Thanks Norm, I couldn't of said it better myself! However, the address should 
of been to the Designers Council not Tech Net!  Ho Ho Ho!
Happy Holidays every one! Especially Dieter and Gary! 
Memo

To: TechNet @ ipc.org @ SMTP
cc:  (bcc: Janice Lund)
From: LGVK38A @ prodigy.com (MR NORMAN S EINARSON) @ SMTP
Date: 12/21/95 03:44:16 PM
Subject: Test Questions Development

To all those complaints:

There may be reason to complain in some areas of this test.  However, 
you must be aware of how these questions were developed.  Mostly by 
you, - the designer.

The questions are based on various subjects, referrred as objectives. 
 These are boken down to goals of the objective.  Then there are the 
questions, referred to as items.  All of these have been set up at 
various Chapter meetings under the direction of Dieter Bergman from 
IPC.  Dieter has spent the better part of his life traveling the U.S. 
and meeting on weekends with each Chapter.  My hat goes off to him as 
this is certainly beyond my life style or disciplines.  He has done 
an excellent job and the criticism should halt.  He has asked for 
constructive critisism but I am only reading "flames".

When looking at the test questions, the intent is not to give you a 
multiple choice that can be guessed at correctly.  For instance:

FR-4 Material is made up of the following components:

     A.   Cold rolled steel
     B.   Aluminum
     C.   Glass and epoxy
     D.  Stainless steel

With "C" being the correct answer, A, B, & D are called distractors.  
Certainly, the above question is an easy guess.  To eliminate a guess,
 the distractors must be plausible.  Let's look at a question with 
plausible distractors.

The following city has been selected for the new home of the 
Cleveland Browns.

     A.    Providence
     B.    Baltimore
     C.    Albuquerque
     D.    Austin

If you follow football, you know the correct answer, with the other 
three being distractors.  Either you know the answer, or you must 
guess.  All answers are plausible, with only one being most correct.

As for getting involved in the question writing.  One of you 
complained that there is no Chapter located close to you.  Well, 
now's your chance to get involved - start a new Chapter in your area.


Many of you complain about the questions.   Let's look at the Boston 
Chapter, of which I am a member.  We had a question writing session 
at the beginning of December.  This lasted the entire weekend.  We 
have over 100 members in the Boston Chapter.  Dieter Bergman and Gary 
Ferrari from IPC were present.  Our Chapter was represented by the 
President, Vice President and the Technical Leader.  Not one other 
member of our Chapter showed up.  However, those that didn't show 
will be the first to complain about the contents of the questions.  

I'm sure that Dieter  or David Bergman, or Lisa, can help anyone that 
wants to help develop these test question get involved.

Most important, this media should be constructive and not a platform 
for Flames.  If you want to criticise the contents of the questions, 
or there structure, I know that IPC will welcome your input.

Regards
Norm Einarson
PRINTED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY