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Comment by jasode | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for the link. I went through the 5 intro sample questions and clicked on all 45 questions in the next section. It looks like basic math grade-school curriculum such as fractions, percentages, arithmetic, etc.

I didn't see any high-school subjects like trigonometry, or algebra like completing the square to solve a quadratic equation, or adding matrices.

It's definitely not like the challenging college tests (SAT/GMAT/GRE).

The first 5 questions I saw were:

  What is the value of
  7.05+5+1.5+2.05+4.57.05+5+1.5+2.05+4.5  ?

  What is
  17.86÷0.19  ?

  What is the sum of the following set of four numbers?
  0.02, 0.6, 0.735, 0.00050.02, 0.6, 0.735, 0.0005

  What number is represented by this expanded form?
  (3×1000000)+(2×10000)+(7×1000)+(9×100)+(6×10)+(8×1)

  What is
  6905÷34  ?

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The section after that (the pedagogy section) is different though, and was explicitly called out in the ruling as part of the problem:

Question 1: "Based on Learning For All, which is a shared goal or strategy of differentiated instruction and Universal Design for Learning? A) To use the same textbooks B) To use only whole-class instruction C) To meet different needs of the students in a class D) To meet the requirements for curriculum expectations"

Question 6 (just clicking through randomly): "Assessment that occurs before a period of learning to assess a student's readiness for learning and learning preferences would be considered which of the following? A) assessment of learning B) assessment as learning C) assessment for learning D) assessment of learning skills"

Question 15: "As outlined in Growing Success, how does Ontario’s criterion-referenced assessment and evaluation approach require teachers to assess and evaluate students’ work? A) by ranking student performance B) by comparing work done by other students C) by referencing performance standards developed by teachers for their own classrooms D) by referencing the established criteria for four levels of achievement that are standard across the province"

It sounds like they need to read a few books and remember concepts from them - something they'd expect from elementary and high school students.

Maybe, but is it really something that should be in a math proficency test?

Especially since it seems to be the part that trips up the French speaking group.

> Maybe, but is it really something that should be in a math proficency test?

It's not a math proficiency test, it's a math TEACHER proficiency test. I.e. it involves understanding protocols and not just understanding math. That stuff is part of teacher training so of course test takers should be prepared to be asked about it. It should probably also include basic first aid, a little bit of child psychology, and (in the US) crowd control and self-defense.

the test and source material should be available in french - I assume it already is. That part actually seems to be in there to make it so those who do poorly in the math have some reading they can do to boost their marks.

> That part actually seems to be in there to make it so those who do poorly in the math have some reading they can do to boost their marks.

It's marked separately, so this doesn't happen: https://mathproficiencytest.ca/#/en/applicant/learn/results:...

"Applicants are required to obtain a 70% or greater on each of the components of the test, in the same attempt, to be successful on the MPT."

Not that I think that's particularly relevant to the lawsuit. If the component is discriminatory, it seems like it's discriminatory whether it serves as a filter on it's own, or it acts as a way to "boost your marks" for the other filter. Same if it's not discriminatory.

We can take an educated guess :

1) C 6) D 15) D

Also, since these are multiple choice, they're all really easy to solve in ways that they wouldn't be if you had to fill in a blank.

Yeah, I think they're testing if someone will recognize that division by 0.19 is approximately equal to multiplication by 5 and ballpark the answer.

These are really dumb and tedious. However, I would not trust a teacher who can’t solve these

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