{"id":"jezyk-angielski-2006-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2/zad/6","paper_id":"jezyk-angielski-2006-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2","number":"6","points":8,"ptype":"closed","subject":"jezyk-angielski","category":"matura","year":2006,"month":"maj","level":null,"text":"Task 6. (8 points)\nRead the text below. For questions 6.1.-6.8., choose the answer that best matches\nthe text by circling the letter A, B, C or D.\nFor each correct answer you will be given 1 point.\nThis fall some two million high school seniors will apply to one of the thousands of colleges\nand universities in the United States. The fact that most colleges today are more selective\nthan they were a decade ago has filled the college admissions process with a sense of risk\nand scarcity - and that in turn has driven a steady increase in the number of schools to which\nseniors typically apply. With the average public school college counselor laboring\nunder a workload of about 500 students, consumers of higher education must rely on college\nguides and rankings that are published each year, including U.S. News & World Report’s\n“America’s Best Colleges”.\nEducation analysts and university presidents believe that rankings have distorted\nthe admissions process. Not until the 1990s, when college guides became a growing industry,\ndid it really dawn on critics that college rankings were also providing kids with reliable data\nthat could be used to compare schools and pick one out of the clutter. To reduce the relevance\nof one sort of ranking the critics would have to provide another: an alternative measure\nof educational quality based on a new standard to which institutions could aspire.\nIt’s worth looking more closely at some of the specific measures. Take faculty resources.\nUnder the U.S. News formula a school that primarily hires full-time professors\nwith the highest degrees in their fields and pays them handsomely scores above a school that\nrelies more on lower-paid, part-time professors. The thinking here seems plausible enough:\nthe higher-paid professor is more likely to have an impressive curriculum vitae and be a good\nteacher, and a full-time professor has more time to teach and prepare for classes than a harried\nadjunct. But in practice the things that make a professor well known in his field - published\narticles, groundbreaking research - must compete for his time and attention with teaching\nobligations. Few schools reward their faculty members for being good classroom teachers.\nHow about schools that are rich in talented students? Broadly speaking, SAT or ACT scores\nand high school class rank are a good indicator of the academic ability of an incoming\nstudent. But research on learning shows that the highest-achieving students will probably\nthrive intellectually regardless of how effective their school’s teachers are, so it’s hard to tease\nout how much credit an institution deserves for its students’ college achievement.\nHow about schools that are rich? On the whole, such schools can spend more money on\ntheir students and score better in the “financial resources” category - which measures\nspending on things such as faculty salaries, libraries and other forms of academic support,\nand student counseling - than schools with tiny endowments. The catch is that a high level\nof per-student spending does not necessarily translate into, say, a high level of per-student\nlearning. It’s the difference between having a well-stocked library and knowing whether\nyour students actually read a lot of books.\nThe fact that faculty, student, and financial resources don’t necessarily correlate with high\nlevels of learning also undercuts the most important of the U.S. News measures: peer\nassessment. Peer assessment is purely subjective: university presidents, provosts,\nand admissions officers are simply asked to rate each school on a scale of 1 to 5. In one sense,\nthen, rankings have merely made explicit the perceptions of prestige and quality that existed\namong educators long before anyone tried to record them. But it turns out that university\nofficials tend to base their assessment of “reputation” on an institution’s wealth in resources.\nOn the whole, rich, prestigious, research-oriented universities are assumed, rightly\nor wrongly, to provide a better education than other schools. Therefore, university\nadministrators are devoting increasing amounts of time and money to improving the things\nthat build prestige, whether or not those things improve the educational experience\nof the undergraduates the institution is meant to serve.\nadapted from: The Atlantic Monthly, November 2003\nArkusz II\n5\n6.1. In paragraph 1, the author uses the phrase “a sense of risk and scarcity” to imply that\nA. the number of colleges and universities is decreasing.\nB. the educational standards are generally very low.\nC. many candidates are rejected by good universities.\nD. the number of college counselors is insufficient.\n6.2. As suggested in paragraph 2, college rankings are useful because they\nA. make the admissions process easier.\nB. help in choosing the best university.\nC. point out wealthy and reliable schools.\nD. raise educational standards and aspirations.\n6.3. In paragraph 3, the author of the article\nA. explains why colleges reward professors for being really good teachers.\nB. points out the reasons why colleges prefer to employ full-time professors.\nC. regrets the fact that colleges ensure high salaries for all their professors.\nD. advises college professors to start competing with well-known researchers.\n6.4. Good students tend not to\nA. be affected by other intellectuals.\nB. develop intellectually when poorly taught.\nC. display their strengths in the classroom eagerly.\nD. let a school impede their learning potential.\n6.5. The problem with wealthy universities is that\nA. their students may not use the resources fully.\nB. they hardly ever spend money reasonably.\nC. their financial resources are badly managed.\nD. they pay their professors excessive salaries.\n6.6. The criterion which has the most significance in the US News report is\nA. the number of professors employed by the school.\nB. how many gifted students study at the school.\nC. the total amount of money spent per student.\nD. the evaluation by educational authorities.\n6.7. “Them,” as used in paragraph 6, refers to\nA. financial resources.\nB. university officials.\nC. favourable opinions.\nD. university students.\n6.8. The author’s purpose in presenting the four evaluation criteria is to\nA. emphasize their irrelevance in appraising colleges and universities.\nB. account for their popularity and point out their weaknesses.\nC. quote examples of the most useful and important measures.\nD. demonstrate the problem they pose for all candidates.\nTRANSFER YOUR ANSWERS TO THE ANSWER SHEET!\nArkusz II\n6","answer":null,"answer_text":null,"solution":null,"image":"img/jezyk-angielski-2006-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2/zad-6.webp","solution_image":null,"topics":null,"page_from":4,"source":"ocr","answer_source":null,"answer_text_source":null,"solution_source":null,"text_source":"ocr","source_label":"Język angielski · Matura · maj 2006","subject_label":"Język angielski","category_label":"Matura","text_html":"

Task 6. (8 points)
Read the text below. For questions 6.1.-6.8., choose the answer that best matches
the text by circling the letter A, B, C or D.
