Practice test making

Here are the partnerships for Nationals:

Primary:
Test 1: Sarah Eddy & Alethea Leonard
Test 2: Emily Hamilton, Grace Harrison and Marie Morris
Test 3: [BibleBeeJunior12], Bethany Frisk and Shiri Leonard

Junior:
Test 1: Sarah Frisk & Courtney Minica
Test 2: Everett Hamilton & Kerestel Leonard

Senior:
Test 1: Nina C & Hannah M
Test 2: Luke Griffin & Matthew Minica

I suggest that the volunteers make about 100 questions each to share the load (assuming your group has two members). The volunteers will send each other questions for double-checking.
A couple tips for the test makers:
Make sure your questions and your partner's are not based on a specific version. Avoid using direct quotes with more than a few words from the Bible.
Ensure that all of the incorrect choices for the questions are actually incorrect.

One of the members of each group will be responsible for compiling the questions and sending them to me once the test making is completed. I want you to decide who that will be. Another contestant from the appropriate division will proof the tests, making sure they are error-free. After that, they will be posted on Memverse and possibly other sites for everyone to use.

Why make practice tests?
I have heard people joke that multiple-choice is the easiest test format, because it is the only format that puts the answer right in front of you! Even if this is true, multiple-choice tests are still hard. Countless Bible Bee-ers have said/felt that the hardest part about the Bible Bee is the written test. As many of the contestants are homeschooled, they may have no idea what taking a multiple-choice test is like. I was one of the many who experienced this in 2009. This was the first time I even used a bubble sheet! I was smart enough to know to do the questions worth more points first, but I was not smart enough to put an answer down on every question. If I didn’t know the answer to a question, I skipped it. This turned out to be one of my biggest mistakes in the 2009 Bible Bee.
So we are making practice tests to combat this problem. My goal is to help new Bible Bee-ers know what to expect in the Written Test so that they will be more prepared for it.

Thank you all volunteers for helping with this project! I pray that it will help many Bible Bee-ers know what to expect and do better on Contest Day! Please help me out by giving any suggestions you have. This project, being a first-time pursuit, will need some fine-tuning. Thanks again!

Matthew Minica
Romans 1:16-20

I was looking forward to seeing this post come up, Matthew! I'm anxious to help any way that I can by making tests. Thanks for coming up with this idea!

Can't wait for the Bible Bee to start :)

When you say "practice test", you mean like a mock test for Bible Bee…or what?

YES!!! I'm excited about Bible Bee!!! :)

I might be able to help… are we going to create questions or something similar? Even if I can't do a whole lot, I'll try to do some :) For now, just keep my name as Rachel C?

I'm curious - what does the (A) stand for next to Marie's name?

@Emily - That's another way to put it.

@Rachel: "A" stands for "Alumnus", which means that Marie is too old for BB this year but would still like to help make tests.

@Matthew: I would really like to help make practice tests. Thanks for making the test for 2011 it really helped me. You can add me to the list.

Yes, that 2011 test was very helpful, Matthew. :) Thank you!

I didn't take the practice test last year because i was Timothy Track, but Lord willing I'll take it this year because I'm National Track :D

I certainly appreciated your practice test last year, Matthew. I am willing to help with a test for any age division.

Wow! I now have nine potential volunteers! Praise God! I would also like to know the Bible version you use. When I put people together for making tests, it would be good to know their version so that a test wouldn't be biased on a specific version. I tried to avoid that last year by referring to some other versions, but I still had some comments on the Bible Bee Facebook thread about that my version is obviously KJV, because of all the stuff that sounded like KJV. I want the result of this to be as similar to the test at BB as possible. I plan to try to get a person using one of KJV, NKJV and NASB and a person using one of NIV and ESV in each of the pairs if possible, in order to get some of both the word-for-word translations and the phrase-for-phrase translations in the tests.

I use KJV.

I use NKJV and would LOVE to help, but it's only my first year and I don't know much about the written test, other than seeing sample questions and Matthew's test for last year.

