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Thani-B
9th March 2010, 22:00
I have my mastery test tomorrow morning. Grrr. Apparently it's not as easy as I thought it would be. Have a go.

http://commsci.massey.ac.nz/mastery.asp

Squiggles
9th March 2010, 22:07
70% (I did the first 10, the rest hurt my head) :cry:

Ragingrob
9th March 2010, 22:15
85%

:niceone:

Cayman911
9th March 2010, 22:18
65%

you have no idea how much i hate this type of test.
they say multichoice, you get excited. you look at it, you cry!

PirateJafa
9th March 2010, 22:27
<img src="http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3112/failzj.jpg">

90%

Cue to Sam spending an hour on Wikipedia when he unfucks his computer, in order to beat my score.

Thani-B
9th March 2010, 22:54
<img src="http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3112/failzj.jpg">

90%

Cue to Sam spending an hour on Wikipedia when he unfucks his computer, in order to beat my score.

Show off :bleh:

Oh well, wish me luck!

blackdog
9th March 2010, 23:26
eww. 70% and not: that, happy about it?

i thought! i was, ok at- this sort of (thing) :cry:

and bugger me, still only 80% on the second time around :(

or should that be a semi-colon?

and do i need that hyphen?

ahhhh shit

awayatc
10th March 2010, 06:01
What's the point.............?

Jantar
10th March 2010, 07:50
Punctuation mastery results



Well done , you have passed this test.
You scored 19 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

You made mistakes in the following areas:
Commas: 1

The bad thing about this test is that it doesn't tell which one(s) were wrong, and so you can't learn from it.

Ronin
10th March 2010, 07:54
Waits for hitcher...

gilly
10th March 2010, 08:03
Argggh. Only 16 out of 20.

Oh well, just as well I only work at a newspaper and don't require that much knowledge of the English language.

Magua
10th March 2010, 08:35
15 out of 20.

vifferman
10th March 2010, 08:36
Naturally (thankfully?) :rolleyes:, on the very first try, I scored 20 out of 20, but there were a couple I disagreed with. Given the option, I would have chosen summat else as the correct answer, or edited the poor grammar.

Laxi
10th March 2010, 09:28
Waits for hitcher...

hmmm notably quiet:lol:

The Pastor
10th March 2010, 09:35
12/20 wooooo!

Danae
10th March 2010, 09:44
15 out of 20.

:headbang: Same here. Lol. And I'm pretty sure at least two of them made no sense, no matter what punctuation you put in it...typos?

bogan
10th March 2010, 11:10
11/20, meh, phd students don't need gramma do they?

Slyer
10th March 2010, 12:48
Interesting. Let's see how I go.

Slyer
10th March 2010, 12:56
<img src=http://i42.tinypic.com/z1efm.jpg>
Yet more proof I failed Level 3 English due to laziness, not ability. :bleh:

The questions involving exclamation marks were a bit tricky, both could have been correct depending on the context.

Ender EnZed
10th March 2010, 13:17
Well done , you have passed this test.

You scored 17 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

10characte

Real_Wolf
10th March 2010, 14:12
I wondered about the exclamation mark ones, some of them it was obviously not, but some of them were statements that could use it I'm sure.

Anyways, I got 9/12 (got bored and stopped at 12)

slofox
10th March 2010, 14:27
Well done , you have passed this test.

You scored 16 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

You made mistakes in the following areas:
Colons: 1
Commas: 1
Commands: 2
Semi colons: 1

Some of them were WRONG anyway! Q15 for example. Every option has "The executive group support..." Group is a singular word - A group. So the verb should be "supportS"

Slyer
10th March 2010, 14:43
What was the full sentence? Are you sure it wasn't a noun?

Ender EnZed
10th March 2010, 14:51
Try answering only one question. Check out the angry lightning cloud!

Slyer
10th March 2010, 14:52
"The executive group support the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."
There it is, you are right I believe.

slofox
10th March 2010, 14:56
"The executive group support the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."
There it is, you are right I believe.

Well, I reckon so...(for once) :rofl:

avgas
10th March 2010, 15:20
Sorry I am late. I assume then that I failed this test?
(waits for the smart ones to catch on......)

avgas
10th March 2010, 15:22
"The executive group support the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."
There it is, you are right I believe.
"The executive group, support the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."
or
"The executive group support; the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."
or
"The executive; group support the introduction of the new course, subject to costing details."

all depending on context.

