From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Sat Nov 23 2002 - 12:17:53 MST
--> Doug Thayer
> On Fri, Nov 22, 2002 at 10:31:43PM -0800, Lee Corbin wrote:
> > When I lived in China I represented Harvard in interviewing high school
> > students applying for admission, and it was a humbling
> experience. The SAT
> > isn't offered in China, so instead the kids take the G.R.E. --
> meant for
> > people applying to graduate school -- and still score in the top
> > percentiles. And while many of my Chinese friends worry that the system
> > works children too hard and costs them their childhood, the
> brightest kids
> > are not automatons; many are serious enthusiasts of art, music,
> poetry or, these days, the basketball plays of Yao Ming.
>
> The GRE covers basically the same material as the SAT. I think
> it is somewhat simplified to compensate for people forgetting their high
school subjects
> during 4 years of specialized study at college. GRE mathematics
> is limited to basic algebra and geometry.
>
> If you did not know this basic fact you might be led to believe
> that chinese
> students are receiving the equivalent of a college education
> before graduating from high school.
While the GRE English/Math general tests are a doddle, the GRE
subject-specific exams are horribly hard. They made us poor astrophysicists
do the standard physics test at the time I took it, which basically means
you didn't get any questions on what you'd actually been doing for the
previous X years. It was far nastier than the undergrad honors degree exams
I took in the UK.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:58:19 MST