Most MissedOmitted Items on Fall 2002 PSAT

1
Most Missed/Omitted Items on Fall 2002 PSAT

• Richland School District One
• Office of Research and Evaluation

2
PSAT Areas Tested

• Verbal
• sentence completion, analogies, critical reading
  (vocabulary, comprehension, reasoning)
• Writing
• grammar, expression, expressing logical ideas
• Mathematics
• quantitative comparisons, algebra, geometry

3
PSAT Analysis

• Item analysis by grade (7-11) for 5,923 students
• Mean correct responses by grade
• Individual school item analysis by grade
• 10th grade information basis for PowerPoint
  presentation

4
Mean Correct Responses

• Verbal All sections
• 17.8 correct of 52 items (34)
• Writing All sections
• 12.2 correct of 39 items (31)
• Mathematics All sections
• 13.6 correct of 40 items (34)

5
Verbal SectionsMean Correct Responses

• Section 1
• Sentence completion (1.7/5 34)
• Analogies (3.0/6 50)
• Critical reading (4.3/14 31)
• Section 3
• Sentence completion (2.9/8 36)
• Analogies (2.4/7 34)
• Critical reading (3.5/12 29)

6
Writing SectionMean Correct Responses

• Section 5
• Identifying sentence errors
• (5.6/19 29)
• Improving sentences
• (4.6/14 33)
• Improving paragraphs
• (2.0/6 33)

7
Math SectionsMean Correct Responses

• Section 2
• Standard multiple choice (7.1/20 36)
• Section 4
• Quantitative comparisons (4.9/12 41)
• Student produced responses (1.7/8 21)

8
Fall 2002 PSAT Administration
9
Verbal Items

• Percent and number responding to each answer
  choice, based on 10th graders performance, are
  included in the parentheses in each slide.
  Although only grade 10 performance was reported
  here, note that these items were hard for
  students in other grades also.
• The following slides showed items that were
  missed the most (gt 80) or that were not
  responded to.
• Several questions are not listed here due to
  being derived from long passages. Please review
  them yourselves.

10
VerbalCorrect Response Rates
11
5. A discerning publishing agent can ________
promising material from a mass of submissions,
separating the good from the bad.

• (A) supplant (355, 21)
• (B) dramatize (389, 23)
• (C) finagle (265, 16)
• (D) winnow (113, 7)
• (E) overhaul (280, 17)

Omitted (285, 17)
12
11. ODIOUS LOATHING

• (A) cowardly danger (190, 11)
• (B) envious prosperity (210, 12)
• (C) slanderous shame (200, 12)
• (D) delightful pleasure (448, 27)
• (E) hostile reconciliation (145, 9)

Omitted (494, 29)
13
32. Professor Fernandez has been_____ about most
of the purportedly humanitarian aspects of the
colonial government and has insisted that its
actions were, on the contrary, ________.

• (A) dubious . . self-serving (344, 20)
• (B) enthusiastic . . contemptible (316, 19)
• (C) disparaging . . sporadic (166, 10)
• (D) excited . . gratuitous (350, 21)
• (E) disillusioned . . benevolent (188, 11)

Omitted (323, 19)
14
33. Her chronic lateness had finally become_____,
harmful to both her personal and professional
life.

• (A) incongruous (254, 15)
• (B) deleterious (267, 16)
• (C) futile (448, 27)
• (D) attenuated (191, 11)
• (E) extrinsic (200, 12)

Omitted (327, 19)
15
40. VACILLATE DECISIVE

• (A) commemorate praiseworthy (171, 10)
• (B) exonerate guilty (217, 13)
• (C) estimate approximate (341, 20)
• (D) conclude final (279, 17)
• (E) exaggerate accurate (169, 10)

Omitted (510, 30)
16
Writing Items

• Percent and number responding to each answer
  choice, based on 10th graders performance, are
  included in the parentheses in each slide.
  Although only grade 10 performance was reported
  here, note that these items were hard for
  students in other grades also.
• The following slides showed items that were
  missed the most (gt 80) or that were not
  responded to.
• Several questions are not listed here due to
  being derived from long passages. Please review
  them yourselves.

