Part I Writing
(30minutes)
Directions:
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic "I Have a Dream..." You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below in Chinese:
1. 描述你的梦想……
2. 讲述你选择这个作为梦想的原因。
Part II Reading Comprehension
(Skimming and Scanning)
(15minutes)
Directions:
In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly. Forquestions1-7, mark Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
How College Rankings Work
Among the many methods people use to judge colleges and universities, few are as widely used as simple rankings. These lists, usually ordered by numerical scores or letter grades, are inherently appealing because they’re easily understood and they tell us exactly where the authors think a given school stands. But they can also be confusing be-cause some magazine, book and online publishers use vastly different criteria when determining academic status.
The most prominent set of college rankings in the United States is published by U.S. News & World Report. Every year since 1987, it has published its rankings in magazine form, and more recently in paperback guidebooks. The magazine now ranks graduate schools, too. Many schools use these rankings as part of their promotional materials, trumpeting a rise in standing, hanging celebratory banners or posting the good news on their websites.
Some companies simply offer rankings of what they consider the best schools, with a variety of criteria used to calculate an overall score. Others break down lists of top schools into categories like academics, social life, small colleges, big colleges, liberal arts schools, public schools, undergraduate experience and happiest students. Besides U.S.News&WorldReport, other popular rankings include Princeton Review guidebooks and those produced by the Center for University Rankings, which rates research universities.
Books like College Prowler offer an insider view from current students and recent graduates. These guidebooks present information about topics as varied as a school’s party scene. Several websites, like studentsreview.com, pro-vide college rankings completed by actual students, and these sites also offer a behind-the-scenes view with information not found in traditional guidebooks.
In other countries, newspapers often provide rankings, such as Maclean’s annual guide to Canadian colleges and universities. The European Union has also published reports on universities that included rankings. In addition, News week published a list in August 2006 of the "Top 100 Global Universities". The list focuses on a school’s inter-national makeup, global impact, connections to other parts of the world and research accomplishments.
Inevitably, most rankings are based on raw data, but the way that data are calculated and weighted varies significantly between publishers. Sometimes publishers receive the data directly from schools, as is the case with U.S.News & World Report. Others rely on data drawn from university websites, research foundations or academic organizations. For example, Vanguard’s college rankings, which focus on faculty quality, rely on data from the National Research Council. When examining college rankings, it’s important to look at what data the publication used and how it used the data. Many publications use other data sources or their own specialized surveys. Data that are commonly used in rankings include:
●SAT and ACT scores of incoming students
●Students’high school GPAs
●Acceptance rate
●Alumni donations
●Student-to-faculty ratio
●Graduation rate
●Financial aid
●Transfer rate (also called student retention)
●Average class size
●Quality of faculty, which may be measured by research grants and prizes awarded and the frequency of publications, among other factors.
●Results from surveys completed by students or administrators |
