own meal. What's wrong with Charlie's argument?

    A: The time he spends preparing his own meal has no value
    B: He might enjoy the food better at Taco Bell
    C: He probably couldn't sell this hour, on the spot, for $10
    D: He couldn't study if he stayed at home

    theres just so many things wrong with this question...does this make any sense to anyone?

    jonoghue

  • jonoghue said...

    C: He probably couldn't sell this hour, on the spot, for $10

    Charlie just isn't doing it right.

    TheRawDogg ●

  • More evidence of the NEA doing its best? Or worst?

    sigman58 ●

  • jonoghue said...

    i have a worse question. this was for an economics class and this question makes no sense to me at all. here it is...

    Charlie is home one winter day studying for an exam. It is lunch time and he is hungry. Instead of making a sandwich from roast beef in the fridge, he drives to Taco Bell and spends $3 for 2 tacos, a burrito and a Dr. Pepper. He reasons that he can make $10 per hour cutting lawns so he really saves $7 by going to Taco Bell rather than preparing his own meal. What's wrong with Charlie's argument?

    A: The time he spends preparing his own meal has no value
    B: He might enjoy the food better at Taco Bell
    C: He probably couldn't sell this hour, on the spot, for $10
    D: He couldn't study if he stayed at home

    theres just so many things wrong with this question...does this make any sense to anyone?

    That's easy it's C. You can't mow lawns in the winter. Everything else is plausible.

    Justerp ●

  • wtf is this

    MuddyLake

  • Justerp said...

    That's easy it's C. You can't mow lawns in the winter. Everything else is plausible.

    It can't be C. He cost himself $13 dollars because he lost an hour worth of work and spent $3.

    He probably lives in Mexico. Their lawn business is booming in the winter. Also where else can you buy 2 tacos a burrito and a soda for $3?

    The answer is A and its not even close.

    sniper_terp

  • Its definitely c as the other answers have nothing to do with econ

    TortugaGrande ●

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