From: Scott Morris (swm@emanon.com)
Date: Sun May 15 2005 - 15:10:40 GMT-3
Whenever you take great math which involves a theorhetical number pulled
from someplace where the sun doesn't shine, we end up with "statistics"!
While yes, the truth is in the numbers, they can also be manipulated to tell
any story you'd like.
With the 'no partial credit' rule, we very often find people who "came
really close" But assuming you have 20 point sections at 5 points each, and
each point section has 10 items. If I successfully complete 9 of the 10 in
EVERY section, technically I completed 90% of the exam correctly. However
my score would be 0. So thinking you came close and really coming close are
two differerent ideas!
Personally, I think time would be better spent figuring out how traffic
shaping works, or tracking down whoever came up with the theory about token
buckets so we can burn them in effigy. But if we want to analyze the crap
out of a score report and postulate on the global woes about who does or
doesn't pass, that's an individual's decision. Just not one (IMHO) that is
well-placed.
In the end, 80 points matter. And when people pass you never see your
score. So you can believe you got 97 points all you want, but you REALLY
may only have 80. Concentrate on passing. Score reports are meant to give
you an indicator of what areas you need more work in...
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Daniel Ginsburg
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 1:46 PM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: Dillon's open critique about CCIE lab exam
On 5/14/05, Dillon Yang <dillony@gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]
> 1.1 Theoretic analysis
> Regarding the scores of any exam, it is subjected to the normal
> distribution. For normal distribution, the F(x) indicate the
> probability from 0.0000 to 1.0000, the x is from 3.09 to 3.09, for
> example, when x is 0, the F(x) that means all probability below 0 is
> 0.5, and when x is 1.854, the F(x) will be about 0.9682. You can find
> the value by a common statistical table.
> Dillon can standardization change the scores that is from 0 to 100 to
> the x in F(x) by the formula x=(S-u)/b. The u means the average of all
> scores, and the b is the something of tolerance. Because the average
> of a score must be 50, so Dillon get u equal 50, and Dillon have
> 3.09=(100-50)/b, so the b equal 16.1813. Now Dillon can get that x
> equals 1.854 when the S equals 80, 1.854=(80-50)/16.1813. That means
> the 0.9682 of the total candidate will be rejected if Cisco stick to
> its rule of 80. Dillon n other words, only 0.0318 of the total
> candidates can pass the lab exam if the 80-pass rule is the truth.
There's insufficiently grounded assumption here: you postulate that the
average score is 50. I believe that it is more than that. Remember how often
you hear "I almost nailed it, but missed only few points". I don't think
these people are liars. If average is more than 50 then assuming normal
distribution much more than 3.18% of attempts are successful.
[snip]
> 2 Quirky Wording
> Maybe Cisco noticed that something abnormity, and adopted the
> nonsensical wording. Cisco maybe believe that the changing wording can
> hold out the cheating without essential modification. Yes, essential
> modifications will be more expensive than only changing wording, but
> we are not all the master degree of literature, even if we are not all
> that english is his mother tongue. Remember? Dillon n the written
> exam, the candidate will have more 30 minutes if his mother tongue is
> not english while the american can get only 2 hours. Why not in lab
> exam?
> The wording is really efficient for those cheating, and for those that
> not cheating, too. Did Cisco ever think about that if an engineer
> designs or implements a network for his clients, his client maybe ask
> unintelligible questions or requirements but he will explain it
> throughout with common wording to help the engineer to finish the job.
> Now, CCIE lab exam gradually becomes a english exam, not technique
> exam, Dillon MHO.
While I'm not a native speaker and my English is way too far from perfect I
found wording of the exam clear enough to understand almost every task. When
I wasn't sure I asked proctor who was very nice and answered most of my
questions.
-- dg #14229
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