Gotta admire the perseverance

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/4523250/Woman-fails-driving-test-771-times.html

Woman fails driving test 771 times A dogged South Korean grandmother has failed her driving test 771 times but is determined to keep trying to pass.

Last Updated: 2:39PM GMT 06 Feb 2009

The 68-year-old, identified only by her last name Cha, has taken the test almost every working day since 2005 in the southwestern city of Jeonju. She failed again on Monday for the 771st time.

"It was a record-breaking number here," Choi Yong-Cheol, a police sergeant supervising the test in the city's Deokjingu district, told AFP. "I wonder if she will try it again for a 772nd time." The Korea Times said Cha will in fact be back for another attempt. Choi said that Cha cannot pass the preliminary written section of the test, averaging scores of 30-50 whereas the pass mark is 60 out of 100. Local media said that Cha sells food and household items door-to-door at apartment complexes, carrying the items in a handcart, but wants to get a car for her business.

Police estimate she has spent almost five million won to take the written test, with each test costing 6,000 won (£3) in addition to other expenses. "I feel sorry every time I see Cha fail. When she passes, I'll make a commemorative tablet myself and give it to her," one officer was quoted as saying.

I think she'd be further ahead to take a few days of exam-taking off and spend them studying instead.

Seriously, how many questions can there be that she doesn't have them memorized by now?

after a certain number of failures i think you shouldnt ever be able to get one.

at least in the US the test isnt THAT hard. if you fail that repeatedly you obviously dont have the brains to be allowed to operate a motor vehicle. (yes, i went there, driving is a privilege, not a right )

She should try the DMV in Whitestone. They'll give her the 20 question test in korean and I'm pretty sure they've never failed anyone.

The question we need to be asking is does anyone really want someone that stupid on the roads?

carguy123 wrote: The question we need to be asking is does anyone really want someone that stupid on the roads?

After seeing a lot of the drivers in this world, apparently the DMV does.

This story reinforces the "asians can't drive" and "women can't drive" sterotypes, while blowing out of the water the "asians are smart" sterotype.

Well done Mrs. Cha!

mtn wrote:

carguy123 wrote: The question we need to be asking is does anyone really want someone that stupid on the roads?

After seeing a lot of the drivers in this world, apparently the DMV does.

Enough to want to give her an award!

After X number of tries shouldn't you be permanently banned from taking the test?

"It was a record-breaking number here," Choi Yong-Cheol, a police sergeant supervising the test in the city's Deokjingu district, told AFP. "I wonder if she will try it again for a 772nd time."

So, does this mean that someone else at the same office has taken the test 770 times?

I believe the test consists of the following:

Number of Questions: 25 Number Needed to Pass: 20 Number of Answers per Question: 3

I thought calculating the odds of passing at least once in 771 trails would be fairly straight forward but its turning out to be somewhat complicated.

What I do know thus far, is that there are 847,288,609,443 possible combinations of answers....("L" to the power of "K")

I’ve been working the problem with the trusty old (factorial 20 / factorial 5) plus (factorial 21 / factorial 4) plus etc., etc., etc. formula but I’m having a little difficulty inserting the 0.33 / 0.67 probability function.

Why don’t we have a GRM style stat skill challange to see who can calculate the odds first…all answers require supporting calculations.

Duke wrote:

Mrs Puff, I haven't even started yet

Um, perhaps math and wrenching aren’t as complementary as I thought.

Anyway, please excuse the intense lameness of me winning my own challenge.

Total number of ways to answer the test = 847,288,609,433

Total number of ways to pass the test = 1,922,211

Odds of randomly passing the test = 1:440,789

So, assuming zero skill was involved, her chances of passing the test after being given 771 opportunities was 0.0017

RX Reven' wrote: Odds of randomly passing the test 1:440,789

Awesome, so at least once in 1,208 years, odds are she will randomly pass the test assuming she takes it once a day every day of the year...keep it up Ms Cha...youre almost there

carguy123 wrote: After X number of tries shouldn't you be permanently banned from taking the test?

Why discourage repeat business?