As the instructor for many of the online procurement courses offered by the Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA), I will occasionally get an email from a student (a procurement professional) saying something like, \u201cI got question #3 on the quiz wrong.\u00a0 The way that it was written was confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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I will admit\u2026Some of our quiz questions DO require the student to read very carefully.<\/p>\n
Why?\u00a0 Do we want you to get questions wrong?<\/p>\n
Absolutely not!<\/p>\n
What we do want to do is build your analytical skills.\u00a0 When you pass one of our courses or go on to become certified as an SPSM, SPSM2, SPSM3, etc., we want you to have the skills necessary to work in today\u2019s challenging procurement environment.<\/p>\n
Procurement professionals work with terms and conditions, contracts, and other legally binding documents.\u00a0 Believe me, those documents aren\u2019t easy to thoroughly understand by skimming them.\u00a0 You have to carefully read each and every word, otherwise you may be agreeing to spend money that you didn\u2019t intend to spend or accept risk that you didn\u2019t want to accept.<\/p>\n
In the real world of procurement, no one is going to spoon-feed you information and coddle you until you understand it.\u00a0 No one will feel sorry for you if you failed to properly understand something you were given adequate time to review.\u00a0 If you want to be successful, you need to develop the skills to read things carefully and interpret them properly.\u00a0 This is the philosophy behind the NLPA\u2019s quizzes.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example of one of those \u201cconfusing\u201d questions\u2026<\/p>\n
Which of the following is a false statement?
\na.) the UCC governs transactions of goods in the United States
\nb.) common law governs transactions of services in the United States
\nc.) the UCC governs transactions of services in the United States
\nd.) CISG governs some, but not all, transactions of goods between different countries<\/p>\n
The correct answer is (c), \u201cthe UCC governs transactions of services in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, a student may come back and say something like, \u201cI think your system is grading the quiz wrong.\u00a0 It is listing the correct answer to question 1 as \u2018the UCC governs transactions of services in the United States.\u2019\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the correct answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, it IS the correct answer because the question asked the student to identify the FALSE statement.\u00a0 The UCC does not govern transactions of services in the United States.\u00a0 Therefore, that is a FALSE statement.\u00a0 Because the question asked for the FALSE statement, then (c) is the CORRECT answer.<\/p>\n
Tricky?\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 But not nearly as tricky as some of the supplier terms and conditions a procurement professional is likely to encounter throughout his or her career.<\/p>\n
My job is to prepare you for the real world in an environment where the only consequence is getting a point deducted from your course score.\u00a0 Read carefully, my friends.\u00a0 You\u2019ll thank me for it when you catch the stuff that your suppliers try to squeeze past you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the instructor for many of the online procurement courses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n