For each correct answer you will be given 1 point.
This fall some two million high school seniors will apply to one of the thousands of colleges
and universities in the United States. The fact that most colleges today are more selective
than they were a decade ago has filled the college admissions process with a sense of risk
and scarcity - and that in turn has driven a steady increase in the number of schools to which
seniors typically apply. With the average public school college counselor laboring
under a workload of about 500 students, consumers of higher education must rely on college
guides and rankings that are published each year, including U.S. News & World Report’s
“America’s Best Colleges”.
Education analysts and university presidents believe that rankings have distorted
the admissions process. Not until the 1990s, when college guides became a growing industry,
did it really dawn on critics that college rankings were also providing kids with reliable data
that could be used to compare schools and pick one out of the clutter. To reduce the relevance
of one sort of ranking the critics would have to provide another: an alternative measure
of educational quality based on a new standard to which institutions could aspire.
It’s worth looking more closely at some of the specific measures. Take faculty resources.
Under the U.S. News formula a school that primarily hires full-time professors
with the highest degrees in their fields and pays them handsomely scores above a school that
relies more on lower-paid, part-time professors. The thinking here seems plausible enough:
the higher-paid professor is more likely to have an impressive curriculum vitae and be a good
teacher, and a full-time professor has more time to teach and prepare for classes than a harried
adjunct. But in practice the things that make a professor well known in his field - published
articles, groundbreaking research - must compete for his time and attention with teaching
obligations. Few schools reward their faculty members for being good classroom teachers.
How about schools that are rich in talented students? Broadly speaking, SAT or ACT scores
and high school class rank are a good indicator of the academic ability of an incoming
student. But research on learning shows that the highest-achieving students will probably
thrive intellectually regardless of how effective their school’s teachers are, so it’s hard to tease
out how much credit an institution deserves for its students’ college achievement.
How about schools that are rich? On the whole, such schools can spend more money on
their students and score better in the “financial resources” category - which measures
spending on things such as faculty salaries, libraries and other forms of academic support,
and student counseling - than schools with tiny endowments. The catch is that a high level
of per-student spending does not necessarily translate into, say, a high level of per-student
learning. It’s the difference between having a well-stocked library and knowing whether
your students actually read a lot of books.
The fact that faculty, student, and financial resources don’t necessarily correlate with high
levels of learning also undercuts the most important of the U.S. News measures: peer
assessment. Peer assessment is purely subjective: university presidents, provosts,
and admissions officers are simply asked to rate each school on a scale of 1 to 5. In one sense,
then, rankings have merely made explicit the perceptions of prestige and quality that existed
among educators long before anyone tried to record them. But it turns out that university
officials tend to base their assessment of “reputation” on an institution’s wealth in resources.
On the whole, rich, prestigious, research-oriented universities are assumed, rightly
or wrongly, to provide a better education than other schools. Therefore, university
administrators are devoting increasing amounts of time and money to improving the things
that build prestige, whether or not those things improve the educational experience
of the undergraduates the institution is meant to serve.
adapted from: The Atlantic Monthly, November 2003
Arkusz II
5
6.1. In paragraph 1, the author uses the phrase “a sense of risk and scarcity” to imply that
A. the number of colleges and universities is decreasing.
B. the educational standards are generally very low.
C. many candidates are rejected by good universities.
D. the number of college counselors is insufficient.
6.2. As suggested in paragraph 2, college rankings are useful because they
A. make the admissions process easier.
B. help in choosing the best university.
C. point out wealthy and reliable schools.
D. raise educational standards and aspirations.
6.3. In paragraph 3, the author of the article
A. explains why colleges reward professors for being really good teachers.
B. points out the reasons why colleges prefer to employ full-time professors.
C. regrets the fact that colleges ensure high salaries for all their professors.
D. advises college professors to start competing with well-known researchers.
6.4. Good students tend not to
A. be affected by other intellectuals.
B. develop intellectually when poorly taught.
C. display their strengths in the classroom eagerly.
D. let a school impede their learning potential.
6.5. The problem with wealthy universities is that
A. their students may not use the resources fully.
B. they hardly ever spend money reasonably.
C. their financial resources are badly managed.
D. they pay their professors excessive salaries.
6.6. The criterion which has the most significance in the US News report is
A. the number of professors employed by the school.
B. how many gifted students study at the school.
C. the total amount of money spent per student.
D. the evaluation by educational authorities.
6.7. “Them,” as used in paragraph 6, refers to
A. financial resources.
B. university officials.
C. favourable opinions.
D. university students.
6.8. The author’s purpose in presenting the four evaluation criteria is to
A. emphasize their irrelevance in appraising colleges and universities.
B. account for their popularity and point out their weaknesses.
C. quote examples of the most useful and important measures.
D. demonstrate the problem they pose for all candidates.
TRANSFER YOUR ANSWERS TO THE ANSWER SHEET!
Arkusz II
6

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