首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Throughout the U.S. students are getting out their No. 2 pencils, ready endure a stress-packed four hours of bubbling in answers
Throughout the U.S. students are getting out their No. 2 pencils, ready endure a stress-packed four hours of bubbling in answers
admin
2021-10-13
93
问题
Throughout the U.S. students are getting out their No. 2 pencils, ready endure a stress-packed four hours of bubbling in answers for the Dec. 12 administration of the ACT, part of some 1.5 million expected to take the test this school year. Standardized tests have been a
scourge
of student life in America for more than 50 years, but it’s fair to say they’re more pressure-packed and ubiquitous than ever before. The ACT and its counterpart, the SAT, have become one of the largest determining factors in the college-admissions process, particularly for elite schools. At least this year’s applicants should be familiar with the format by now: students in the U.S. are taking more standardized tests than ever before, and at ages long before college beckons.
The earliest record of standardized testing comes from China, where hopefuls for government jobs had to fill out examinations testing their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry. In the Western world, examiners usually favored giving essays, a tradition stemming from the ancient Greeks’ affinity for the Socratic method. But as the Industrial Revolution (and the progressive movement of the early 1800s that followed) took school-age kids out of the farms and factories and put them behind desks, standardized testing emerged as an easy way to test large numbers of students quickly.
In 1905, French psychologist Alfred Binet began developing a standardized test of intelligence, work that would eventually be incorporated into a version of the modern IQ test, dubbed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test. By World War I, standardized testing was standard practice: aptitude quizzes called Army Mental Tests were conducted to assign U.S. servicemen jobs during the war effort. But grading was done manually at first, an arduous task that undermined standardized testing’s goal of speedy mass assessment. It would take until 1936 for the first automatic test scanner was developed, a rudimentary computer called the IBM 805. It used electrical current to detect marks made by special pencils on tests, giving rise to the now-ubiquitous bubbling-in of answers. (Modern optical scanners opt to use simple No. 2 pencils, as their darker lead is most scanner-friendly.)
The SAT and the ACT are by far the most famed standardized tests today. The SAT came first, founded in 1926 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test by the College Board, a non-profit group of universities and other educational organizations. The original test lasted 90 minutes, with 315 questions testing knowledge of definitions, basic math and even an early iteration of its famed fill-in-the-blank analogies (e.g., blue: sky: ________: grass). By 1930, the test grew and assumed its now-familiar form, with separate verbal and math tests. By the end of World War II, the test was accepted by enough universities that it became a standard right-of-passage for college-bound high school seniors. It remained largely unchanged (save the occasional tweak) until 2005, when the analogies were done away with and a writing section was added. (That extra section is graded separately from the verbal test, boosting the elusive perfect SAT score from 1600 to 2400.)
In 1959, an education professor at the University of Iowa named Everett Franklin Lindquist (who later pioneered the first generation of optical scanners and the development of the GED test) developed the ACT test as a competitor to the SAT. Originally an acronym for American College Testing, the exam also included a section to guide students toward a course of study by asking questions about their interests. In addition to math, reading and English skills, the ACT assesses students on their knowledge of scientific facts and principles; the test scored on a scale of 36. Both the ACT and SAT have found their niche. The ACT is more commonly accepted in the Midwest and South, while schools on the coast show a preference for the SAT. Students also show a propensity for one test or the other: the SAT is geared toward testing logic, while the ACT is considered more a test of accumulated knowledge. One thing both tests have in common? Their names no longer have any official meaning. Any pretense of the letters standing for acronyms was dropped decades ago. They’re now simply the ACT and SAT.
In the 21st century, however, the SAT and ACT are just part of a gauntlet of tests students may face before reaching college. The College Board also offers SAT II tests, designed for individual subjects ranging from Biology to Geography. The marathon, four-hour Advanced Placement examinations—which some universities accept for students who want to opt out of introductory college-level classes—remain popular: nearly 350,000 took the AP U.S. History test last year, the most popular subject test offered. There’s also the PSAT, taken in the junior year as preparation for the full blown SAT and as an assessment for the coveted National Merit Scholarships. And we’ve still only covered high school—one of the main criticisms of President Bush’s 2001 "No Child Left Behind" education reform was its expansion of state-mandated standardized testing as means of assessing school performance. Now most students are tested each year of grade school as well. That means that by the time they graduate to college—where the essay, the experiment and the case study still rule—the reprieve from bubble-filling and time limits is a welcome one, indeed.
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that________.
选项
A、Standardized testing is very popular in the States.
B、Standardized testing is used to assess school performance.
C、Standardized testing is efficient in choosing elite students.
D、People dislike the practice of assessing schools by means of standardized testing.
答案
D
解析
推断题。由最后一段可知,人们批评美国前总统布什2001年教育改革中将标准化测试作为衡量学校的一种方式。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/cvIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Reducingvehiclenumbersonhighways.B、Forbiddinghonkingthehornloudly.C、Improvingdrivers’behaviors.D、Restrictingspac
StudyActivitiesinUniversityInordertohelpcollegeanduniversitystudentsintheprocessoflearning,fourkeystudyac
(1)Saintsshouldalwaysbejudgedguiltyuntiltheyareprovedinnocent,buttheteststhathavetobeappliedtothemarenot,
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
A、Nappingfor2hoursisbetterthanfor40minutes.B、Itdoesnotreviveyouifthenaplaststoolong.C、Youshouldnevertake
A、Around24%ofpeopleunderstandtheimportanceofsleep.B、Around15%ofpeopleareabletofallasleepeasily.C、Aroundonet
A、Followingclassroominstructions.B、Watchingplentyofmoviesonline.C、Breakingdownculturalbarriers.D、Backpackingaround
A、Anexperiencedteacher.B、Afriendofthetargetlanguage.C、Aregularlearningprogram.D、Aninborntalentoflanguage.C对话中,
Shouldhighschoolseniorstakeagapyearbeforetheygotouniversities?GapYearsoriginallystartedintheUnitedKingdomin
随机试题
丙集团公司(以下简称丙公司)成立于1989年,现总部位于中国上海。20多年来,丙公司从单一的服装业务稳健发展成为集科技、时尚、金融服务、医药等产业于一体的多元化产业集群。该公司追求一种动态的环境,不断探索和发现新产品和市场机会。近年来环境污染问题
程序化决策解决的是以往无先例可循的新问题,通常是有关重大战略问题的决策。()
弥散性血管内凝血(DIC)患者晚期发生广泛出血的主要原因是
若换热器中,一侧流体为冷凝过程(相变),另一侧为单相流体,下列说法正确的是()。
内蒙古包头蓝天电力集团公司委托河北燕山机械设备进出口公司于2011年4月10日以CIF天津USA200000元/台购进荷兰产FW054A型风力发电设备控制器10台。该批设备由中国远洋运输公司载运从天津新港进口。该企业持有效单证向包头海关申请要求将该批设备转
根据税收征收管理法律制度的规定,下列各项中,税务机关可以无限期追征税款和滞纳金的有()。
行政监察监督是()对公安机关及其人民警察执法活动的监督。
1997年美国哪一产业总值最高?( )1997年零售业总值为多少?( )
盲视属于以下哪种现象?()
______drewthedailylifeofupperclasses?______witnessedtheriseofthewomenpaintingschool?
最新回复
(
0
)