[WiZ] Let the backlog commence

[WiZ]

A teacher is marking exams by students. He takes one paper, looks at it, and immediately returns it to the pile without looking at it further. Why?

BOATS. Caveat Earlispoilor.

[LemonCurry]

Is something unusual with this paper? Is it ine of the students‘ exams in the first place? Is it an empty sheet?

Is he doing this with only one paper? With every paper? Is he sorting some of the papers out? Is another person involved in marking the papers?

Is he checking something? Something other than the content of the paper?

[invisiblemimsy]

Does he take it from the top of the pile? Does he replace it to the same position? Does he look at the other papers? Does he ever look at that paper again? Does the paper involve writing, tick-boxes/multiple choice, punchcards etc? Is there a template?

[Balin]

Does the teacher eventually mark that paper? By returning it to the pile, is he assigning it a grade?
Is the paper one of the exams? Is it something else? Something else related to the test? An answer key?
Does the teacher finish marking the other papers?
Is it relevant the kind of exame? Multiple choice? True/false? Short answer? Essay?

[WiZ]

LemonCurry

Is something unusual with this paper? no Is it ine of the students‘ exams in the first place? yes Is it an empty sheet? no

Is he doing this with only one paper? yes With every paper? no Is he sorting some of the papers out? noish Is another person involved in marking the papers? no

Is he checking something? Something other than the content of the paper?

InvisibleMimsy

Does he take it from the top of the pile? yes, at the time he encounters it Does he replace it to the same position? no Does he look at the other papers? yes Does he ever look at that paper again? yes Does the paper involve writing this, no to rest , tick-boxes/multiple choice, punchcards etc? Is there a template? no, tiny ish

Balin

Does the teacher eventually mark that paper? yes By returning it to the pile, is he assigning it a grade? not per se by this action
Is the paper one of the exams? yes Is it something else? no Something else related to the test? An answer key? no to both
Does the teacher finish marking the other papers? yes
Is it relevant the kind of exame? yes Multiple choice? True/false? Short answer? Essay? this, no to rest

[GalFisk]

Is there something different about this paper? About the student who wrote it? Does the teacher relevantly want to grade it after doing all the others? Is he doing this to benefit the student? The class? Himself? Would reading this paper affect his grading of the others? Is it especially good? Bad? Written by someone he has a personal relationship to? Such as his own child?

[Balin]

Are the piled exams in any particular order?
Is the subject of the class relevant?
When returning the exam to the pile, is the teacher expecting that he will give that paper a certain grade? If so, positive? Negative? Mediocre?

[WiZ]

GalFisk


Is there something different about this paper? yope About the student who wrote it? yope Does the teacher relevantly want to grade it after doing all the others? yope, explore Is he doing this to benefit the student? The class? Himself? this; no to rest Would reading this paper affect his grading of the others? Arguably, but this isn't his primary motivation Is it especially good? yes Bad? no Written by someone he has a personal relationship to? no Such as his own child? no

Balin


Are the piled exams in any particular order? no
Is the subject of the class relevant? yes
When returning the exam to the pile, is the teacher expecting that he will give that paper a certain grade? very broadly If so, positive? yes Negative? Mediocre? no to both

[GalFisk]

Will it benefit him while grading? Right after? When returning the tests? When going over the results with the class? Does he want to begin or end something with this especially good paper?

[WiZ]

Will it benefit him while grading? yes Right after? When returning the tests? When going over the results with the class? no to these Does he want to begin or end something with this especially good paper? Yope, still ORT

[GalFisk]

Relevant how good the other papers are? Is it a pleasure for him to read a good paper? Does it have poetry? A short story?

[WiZ]

Relevant how good the other papers are? yes Is it a pleasure for him to read a good paper? yes Does it have poetry? A short story? either works, but 'short story' is far more likely

[GalFisk]

Are the other papers bad? Mediocre? Good? Mixed? Is the student with the good paper particularly talented? Does he want to read the good paper at some other time? Before bed? During breakfast? Ob public transport? To others? As a good night story to a spouse or child?

[WiZ]

Are the other papers bad? yes Mediocre? yes Good? no Mixed? yes - but only between the worst options Is the student with the good paper particularly talented? yes Does he want to read the good paper at some other time? no Before bed? During breakfast? Ob public transport? To others? As a good night story to a spouse or child? n/a to all

[Balin]

Does he want to end his grading with the best story (essay)? And expects this particular student to have written it?

[WiZ]

Does he want to end his grading with the best story (essay)? And expects this particular student to have written it? No, but still ORT

[LemonCurry]

Is he using the good paper as a „gold standard“ while grading the others?

[invisiblemimsy]

Does he want to read the paper last so its brilliance doesn't alter his perception of the others? So he can judge the others fairly without comparing them to the last one?

[WiZ]

LemonCurry

Is he using the good paper as a „gold standard“ while grading the others? no

InvisibleMimsy

Does he want to read the paper last so its brilliance doesn't alter his perception of the others? no So he can judge the others fairly without comparing them to the last one? no

[LemonCurry]

Is this part of a strategy to improve the overall grade average?