I'd love to help… I helped make a couple practice tests for our group in the last few years, so I think I'm finally getting accustomed to making version-inspecific questions (although I use KJV). It sure can be tough. I'm a senior but would be glad to help with any age division.

I am going to contact my five BB pen pals about this project - Caleb Montgomery, Luke Purkey, Eric Powell, Silas Nelson and Kerestel Leonard. I hope that between those five and whoever else will join that we'll have enough volunteers for two complete tests for each age division.

@Pentimones: I was just wondering…would David possibly be interested in doing this?

@BethanyM: Since this will be your first year, I may put you as the third question-maker along with two other more experienced people. Could you tell me your age division? Thanks!

@Ranch4Christ: I'm glad to hear that you have experience - probably more than I do! If all else fails, I may have to put you with another KJV user, but hopefully it will not be too bad since you say you have experience making version-inspecific questions. Although it is not absolutely necessary, I would appreciate knowing at least your first name and your last name's first initial. Thanks!

I'm a junior, but I'm not sure I want you to put me on your list yet, though… I'd like to get some more experience with Bible Bee first. And I don't really want to be emailing people I don't personally know… sorry! Is there some way I could help without emailing? Sorry again.

Alright, so possibly if you get to Nationals (maybe???) then you might want to help with tests for qualifiers? As for the emailing, I'm not really sure of any way else to do it.

Possibly. If I make it to Nationals, I'll try to let you know if I can do it or not. I don't really know of a way to do it without email, either, unless we could start a new forum for discussing questions for the tests?

@Matthew – I'd be happy to work in other versions, if you can't come up with poeple using NIV, NASB, NKJV, etc. We have E-sword, Bible Gateway, and other sites that have the Bible in all the versions. If you would like me to, just let me know! I'd be happy to help in any way that I can :)

Next, I don't think that David can really help. He doesn't have e-mail, and he isn't the fastest typer either, so it might take a while. If this changes, though, I'll let you know.

I'm really excited about Bible Bee starting again, and helping with tests! Great idea that you had :)

I have used NIV for the past 3 BB years. But since I am not competing I do not mind working on any translation. :)

Sure– Elizabeth L.

Hi all volunteers,

I'm sorry to keep bothering you to give me more information, but I need this info in order to do things the right way here. Could you tell me which age divisions you can make tests for? In other words, what age divisions are participating in your family and hence you have access to the Sword Study of those divisions? That way, I won't accidentally assign you an age division that you don't have access to the Sword Study of. Also, I understand if you don't want your email address on your public profile but would you mind sending me an email in order that I may have your address? This is necessary for the whole pairing idea. Thanks!

I will have access to senior sword study, but I'm not suppose to give our email without permission ;-) Is there a way to do it without emailing? F.E, on a quizlet group maybe?

@Matthew – There will be 2 juniors and 2 seniors in our family…so either of those divisions would work for us…just not Primary =) And, I think you have my e-mail address….

Thanks for doing all this work!

As of now, I can't help because of the emails. Sorry. :( I will tell you if that changes.

@Rachel: I've heard of Quizlet, but I never tried it out. Maybe I should.

@Bethany: Yes, I do have your email :)

I don't mind trying to help with tests for Junior and Primary divisions too. My cousins Joshua and Taylor Bontrager competed in these divisions last year, so they might have some ideas on making tests.

Hey, I met Joshua briefly at the Regional ATI Conference in Big Sandy several weeks ago! And he was the one that won 4th in Juniors last year! That's cool that he's your cousin. And that would be great if they could help make tests! I'll take all the help I can get.

EDIT: Do you think you'll have direct access to the Primary and Junior Sword Studies, Thomas? Some of the material covered in the Senior Sword Study will not be covered in the Primary and Junior versions, so that's why it's important.

Yeah, it is cool that they are my cousins. They're great people!

As to your question about having direct access to the Primary and Junior Sword Studies, I don't think that will be possible, although I can plan to ask Joshua and Taylor what they are like. I have only competed in the Senior division, so I don't know what the other two divisions are like.

