Whats everyone doing today?

[Sarojaede]

Well, I can't speak for Sarojaede, but the one my son did was to determine his writing proficiency. If he reached a certain level, he could go right into the first required core curriculum writing class (cleverly titled Writing 101). If his level was lower, he would have needed to take some prep courses first to bring him up to that level. If he had scored higher, he could have skipped Writing 101 and gone into Writing 102 (which are both part of the core curriculum requirements). His program also requires a Technical Communication course, for which Writing 102 is a prerequisite.

basicly they want to make sure he's enrolled in writing courses at the appropriate level.

Yes, that's what a placement essay is. In the case of my university, which is relucant to more the process online--damn them--the students come to campuse during first-year orientation and they take English, Math, and, I believe, Science, placement exams. For the English placement exam, they are given a standard blue book that has an additional cover attached to it. On the cover are the instructions for how the student is to proceed with the essay and a prompt they are required to respond to.

Among the bluebooks there are a total of 5 or 6 different prompts to prevent the prompt from "leaking" out to other students from the same high school. The idea is that the students are supposed to demonstrate their ability to critically think and respond cogently to a given prompt within a 45 minute time period. They cannot use a dictionary/thesauraus or any outside sources. They are supposed to respond by writing an essay with a thesis--a central claim--and supporting that thesis. They can agree with the prompt, disagree with it, agree with parts of it, and so on. So basically they are supposed to come up with their own supported opinion in response to a given prompt.

A standard blue book is about 6.5 x 5 (I think). So, in 45 minutes, one would expect probably a good 3-4 pages in a blue book. Some students manage this. Some students manage a paragraph in 45 minutes.

Based on what they write, which has to be read by a minmum 2 people, 3 if there is no agreement between the two original readers, the students are slatted into 990 (Reading and Writing Skills), 100 (Basic Writing), or 110 (Composition 1). On the rare occassion, a student can be placed in Comp II.

Imagine that you have read 300 of these in the last two days.

My head flipping hurts.


(Sorry that was so long.)

 

[silverwhisper]

[passes sarojaede some pain killers]

[calls in cabin boys to rub her temples]

:>

ed

 

[Sarojaede]

Got a bottle of wine too?

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

[calls in cabin boys to rub her temples]

:>

ed

we have cabin boys?

 

[Sarojaede]

we have cabin boys?

Silver special ordered them just for me.

 

[silverwhisper]

well, she does: they're TAs.

[ducks]

ed

 

[Sarojaede]

well, she does: they're TAs.

[ducks]

ed

[throws volume one of the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary at Silver]

 

[EJFan]

[throws volume one of the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary at Silver]

*shovels up SW and rushes him to ER for concussion treatment*

 

[silverwhisper]

[hopes the ER nurses bear even a passing resemblance to the ones that haunt his dreams]



ed

 

[EJFan]

[hopes the ER nurses bear even a passing resemblance to the ones that haunt his dreams]



ed

you're presently concussed... you can't hope just now.

 

[Guest]

 

[silverwhisper]

i'd be LOLing but apparently, i'm concussed, so i can't really do that just yet.

ed

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

I had this conversation a couple years ago with a guy at work (he's about my age...was around 44 at the time)

him: I had to take one of my kids to the hospital last night.

me: anything major?

him: nothing serious. but I did notice something about the nurses

me: what was that?

him: when I was in high school, I volunteered at the same hospital. I remember a number of the nurses were in their 20's and were really hot. last night, all the nurses were older than me.

me: that's because they're still the same nurses.

my observation has been that nurses have, as a group, have gotten much heavier. still plenty o' hotties around though.

 

[Sarojaede]

i'd be LOLing but apparently, i'm concussed, so i can't really do that just yet.

ed

Oh for heaven's sakes

[waves smelling salts under Silver's nose]

 

[Eilan]

Yes, that's what a placement essay is. In the case of my university, which is relucant to more the process online--damn them--the students come to campuse during first-year orientation and they take English, Math, and, I believe, Science, placement exams. For the English placement exam, they are given a standard blue book that has an additional cover attached to it. On the cover are the instructions for how the student is to proceed with the essay and a prompt they are required to respond to.

The university that I used to work for doesn't use an essay to place students into reading/writing classes. Incoming freshmen take multiple-choice tests. The reading test is pretty similar to the ACT reading portion; the writing test evaluates a student's ability to pick out grammatical errors.

It's not the way I'd do things, but the English department and the powers-that-be can't agree on how to compensate faculty to read hundreds of writing samples.

 

[Leah57]

boy, am I glad I don't work in academia.... I'd have a life long headache, I'm SURE of it!!!!

Goodness, I think I have a boring life... off to work, let doggie out @ lunchtime, home afterwork, gym work most evenings after that... tonite is a light night... stretch only... YIPPEE!!!

 

[bobsgirl]

*noticing that silverwhisper is concussed, scalywag quickly swipes silver's trenchcoat and fish-holster (with fully loaded fish) from the coat hook and heads out in search of unsuspecting souls*

*quickly running to hide behind the door*

 

[Guest]

 

[Leah57]

*scalywag, using his parascopic vision, spots bobsgirl trying to hide behind the door. but he likes bobsgirl, so he'll spare her any fish-slapping, at least for now*

**hoping I'm under the fish-slapping radar**

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

christ... i'm away for 3 hours and everyone's conversing in ed-speak.

 

[Quoll]

/Quoll, arriving late as usual, surveys the scene, assesses the situation and takes off on completely the wrong tack.\



Gawd, nurses is hot aint they.

 

[silverwhisper]

hey, don't look at me, EJ: i've been concussed!

ed