Back in the day, we'd just write ? for ones we didn't know.

Yep, me too. I didn't want to give the impression that I'd just forgotten to answer the question.

What if it's an essay test with a 140 character limit for the answers?

Hahahaha! That'd be AWESOME.

What if it's an essay test with a 140 character limit for the answers?

Now that's just funny and I may use that on a worksheet for next week. Answer the following question in 140 characters or less.

Aims, if your sister hadn't spelled out before the test that she would automatically fail any test that used text speak, then I'm somewhat, make that highly, affronted on the student's behalf. You shouldn't get negative credit for something like that unless the teacher has been explicit about it ahead of time.

I'm with Plei.

What if it's an essay test with a 140 character limit for the answers?

Would answers copied from another student be preceded with RT @smartypantssittinginfrontofme ?

I would never occur to me that it would be okay to use textspeak on any sort of exam. Or anything where I wanted to be taken seriously. I mean, with my peers, sure, but not something I'd do with my boss unless it had been made clear that it was okay previously. I see a teacher the same way.

I had a 7th grade English teacher that would mark the answer wrong if we wrote "a" instead of "A" on multiple choice questions.

if your sister hadn't spelled out before the test that she would automatically fail any test that used text speak, then I'm somewhat, make that highly, affronted on the student's behalf.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Aims' sister isn't speaking to them in text speak, and she didn't write the question in text speak, so why would they expect to answer in text speak? Also, I bristle at the expectation that teachers should be the ones responsible for coming up with every possible wrong way a question might be answered.

Also, I bristle at the expectation that teachers should be the ones responsible for coming up with every possible wrong way a question might be answered.

Does it need to be explicitly stated that in a U.S. school the student is expected to answer in English instead of, say, French or German? Has the student had any other classes where textspeak is used?

Sure, if the parent or student fought it, she might get dinged for failing the kid on the test as a whole, but ... it's also one test. And my inclination would be, "Suck it up, kid. You should know better."

I think failing is a bit harsh, but I think it should be called out as unacceptable so it doesn't get done again. Penalised a certain number of points, sure, but all of them? Dayum.

I took a yoga class and my head didn't fall off. I wasn't up to every pose over the whole hour, but I did most of it. Man, my balance sucks. I can't do the on-one-leg stuff, especially on the leg with the was-just-bad knee.

Aims, if your sister hadn't spelled out before the test that she would automatically fail any test that used text speak, then I'm somewhat, make that highly, affronted on the student's behalf. You shouldn't get negative credit for something like that unless the teacher has been explicit about it ahead of time.

She's made it very clear to her classes that if you do not know the answer to a question (in this case the question was "Name one thing we talked about this week."), be clever. She has examples of cleverness posted in her classroom. They talk about the class rules and the class votes on them at the beginning of the school year. The girl knew the expectations and was being lazy.

Overall, the quiz won't affect her grade. But like Stephanie, It would never occur to me that using textspeak on a test or quiz would even be an option.