April 28, 1981

ACONTINUING series of incidents involving defective questions on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and other admissions examinations has sparked debate among testmakers over how far they should go in correcting mistakes. In the past, when confronted with a defective test item, Educational Testing Service, which designs and administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test and other examinations, has corrected the question on future tests but made no effort to change the test scores of students who might have been misled by the erroneous questions. Two weeks ago the Graduate Record Examination Board, which recently discovered faulty items on two of its specialized tests, voted not to change any scores unless they made a difference of more than 10 points on a scale of 200 to 900. ''We continually tell colleges that it is dangerous to make judgments about students on the basis of 10-point differences,'' said Robert Altman, acting vice president for higher education programs of the testing service, which also administers the Graduate Record Examination. ''If we sent out corrections of this magnitude, it would contradict everything we have been telling them.''

The General Motors Corporation today reported a marginal first-quarter profit of $190.3 million, or 63 cents a share, which the nation's largest auto manufacturer attributed to costcutting rather than any improvement in car and truck sales. The net income for the quarter was up 23 percent from the $154.7 million, or 52 cents a share, earned in the first quarter of 1980. Sales totaled $15.72 billion, virtually the same as the $15.71 billion reported in the same period last year. Sales of cars and trucks in the period declined to 1.69 million units worldwide from 2.03 million, despite a rebate program in the United States that the company said improved auto sales in the final weeks of the quarter.

Democratic leaders in the House voiced serious doubts that they could muster sufficient votes to alter President Reagan's budget, while Republican leaders in the Senate said they had succeeded in bringing rebellious conservatives into line behind the Administration's spending plan. The developments enhanced the chances of Mr. Reagan's proposals passing Congress virtually intact. (Page A1.) Major collective bargaining agreements in the first quarter produced average wage increases of 9 percent in the first year of the new contracts, down from an average of 9.5 percent a year earlier, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. But the settlements involved no pattern-setting contracts. Productivity in private business rose 3.9 percent in the first quarter over last year's fourth quarter, the department reported. The increase in productivity, often considered a key factor in reducing inflation, was the biggest since 5.1 percent in the third quarter of 1977. (D1.)

State Senator William V. Musto and eight others, including three other Government officials and a reputed organized crime figure, were indicted here today by a Federal grand jury on charges of racketeering, extortion and fraud. The announcement was made by William W. Robertson, United States Attorney for New Jersey. Senator Musto, who is an influential Hudson County Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is charged with taking bribes and using his influence in connection with federally financed school construction projects in Union City, where he is Mayor.

CENTURIES after Galileo was condemned by the Vatican for holding views which were said to contradict the Bible, the spectacular case of the scientist versus the theologians still excites the curiosity and the emotions of historians of science. The name Galileo commonly symbolizes the wisdom of science against the foolishness of the Roman Catholic Church. He is seen as the martyr representing freedom while his accusers are portrayed as the cold authoritarians. But the picture is changing. A new debate over the causes and meaning of the 17th-century dispute was evident at a conference of science historians at the University of Wisconsin last week. Several views were expressed, sometimes heatedly, suggesting that Galileo had been an eccentric publicity seeker, driven by arrogance; that the church's response was not only defensible but inevitable, under rules even Galileo agreed should apply; that Galileo's condemnation had indeed been an atrocity, poisoning relations between faith and reason ever since.