[GalFisk]

Does he want to read the good paper last, in order to ease his negative feelings form reading so many non-good ones?

[WiZ]

LemonCurry

Is this part of a strategy to improve the overall grade average? no

GalFisk

Does he want to read the good paper last no, in order to ease his negative feelings form reading so many non-good ones? very much ORT

[LemonCurry]

Does he reserve the good paper for reading before an event where he wants to be in a good mood?

[WiZ]

Does he reserve the good paper for reading before an event where he wants to be in a good mood? yesish, getting warmer

[GalFisk]

Does he want to read it in order to: become happier? Become less unhappy? Become less stressed? More relaxed? More at ease? Boost his morale? Feel that he (or his class) is not hopeless?

[WiZ]

Does he want to read it in order to: become happier? Become less unhappy? Become less stressed? More relaxed? More at ease? Boost his morale? thisish, no to rest Feel that he (or his class) is not hopeless?

[Hobbsicle]

Is this relevantly a final exam?

The subject of the class is relevant? English? Literature? Creative writing? History?

Is the subject of the assignment itself relevant? Fiction? Non-fiction?

Is the teacher going to grade these beginning to end? Or is he relevantly planning to break somewhere? Does he expect something else to occur while grading? After?

Is there anything relevant about the student other than possessing more writing skill? Does he have relevant knowledge of something? Life experience?

[peter365]

Are his motives ethical ? Does he intend to plagiarise?

After the grading does he have some sort of difficult task to undertake?

[WiZ]

Hobbsicle

Is this relevantly a final exam? no

The subject of the class is relevant? yes English? yes Literature? no Creative writing? yes History? no

Is the subject of the assignment itself relevant? no Fiction? Non-fiction?

Is the teacher going to grade these beginning to end? yes Or is he relevantly planning to break somewhere? no Does he expect something else to occur while grading? After? no to both

Is there anything relevant about the student other than possessing more writing skill? no Does he have relevant knowledge of something? Life experience? no to both

Peter

Are his motives ethical ? yes Does he intend to plagiarise? no

After the grading does he have some sort of difficult task to undertake? no

[Balin]

Is the writer of that paper the only native English speaker? The only fluent English speaker?

[WiZ]

Is the writer of that paper the only native English speaker? The only fluent English speaker? no to both

[LemonCurry]

Is he planning to use parts of the paper for something? In order to impress someone?

[WiZ]

Is he planning to use parts of the paper for something? In order to impress someone? no to both

[LemonCurry]

Relevant what he is doing right after reading the good paper? Is he having dinner? going to sleep? gathering with his family? going out? having a date? teaching another class? marking a different exam?

[WiZ]

Relevant what he is doing right after reading the good paper? no Is he having dinner? going to sleep? gathering with his family? going out? having a date? teaching another class? marking a different exam? n/a to all

The most relevant detail established so far was that he reads this paper (when he does) 'in order to ease his negative feelings form reading so many non-good ones'

[GalFisk]

Is he about to read any more non-good papers, apart from the rest of the tests in the stack? Does he want to ease his negative feelings just because he doesn't like feeling that way? Because of some other purpose? Is he relevantly going to interact with someone? Does he want to be in a better mood when being with his family? Seeing someone? Going to work? Going to sleep? Doing something creative? Such as writing something? Leaving home? Doing something else that causes negative feelings? Or can be affected by negative feelings?

[WiZ]

Is he about to read any more non-good papers, apart from the rest of the tests in the stack? no Does he want to ease his negative feelings just because he doesn't like feeling that way? thinking about this in light of your following questions, I would say yesish Because of some other purpose? yesish Is he relevantly going to interact with someone? Does he want to be in a better mood when being with his family? Seeing someone? Going to work? Going to sleep? Doing something creative? Such as writing something? Leaving home? Doing something else that causes negative feelings? Or can be affected by negative feelings? no to rest

So, to clarify: he will be performing no further relevant action than going through the rest of the tests in the stack

[GalFisk]

Is he putting it aside in order to make reading the bad papers easier? In order to ease the negative feelings caused by reading the bad papers? In order to get less negative feelings from reading the bad papers, because he know he has something good to look forward to?

[LemonCurry]

Does he think reading all the bad papers in a row, and getting frustrated over it, would be bad for his health?

[WiZ]

Is he putting it aside in order to make reading the bad papers easier? yes! In order to ease the negative feelings caused by reading the bad papers? yes In order to get less negative feelings from reading the bad papers, because he know he has something good to look forward to? yes

Close enough, I think.

***** SPOILER *****

He was marking creative writing essays from an English class. With one exception, the students always turned in poor-quality work that was draining to read through. He recognised the work of his one good student, and immediately moved it to the middle of the pile, knowing the energy he would gain from reading the paper would be just enough to get him through the rest of the pile.

Congratulations, GalFisk, on the solution, and thank you everyone for playing!