Lawsuit Alleges Appraisal Institute Has Given States Fraudulent Test Results For Years

[alebrewer]

I have always contended that good multiple choice exam questions should contain one nonsensical response, one iffy response, and two responses that could be correct. I was always a bit surprised at how many nonsensical selections were made by college level test takers.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I think multiple choice tests are always like that.

 

[CGinMN]

The worst is when the test questions are thrown together by someone who you begin to understand doesn't know the material very well so there is ambiguity, and then they include a "none of the above" option when you know that's probably not the answer they're looking for but it is technically correct. So, rather than it being about the material, you are trying to figure out what they think the correct answer is. McKissock definitely has this problem. Or sometimes the material in the course was written years ago, and the practices have changed, and you don't know whether the exam questions have been updated or not.

 

[Elliott]

Since the Appraisal Institute is running PAREA, will the PAREA license be considered equivalent to a 'participation trophy'?

 

[George Hatch]

I've written courses and multiple choice exams and edited a couple test-prep study guides in the past. And it's surprisingly difficult to word a 4-response multiple choice selection in a manner that reduces the possibility of 2 right answers. The starting point for doing that is when addressing the question in the course content itself. Don't make sweeping generalizations for situations where you already know there are exceptions to the rule. If there are known and obvious exceptions to the rule IRL then you want to say so in the text, and then you want to include the same qualifier in the test selections.

It's unwise for a course developer to assume that everyone taking the course is a raw recruit who will simply take your word for everything without referring to their own professional experience. I think that's where the awkward and cringey test questions come up. The text in the coursework was inaccurate and the "correct" answer was derived from that.

Another trick to writing a multiple choice question is to avoid using responses of unequal length so as to defeat the test taking strategy of choosing the longest or more detailed response as being the correct answer.

 

[chad hampton]

I remember taking engineering and mathematics standardized exams in my teens and 20s. Best piece of advice I ever got was divide the number of questions by the total minutes of the test and if it’s taking you longer than that to answer any one question you’re on the wrong path. that was especially true for the SAT. Back then if it took you more than about 60 seconds to come up with the answer, you were doing too much work. they were tricking you.

 

[Mejappz]

Try not to laugh too hard.

 

[Bobby Bucks]

A word of advice to the gods who create the exams, most of us mere mortals discovered early in life that if the question has 4 possible answers and you're stumped, the old mantra "when in doubt check C" works more than 25% of the time.

 

[djd09]

Try not to laugh too hard.

View attachment 98595

Appraisal Institute Reinstated as Sponsor of The Appraisal Foundation​

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WASHINGTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The Appraisal Foundation today announced the Board of Trustees voted to reinstate the Appraisal Institute as an Appraisal Sponsor of The Appraisal Foundation.

"I am pleased the Appraisal Institute is rejoining The Appraisal Foundation as a Sponsor," said The Appraisal Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Randall Kopfer. "Our organizations share a commitment to protecting the public trust in the appraisal profession, and I look forward to our renewed partnership. The Appraisal Foundation's work would not be possible without our Sponsors. I thank all of them for their continued guidance and support of the Foundation."

"The Appraisal Institute is very pleased to rejoin TAF as a Sponsor during this exciting and challenging time for the valuation profession," said Appraisal Institute President Jody Bishop, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS. "Returning as a Sponsor allows our organization to immediately strengthen its ongoing collaboration with TAF in recent years and to amplify our joint efforts with other key stakeholders now and for years to come."

The Appraisal Foundation now has fourteen Sponsors, including the Appraisal Institute. These Sponsors provide professional input to the Foundation's Board of Trustees and the two technical boards charged with maintaining the standards and qualifications of the appraisal profession.

can public trust wait until a trail....

 

[Mejappz]

can public trust wait until a trial

Not when a $500,000 kickback is on the table.