Phurrball
10th March 2010, 17:04
Well done , you have passed this test.
You scored 18 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

You made mistakes in the following areas:
Commas: 2

I reckon there's an argument that commas are sometimes stylistic. (Or is that sour grapes??)

PirateJafa
10th March 2010, 17:15
I disagree with my score. I believe that they have a dislike of the Oxford comma, which I feel is a completely childish stance to take.

lorenzo.V
10th March 2010, 17:31
16/20...had trouble with the occasional ! mark, I think...

Thani-B
10th March 2010, 18:14
The bad thing about this test is that it doesn't tell which one(s) were wrong, and so you can't learn from it.

Yeah, damn annoying when you are trying to use it to study for a test.




I reckon there's an argument that commas are sometimes stylistic. (Or is that sour grapes??)

My lecturer thinks that commas are going to die out soon (well in the not too distant future). Most of the time you don't really need to use them.


I disagree with my score. I believe that they have a dislike of the Oxford comma, which I feel is a completely childish stance to take.

So done it again and got 20/20 yet?

I did my test this morning, will find out if I passed or failed Friday arvo. Thankfully we get two more chances if we didn't get the 16 needed.

Dare
10th March 2010, 18:42
13/20 on first try, god damn some of those are hard. Particularly those wierd ! ones.

jono035
10th March 2010, 18:46
Sweet 19/20. It should really tell you, what the incorrect ones are its' bugging me now!

blackdog
10th March 2010, 18:56
Sweet 19/20. It should really tell you, what the incorrect ones are its' bugging me now!

so was it 19/20?

jono035
10th March 2010, 19:17
so was it 19/20?

I guess I should have made the ironically poor grammar more obvious...

blackdog
10th March 2010, 19:20
I guess I should have made the ironically poor grammar more obvious...

lol yea sure...

Cayman911
10th March 2010, 19:22
12/20 wooooo!

Yeah, someone got lower than me! :laugh:

Hitcher
10th March 2010, 20:20
I've had a go. If this is what is being taught by "academics" as correct usage of punctuation they should be dragged off and shot. Excessive and unnecessary usage of commas, particularly of the "Oxford" comma is pedantically incorrect. Similarly for the shriek. The semi colon has become something of an anachronism too, unless used in lists.

I got 17 first time up and spent a considerable amount of time determining which ones I got "wrong". Fascination has subsequently turned to crankiness.

vindy500
10th March 2010, 20:41
2/4 lost interest

Hitcher
10th March 2010, 20:44
What was particularly irritating was the belief that one example of the four or so given was "correct". Indeed in several cases the "correct" answer was in fact the least incorrect.

Any sentence that contains more than two commas can invariably be rewritten to remove at least two of them.

Real_Wolf
10th March 2010, 21:31
What was particularly irritating was the belief that one example of the four or so given was "correct". Indeed in several cases the "correct" answer was in fact the least incorrect.

Any sentence that contains more than two commas can invariably be rewritten to remove at least two of them.

Gotta agree there, a couple of the ones I did had multiple meanings depending on the punctuation, such as some of the commands which could be interpreted merely as statements.

Randomly remembered a quote about how commas are important though:

Remember to use punctuation in your messages. Otherwise when you say "F-ing aye, dude", it becomes "F-ing a dude", and I doubt you wish to do that

blackdog
10th March 2010, 21:37
Fascination has subsequently turned to crankiness.

thankfully, it wasn't just me after all. i was a little worried that my standards were slipping

Slyer
10th March 2010, 21:39
Capitalisation is the difference betwen "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I helped my uncle jack off a horse".

blackdog
10th March 2010, 21:49
Capitalisation is the difference betwen "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I helped my uncle jack off a horse".

my left hand is in a cast. capital letters will return to my posts as feeling returns to my fingers :lol:

jono035
10th March 2010, 21:54
Capitalisation is the difference betwen "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I helped my uncle jack off a horse".

Commas could also be used to positive effect. "I helped my uncle jack off a horse" vs "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse".

If I were writing a sentence like that, I would want as many indications that I meant the latter as I could get.

vifferman
11th March 2010, 08:28
I've had a go. If this is what is being taught by "academics" as correct usage of punctuation they should be dragged off and shot. Excessive and unnecessary usage of commas, particularly of the "Oxford" comma is pedantically incorrect. Similarly for the shriek. The semi colon has become something of an anachronism too, unless used in lists.

