4.Writing Section

Directions

During the tests, you will write two essays. The integrated essay asks for your response to an academic reading passage and a lecture on the same topic. You may take notes as you read and listen, but notes are not graded. You use your notes to write the essay. The lecture will be spoken, but the directions and the questions will be written. You will have 20 minutes to plan, write, and essay for the integrated topic will require that you write 150-225 words.

The independent essay usually asks for your opinion about a familiar topic.  You will have 30minutes to plan, write, and revise your response. Typically, a good essay for the independent topic will require that your write 300-350 words. A clock on the screen will show you how much time you have to complete each essay.

1. Integrated Essay : “School Organization.”

You have 20minutes to plan, write, and revise your response to a reading passage and a lecture on the sam topic. First, read the passage and take notes. Then, listen to the lecture and take notes. Finally,write your response to the writing question. Typically, a good response will require that you write 150-225 words.

Reading Passage (time : 30minutes)

Historically, school in the United States have borrowed the European system of school organization, a system that sarates students into grades by chronological age. In general, children begin formal schiiling at the age of six in what is referred to as the first grade. For the most part, the students progress though twelve grades; however, some students who do not meet minimum requirments for particular grade may be asked to repeat the year.

Graded schools are divided into primary grades, intermediate grades, and secondary grades. Primary education includes grades 1 through 5 or 6, and may also provide kindergarten as a preparation for first grade.Referredto as elementary school, these grades are usually taught by one teacher in a self-contained classroom. Intermediate grades begin with grade 6 or 7, and offer three years of instruction. At this level, teams of teachers may collaborate to provide subject-based classes similar to those offered in high school. Viewed as a preparation for high school., intermediated education is known as junior high school.  At grade 9 or 10, secondary school begin. Classes taught by subject specialists usually last about fifty minutes to allow a student ten minutes tomove to the next class before it begins at the top of the hour. At the end of twelve successful grades of instruction, students are eligible for a secondary school diploma, nore commonly called a high school diploma.

Now listen to a lecture on the same topic as the passage that you have just read.

Professor :

So what are theproblems associated with the graded school system ? Well, for one thing, graded schools don’t take into account the… the differences in academic readiness on the part of individual learners. And by that I mean that some six-year olds are simply not socially, mentally, or even phisically mature enough to begin school, but others are ready in all of those important ways by their fifth or even fourth birthdays, And uh… by the time that girls and boys are in their early teens, we can see that there’s a significant difference in maturity, in…. in physical and social maturity but… they’re still grouped together in intermediate grades in a graded school system.

Okay, besides the obvious differnces in individual readiness,the .. the whole issue of promotion needs to be reviewe. Grade-level requirments don’t really deal with the actual learning that has occurred, uh, in a posotive way. Many research studies confirm that repeating an entire year because some of the material is not learned contributes to… ..to boredom, poor self-concept, and… and eventually to higher drop-out rates. And since graded schools are using group eexpectations as measured by performance on standardized tests, this is another way to evaluate the group rather than the individual. So, what happens is that individual differences in how long it takes to learne a concept or … or the partial achievement of a grade-level curriculum… that is never addressed by the graded school system. Students who need moer time to learn have to repeatmaterial that they already know. Sstudents who can learne at a faster rate have to wait for the new material to be resented. So, as you can see, it’s not ideal.

Question

Summarize the main points in the lecture, explaining how theycas doubt on the ideas in the reading passage.

2.  Independent Essay : “An Important  Leader”

Leaders like John F. Kennedy and Marthin Luther King have made important contributions to the people of the United States. Name another world leader you think is important. Give specific reason for you choice.