17
Writing Correct Response Rates
18
7. One of the scientists conducting research for
the national health center was criticized for
including
Atoo few women in research study
populations, and as a result they have changed
procedures. B C
D No Error
E

• (A) 155, 9
• (B) 365, 22
• (C) 240, 14
• (D) 118, 7
• (E) 737, 44

Omitted (72, 4)
19
12. At the music recital, Alexandra enjoyed
listening to her friend Mohammeds insightful
interpretation, which she thought was more
sophisticated B
C than the other performers.
D No
error
E

• (A) 43, 3
• (B) 157, 9
• (C) 289, 17
• (D) 210, 12
• (E) 891, 53

Omitted (97, 6)
20
14. In her autobiography, Dolores Ibarruri, the
Spanish loyalist leader who was known to many
as La
APasionaria, analyzes her conviction to
the struggle of B
C the Popular Front against fascism.
D No error

E

• (A) 336, 20
• (B) 220. 13
• (C) 181, 11
• (D) 64, 4
• (E) 780, 46

Omitted (106, 6)
21
19. The collection of photographs in Linda
AMcCartneys book captivates rare
personal moments Bon a road trip with the
Beatles and features such Cmusical
luminaries as Aretha Franklin and Jimi
DHendrix. No
error
E

• (A) 63, 4
• (B) 253, 15
• (C) 189, 11
• (D) 347, 21
• (E) 739, 44

Omitted (96, 6)
22
Math Items

• Percent and number responding to each answer
  choice, based on 10th graders performance, are
  included in the parentheses in each slide.
  Although only grade 10 performance was reported
  here, note that these items were hard for
  students in other grades also.
• The following slides showed items that were
  missed the most (gt 80) or that were not
  responded to.
• Note that answer choices with underlines are the
  correct choices.

23
Math Correct Response Rates
24
15. In the figure above, 15 circles each of
radius 1 are arranged in 3 rows of 5 inside a
rectangle. If the total area covered by the
circles is denoted by C and the area of the
rectangle is denoted by R, what is the value of C
?
R

25

• (A) 4p/15 (479, 28)
• (B) p/4 (251, 15)
• (C) 4/5 (249, 15)
• (D) 3/4 (158, 9)
• (E) 2/3 (117, 7)

Omitted (433, 26)
26
16. If y (x 3)2, then (-2x 6)2 must equal
which of the following?

• (A) 4y 2 (336, 20)
• (B) 2y 2 (346, 21)
• (C) 4y (249, 15)
• (D) 2y (175, 10)
• (E) 4y (217, 13)

Omitted (364, 22)
27
Cut 1 Cut 2
17. The height of the cylinder shown
above is 8 inches and the radius of its base is 6
inches. If two horizontal cuts are made as shown
through the cylinder, dividing it into three
cylinders of equal volume, what is the volume, in
cubic inches, of each of the resulting cylinders?
28

• (A) 96p (279, 17)
• (B) 64 (148, 9)
• (C) 48p (490, 29)
• 32p (205, 12)
• (E) 16p (205, 12)

Omitted (360, 21)
29
18. If n equally priced items cost a total of d
dollars, what is the cost, in dollars, of z of
these items?

• (A) (d/n) z (329, 20)
• (B) (d/z) n (284, 17)
• (C) (n/d) z (367, 22)
• (D) d/nz (178, 11)
• (E) dnz (147, 9)

Omitted (382, 23)
30
O
A
D
36o
B
C
19. In the figure above, AD is a diameter of the
circle with center O and AO 5. What is the
length of arc BCD ?

31

• (A) p/2 (184, 11)
• (B) p (159, 9)
• (C) 3p/2 (376, 22)
• (D) 3p (233, 14)
• (E) 7p/2 (137, 8)

Omitted (598, 35)
32
20. Sheng counts by 4s to put herself to sleep
at night. If she counts from 300, the first
number, and falls asleep after 464, the nth
number, what is the value of n ?

• (A) 40 (127, 8)
• (B) 41 (495, 29)
• (C) 42 (200, 12)
• (D) 64 (188, 11)
• (E) 164 (368, 22)

Omitted (309, 18)