On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 14:20:30 EDT, Klystron wrote:

If the size of the pool were increased, would that satisfy your
objection? Given a finite body of information, there are only so many
questions that can be formulated from it to test an applicant's
knowledge.

The national Multistate Bar Exam, one element of each state's bar
exam, is composed of 200 multiple choice questions. Half of those
come from the published "Green Book", a compilation of 500 Q&As, the
equivalent of the Question Pool Study Guide. The other half are
composed on the fly by a "faceless committee" for each semi-annual
exam (all given on the same day nationwide). Thus, 20% of the Q&As on
each test is from a published pool, while the remaining 80% of the
Q&As require absolute knowledge of the published areas being tested.

The answer choices of each question usually consist of two that are
obviously incorrect and two more that appear to be very close, and
the process is really to identify the better of the two. A score of
130 = 65% or better is the minimum required in most states. In
California, acknowledged to have the toughest test, a score of 152 =
76% is an absolute pass where performance on the other elements of the
exam are not even taken into account.

Granted that the level of knowledge required for passing the Bar exam
is greater than the level of knowledge required for passing an amateur
exam, the key factor in both is not the size of the published pool,
but should be the knowledge of the examinee.

As we were told in Bar Exam review courses, the correct answer is
right there in front of you, and all you really have to know is "a",
"b", "c" , or "d".
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

e-mail: k2asp [at] arrl [dot] net