Hard Questions Are the Best Questions

May 3, 2008 in Reading Response
Tags: american government, assessment, best, bill of rights, choice, edublogosphere, exam, fair, government, hard, high school, job, job fair, master, master teacher, multiple, questions, seniors, student, student teaching, teacher, test, unit, unit test

I hestitated including sample questions just in case students happened upon this site, but I sucked it up and got over it. As per request, here are three representative questions from the harder parts of my Bill of Rights test.

Assume justices on the Supreme Court determined that Americans possess a right to privacy. Which Amendment could not have implied that right?
        a. Fourth.
        b. Seventh.
        c. Ninth.
        d. Fourteenth.

Or another:

According to the precise wording of the Eighth Amendment, which of the following actions is prohibited to government agents?
        a. Forcing self-incrimination.
        b. Torture of potential terrorists.
        c. Every type of execution ever.
        d. Cruel and unusual punishment.

Or another:

Soldiers enter your home to stay the night without permission of its owner. They find a gun that is illegal to own under federal law. Which amendment’s protections would not be debated?
        a. Second.
        b. Third.
        c. Fourth.
        d. Fifth.

That’s what I’m talking about.

These questions require students to piece together what they know about all amendments in question, and then go through the process of elimination.

Keeping with common practice, all the questions are complete sentences, and all answers are generally about the same length.

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