Add me to your list! I wanna help - you'll just have to explain in painful detail what we're to do. :) BBJ12 (or do you need my real name?) and I'm obviously Junior. NASB version

Because of the email thing, I don't know if I can do it. I would love to and have access to both Junior and Primary but I don't know if my mom would appreciate me sending out my email address. Sadly! :(

You can't lose anything by asking! I won't put your real name on the blog post, but I'm pretty sure I know what it is anyway. :) You were the same one that had appendicitis last year and couldn't compete, am I right? If so, I know who you are.

@Thomas: I'll probably assign you to do a Senior test then. Is Joshua still a Junior?

Hey Matthew, a senior contestant asked me to let you know that she's willing to help with tests. Her name is Nina C. and she uses NASB (I think I told your mom it was NIV, but I was wrong then)…

…I'll see what she says about the whole e-mail thing. But I think she'll be fine with it…

Cool! Do you know what Sword Study versions she'll have access to?

@Matthew – Uh…I'm thinking all three because she has two younger siblings competing. I'll have to ask her though.

Do you have any other questions that I should ask her?

Congrats on getting your box, btw =)

I'm going to talk to Nina on Monday about the whole testing making thing. Sorry it couldn't be sooner, but she was busy these last few days.

So, what's your plan, Matthew? Are you putting us in "teams" to work together? I'm excited about getting started on this!! :)

I do not have any sword studies (but I may be able to get a senior one to use) We have friends who have contestants in all three divisions. But I do not care what version of Scripture. Also, I could proof tests that others make to see if they have no typos etc :)

Matthew - Not sure if you got my email (I sent it to the one that I get your family newsletter from), but I'm hoping to help with practice tests this summer :) Versions: really any, but I have easy access to ESV and NASB. Sword Study Levels: All.

Thanks!

@Matthew: No, he is not, but his younger brother is, so he would still have access to a sword study for that division.

@Bethany: Yes, I am going to put us in pairs. I see each person making 100 questions, sending the questions to their partner about 25 questions at a time for double-checking. One of the partners can be responsible for compiling the questions and sending them to the proofer.

@Grace: Thank you for volunteering! I really enjoyed your test last year. :)

I want to get a blog post up that will eventually have the completed tests available for download, and to see if we can get any more attention from people that may not necessarily visit the forums. Please excuse me if it takes a long time, I am really busy for the next few weeks! We are spending every morning at church this week for Vacation Bible School, and then we have two family reunions in the next three weeks after that. I still need to contact Luke, Eric, Kerestel, and Joshua to see whether they will help for sure or not. Don't be surprised if I don't get the post onto Memverse until around Father's Day… I'm trying as hard as I can! :) I also have made a "10 Guidelines for Taking a Bible Bee Test".

Sounds great about the pairs, Matthew! And don't worry if it takes you a while to get things posted…I know about a busy life too.

Hopefully, I'll have a good amount of school done by then!

actually a family at our church just signed up for the BB just at the deadline so they have JR and SR divisions in their family. I could look at their SS :)

i am a primary and i would like to help. however i do not know what my perents would say about sharing my email. we do have all 3 studies in our house but i would like to work on the primary. i use esv

Matthew- I would love to help! I don't know how comfortable my parents will be with the email thing, but I have access to all three Sword Study levels. I am a Junior and use the ESV.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, Bethany. Have you competed in the Bible Bee before? As you are a Primary and I can't find a Bethany anywhere in the lists of past Primary qualifiers, I will probably want to put you as the third test-maker along with two others. That is, if it works out with the email thing.

@alex Watt: If you see this, I wanted to let you know that I will be sending you an email in the next couple days containing the blog post I will be making.

i have been in the bible bee 2 years before. the first year and last year.were you looking at the list of nationals? i did not make it i was close though.i will ask about the email thing.

i can share my email

why is there a ? mark next to my name? is it becuse of the email or do not know if that is my real name?

oopp this is my "non bible bee" acount and i am still logged in and usseing it

I'm sure this doesn't make a big difference, but I am too old to do the BB this year, so technically, I guess I should be listed as an "A" for Alumna :)

I'll be out of town the first two weeks of July, but besides that I should be good to help out with what needs to be done.