I got 17 first time up and spent a considerable amount of time determining which ones I got "wrong". Fascination has subsequently turned to crankiness.
*SNORTL*
I had no problem with the commas, or semi-colons (they are my friends), but had to revisit the questions with the exclamation marks, after deducing that it was the only possible correct answer in a later question, which meant it was also the 'correct' option in an earlier one. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

Hitcher
11th March 2010, 17:28
Commas could also be used to positive effect. "I helped my uncle jack off a horse" vs "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse".

Now there's the the thing: it only needs a capital J on Jack to make its meaning clear. The commas are redundant.

Squiggles
11th March 2010, 19:34
<img src="http://www.forumspile.com/Thread-Cool-Dog_with_afro.jpg"></img>

Slyer
11th March 2010, 20:54
Oh dear god no.

diggyduo
11th March 2010, 21:17
What was particularly irritating was the belief that one example of the four or so given was "correct". Indeed in several cases the "correct" answer was in fact the least incorrect.

Any sentence that contains more than two commas can invariably be rewritten to remove at least two of them.

Yes, dead right there.
Interestingly, I got 18 in a test where two of the questions were the same, but the suggested 'correct' answers were rearranged!
Very poor that there is no direct feedback on the areas for improvement, merely a generic topic.

mstriumph
11th March 2010, 21:28
............
My lecturer thinks that commas are going to die out soon (well in the not too distant future). Most of the time you don't really need to use them. ...............

ye gods!



(but good luck with the test, anyway!)

mstriumph
11th March 2010, 21:30
*SNORTL*
...................................... after deducing that it was the only possible correct answer in a later question, which meant it was also the 'correct' option in an earlier one. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

me too! *jumps up and down with excitement*

rwh
11th March 2010, 21:46
So every command should have an exclamation mark? That's not what I was taught, I'm sure.

Richard

PirateJafa
11th March 2010, 22:23
Dude, that dog is RIPPED.

Thani-B
15th March 2010, 22:04
Out of my fellow students, around 120 of us doing this paper, 34 passed. 9 of those 34 were bonus passes which meant they got at least 18/20. Remember 16/20 was a pass.




I got a bonus pass! :D

blackdog
15th March 2010, 22:12
Out of my fellow students, around 120 of us doing this paper, 34 passed. 9 of those 34 were bonus passes which meant they got at least 18/20. Remember 16/20 was a pass.



I got a bonus pass! :D

good job!

ridiculous pass percentage though. lucky the tutor's not getting paid on commission i guess :rofl:

Hanne
16th March 2010, 21:07
. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

Those are the best sorts of exams, eh?
Sportsci 100G multichoice ftw!

Hopeful Bastard
16th March 2010, 22:35
Well done Thani!

Just be thankful i wasnt sitting your test paper for ya!

Sorry , you haven't correctly answered enough questions to pass this test.

You scored 9 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

You made mistakes in the following areas:
Apostrophes: 3
Commas: 5
Semi colons: 1
Dashes: 1

kwaka_crasher
17th March 2010, 16:10
WTF!

I got 19/20 but I made mistakes in no areas? :scratch:

I even went back through every question changing the answer one by one and resubmitting but couldn't find the one I got wrong. But i did miss one question on the first submission so perhaps it's something to do with that.

I see the questions changed too from when you guys did it.

Thani-B
17th March 2010, 17:49
Oh yeah I should have mentioned that. Questions are different each time. They come from a big pool. You will get some repeats if you do it more than once, but the majority will be different.

kwaka_crasher
17th March 2010, 18:01
Oh yeah I should have mentioned that. Questions are different each time. They come from a big pool. You will get some repeats if you do it more than once, but the majority will be different.

Yeah, I saw that when I went back after clearing cookies etc. to see why I made no mistakes but only got 19/20! I still don't know though.

Urano
28th March 2010, 10:22
16 on 20.
hope to improve learning a better english...

jono035
28th March 2010, 11:23
If you got 16 out of 20 then your english is already better than most kiwis...

Urano
28th March 2010, 20:54
that's a universal rule: i'm sure your italian is way better than most italians.... ;)

cowboyz
28th March 2010, 21:23
11 out of 20.. I think Im fine as most people no read good so no point learning how to write good

Real_Wolf
29th March 2010, 08:15
They need an 'internet punctuation and spelling' quiz

jono035
29th March 2010, 13:08
that's a universal rule: i'm sure your italian is way better than most italians.... ;)

I dunno about that, I'm pretty sure my Italian is utterly non-existent!

Urano
30th March 2010, 02:24
I dunno about that, I'm pretty sure my Italian is utterly non-existent!

that's EXACTLY what i said... :niceone: :laugh: