College Entrance Examination Research Articles

The Presence and Treatment of DNA isolation, PCR and Gel Electrophoresis Techniques in Biology Curricula, Textbooks and University Placement Exams: Are We Keeping up with the Pace of Biotechnology?

Understanding the basic applications of biotechnology is important in order to respond effectively to challenges related to GMOs, forensic science, bioinformatics, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlights the importance of biotechnology education. This study aims to examine the presence and treatment of biotechnological techniques (DNA isolation, PCR, and Gel Electrophoresis) in biology curricula, aligned biology textbooks, and university placement exams). The study adopts a qualitative case study approach, employing a document analysis method. Turkish National Biology Curriculum published in 2013 (BC-2013) and 2018 (BC-2018 and SBC-2018), curricula-aligned Biology Textbooks, and University Placement Biology Exam Questions (2016-2022) are used as documents. The results, regarding the examination of BC and SBC showed that the basic biotechnological methods were only included in the explanations of the SBC-2018. Regarding the textbooks, it was found out that 12nd grade textbooks include PCR and Gel Electrophoresis but not DNA isolation. Contents of these textbooks revealed some issues when examined in terms of textbook examination criteria. The biology questions in the university placement exams showed that they do not include biotechnological techniques or do not require knowledge of these techniques to choose the right option. As a result, this research highlights the challenges related to the current state of basic biotechnology techniques and emphasizes that curricula, aligned textbooks, and university entrance exams struggle to keep up with the pace of biotechnology. The study suggests updating biology curricula and aligned textbooks in terms biotechnological techniques and organizing them coherently to avoid scientific inaccuracies. It also suggests that the questions on university placement exams be revised to include more questions related to present-day biotechnology challenges and advancements

The Institutional Origins of the Ming and Qing Imperial Examinations􀆳 Special Classics Examination Model, the Separation of Scripture Reading and the Reform of Accumulated Disadvantages

Confucianism has always been the main content of the ancient imperial examinations, and the types and scope of the examination of classics have had a significant role in inducing scholars to study the classics. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examinations adopted the mode of selecting one of the five classics as the special classics examination, which not only had a long institutional origin and historical evolution, but also produced the system of marking the classics in the implementation of the operation. In order to better select officials and maintain the feudal rule, based on the numerous disadvantages derived from the long-term operation of the special scripture test, the Qing court adopted the reform. of the mode of trying classics, changing the special scripture test for the five classics and test. This reform. and adjustment of this trial mode has an important and unique historical mirror value for promoting the comprehensive reform. of the college entrance examination in the new era.

Relationship between Student Expectations, Perceptions, and Personal Characteristics in Integrated Technical Courses

The objective of this study is to analyse relationships between the characteristics of students attending an integrated technical course and their expectations and perceptions by using the SERVQUAL scale. A questionnaire was applied to the students in two municipalities based on a version adapted from the Servqual scale. A pre-test was performed with five students and the final sample had 249 respondents. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were the techniques used for data analysis. The results show that students of different school years, those who always attended public schools, those who were at the campus of Araranguá, those who intend to follow a career in their field of study, and mainly those intending to take college entrance exams, have different expectations and perceptions of the course quality. The present study concluded that taking the college entrance exam is the characteristic most strongly related to different levels of expectation and perception. However, the results differ partially from the revised literature.

The Impact of Online Public Opinion Dissemination on the “Wraparound Involvement” of College Students' Academic Qualifications: A Comparative Study of Shandong X University and Henan Y University as an Example

The 21st century is the information age. The rapid development of new media has brought about sweeping changes to society, and while helping to improve the quality of higher education, a phenomenon of “hostage-type involution” of college students' academic qualifications has also emerged. This paper adopts the research methods of literature analysis and case study analysis and selects Shandong X University and Henan Y University as examples for comparative analysis under the “college entrance examination province”. The evolution of the above phenomenon has reached a white-hot stage, invariably affecting the physical and mental health development of college students and, at the same time, arousing the great concern of the school, society and the state, which needs to deeply explore the reasons for the formation of hostage-type involution of the network public opinion dissemination to the college students' blind pursuit of academic qualifications. Finally, we propose effective strategies and suggestions for universities and social media to manage the construction of online public opinion and to help students establish a correct view of pursuing academic qualifications according to various reasons.

Ewolucja egzaminu maturalnego z języków obcych na przestrzeni sześciu dekad

Matura is an important high-stakes examination present in the Polish education system since the late 18th century. It is taken on completion of high school and is compulsory for those who want to apply for higher education. As a result of an examination reform, in 2005 the exam took on a new form. Since then it has been a professional, external, standardised assessment used for the analysis of school and student performance, and – most importantly – in lieu of university entrance exams.
 The article looks at the evolution of the foreign language component of the Matura exam over the last six decades: from an internal test prepared by local authorities and by schools, assessed arbitrarily by the test-takers’ teachers, to a professional examination prepared by expert institutions in compliance with quality standards and assessed by trained markers according to elaborate grading criteria. The paper follows the changes occurring in the assessment starting from 1960 up to 2023, when another examination reform brought about new modifications in the foreign language exam.

Prevalence of color vision deficiency among Chinese college students and their quality of life.

To investigate the prevalence of color vision deficiency (CVD) among college students and their quality of life (QoL) in a Chinese college. This cross-sectional study was performed in Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. The questionnaire containing participants' demographic data, as well as CVD related QoL was distributed to students who were screened as CVD [by Color Vision Examination Plates (Version 6)] in 2022 freshman entrance examination. Color blindness QoL (CBQoL) and utility analysis were used to evaluate the QoL of CVD students. There were 381 of 17 303 (2.20%) students screened as CVD, including 368 (4.11%) males and 13 (0.16%) females. A total of 317 students completed the questionnaire, the response rate was 83.20%. Only 166 participants (52.3%) knew they have CVD before the physical examination for college entrance examination, while a total of 145 participants (45.74%) hoped to be diagnosed earlier. The medians of CBQoL score and utility were 5.85 (range 2.2-6) and 1 (range 0-1), respectively. The proportions of students whose QoL is affected by CVD were 67.63% (211/312) and 42.27% (134/317) measured by CBQoL and utility analysis respectively. The prevalence of CVD in males is much higher than that in females. The time when CVD students first became aware of their CVD is relatively late. The QoL of the study population is quite high, while a large proportion of students' QoL are affected by CVD. It is suggested that as a congenital defect, CVD screening in China should be earlier, and appropriate guidance and support are needed for CVD patients to help them better adapt to life, study, and work.

ChatGPT and the Generation of Digitally Born “Knowledge”: How Does a Generative AI Language Model Interpret Cultural Heritage Values?

The public release of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence language model, caused wide-spread public interest in its abilities but also concern about the implications of the application on academia, depending on whether it was deemed benevolent (e.g., supporting analysis and simplification of tasks) or malevolent (e.g., assignment writing and academic misconduct). While ChatGPT has been shown to provide answers of sufficient quality to pass some university exams, its capacity to write essays that require an exploration of value concepts is unknown. This paper presents the results of a study where ChatGPT-4 (released May 2023) was tasked with writing a 1500-word essay to discuss the nature of values used in the assessment of cultural heritage significance. Based on an analysis of 36 iterations, ChatGPT wrote essays of limited length with about 50% of the stipulated word count being primarily descriptive and without any depth or complexity. The concepts, which are often flawed and suffer from inverted logic, are presented in an arbitrary sequence with limited coherence and without any defined line of argument. Given that it is a generative language model, ChatGPT often splits concepts and uses one or more words to develop tangential arguments. While ChatGPT provides references as tasked, many are fictitious, albeit with plausible authors and titles. At present, ChatGPT has the ability to critique its own work but seems unable to incorporate that critique in a meaningful way to improve a previous draft. Setting aside conceptual flaws such as inverted logic, several of the essays could possibly pass as a junior high school assignment but fall short of what would be expected in senior school, let alone at a college or university level.

An Evaluation of the Chinese CollegeAdmission Examination System from the Standpoint of Equity in Public Policy

The provincial education examination institution mandate system for Chinas college entrance examination was approved by the relevant national department or is implementing an independent proposition. It is uniformly dispatched by the Ministry of Education and implemented and managed by the provincial enrollment and examination committees. Its nature dictates that social justice must exist. The battle for college entrance exams has grown more intense as the number of exams for admission to colleges continues to rise. Then came the sociological phenomenon of immigrants taking college admission exams. This article will use the phenomenon of college entrance examination immigration as an illustration to explain the need for its public policy for the equitable distribution of social value through a thorough analysis of college entrance examination admissions. The fairness of the new college entrance exam system must be continually improved. To take into account the interests of all parties and maximize the overall efficacy of public policy, social values must be distributed fairly.

Pros and Cons of Using Artificial Intelligence Chatbots for Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Management.

SYNOPSIS: Artificial intelligence (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs), which focus on the interaction between computers and human language, can influence musculoskeletal rehabilitation management. AI chatbots (eg, ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing, and Google Bard) are a form of large language models designed to understand, interpret, and generate text similar to what is produced by humans. Since their release, chatbots have triggered controversy in the international scientific community, including when they have passed university exams, generated credible scientific abstracts, and shown potential for replacing humans in scientific roles. The controversies extend to the field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation. In this Viewpoint, we describe the potential applications and limitations, and recommended actions for education, clinical practice, and research when using AI chatbots for musculoskeletal rehabilitation management, aspects that may have similar implications for the broader health care community. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2023;53(12):1-7. Epub 14 September 2023. doi:10.2519/jospt.2023.12000.

A Research on the Predicament and Improving Strategies of China College Entrance Examination Thinking in IELTS Reading—Comparative Analysis of Chinese College Entrance Examination English Reading and IELTS Reading

Over recent years, the mainland examination cohort has revealed a gradual trend of getting younger. More and more high school students are attempting to apply for undergraduate degrees in foreign universities, leading to an increasing trend of taking the IELTS examination. This article examines the challenges of candidates tackling IELTS English reading within the context of college entrance exams. It explores the thought processes of Chinese candidates and discusses strategies for enhancing the accuracy of IELTS reading, providing valuable references for the advancement of English education in China, especially at secondary and tertiary levels, and thus fostering well-rounded talents in the country.

Investigating the Person Fit Statistics of Teenagers Participating in the Iranian University Entrance Exam 2022

Investigating the Person Fit Statistics of Teenagers Participating in the Iranian University Entrance Exam 2022

Training and Provision of Information Related to The Accessibility of Official Higher Education Institutions for High School Students of The Same Level in Pekalongan City

Education plays a vital role in human life, serving as a means to achieve a high quality of life. Within the realm of formal education, higher education holds particular significance in enhancing the human resources of a nation and contributing to their continual improvement. The objective of this service initiative is to provide comprehensive information on the official college selection process and deliver training through entrance examination questionnaires, enabling participants to better equip themselves for the official college entrance examinations. This community service endeavor primarily utilizes socialization and facilitates access to official school information, achieved through collaboration with external service partners. Specifically, the "Neutron" tutoring institution in Pekalongan acts as a dedicated partner, actively engaging in discussions concerning official school entrance examination questions. The activity drew participation from 114 students representing various schools in Pekalongan. The outcomes of the community service activities showcased a high level of enthusiasm among the participants, evident in their positive response and active engagement throughout the program. This positive response was demonstrated by the participants' enthusiastic completion of practice questions, thereby reinforcing their preparation for the official college entrance examinations. Information dissemination and provision of practice questions aim to empower participants to adequately prepare for their future academic pursuits.

Research on Mathematics Expression Ability among Chinese High School Students

Mathematics expression ability is of great significance to the development of students' logical thinking. It is an essential ability required in the new mathematics curriculum standards, and it is also the focus of the current high school entrance examination and National College Entrance examination. This study used the China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) as a data source to summarize and sort out previous research in order to provide suggestions for current teaching and found that: (1) Current domestic research on mathematics expression ability of high school students mainly focuses on the following five aspects: connotations and classification of mathematics expression ability, development status of mathematics expression ability, evaluation frameworks of mathematics expression ability, strategies for cultivating students' mathematics expression ability, and the mathematics expression ability of special groups of students. (2) There is relatively little research on the evaluation frameworks and influencing factors of mathematics expression ability, and most training strategies focus on how teachers teach, with very few on how students learn. Previous researchers use self-made test papers, questionnaires or interview outlines to investigate and research, and some researchers base their research on theoretical thinking or teaching experience. (3) Therefore, based on current research, future research needs to adopt more scientific research tools, a more reasonable analysis framework, expand the research scope, increase validation research, and give more scientific suggestions. So that the research on the mathematics expression ability of high school students is more comprehensive, systematic, and profound.

An impact study of the Iranian National University Entrance Exam from students and parents’ perspectives

As a part of a larger project, this study reports a large-scale investigation of the impacts of the Iranian National University Entrance Examination (INUEE) on Iranian high school students and their parents. For this purpose, in a mixed methods research design, 1350 high school students selected based on convenience sampling from three western provinces of Iran were given a researcher-made Likert scale questionnaire; moreover, 27 parents sat for a semi-structured interview. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire were subject to inferential statistical analyses, and the qualitative interview data were first transcribed, and then the transcriptions were subjected to content analysis to extract common patterns and recurring themes. The integrated results obtained from the quantitative and qualitative data analyses indicated that from most of the participants’ points of view, INUEE had detrimental impacts on students’ and their parents’ educational, personal, and social life. From students’ perspective, INUEE had the most harmful impact on their physical and psychological well-being, and from parents’ vantage point, the most negative impacts of INUEE were on the economy of the family and their social activities and entertainments. The findings of the study provide further evidence of the consequential invalidity of such large-scale high-stakes tests and the negative consequences following them. Furthermore, the attested negative impacts of high-stakes large-scale testing on the test takers, their family members, and the educational systems jeopardize educational justice in general and the usefulness and fairness of such tests in particular.

Problems and countermeasures of comprehensive quality evaluation of middle school students

With the deepening of the new college entrance examination reform, the comprehensive quality evaluation has attracted more and more attention, and has become the focus in the eyes of students, parents, educators and related scholars. Making full use of the promotion function of comprehensive quality evaluation can promote the promotion of middle school students' ability and quality development. However, there are also some problems in the comprehensive quality evaluation of middle school students, which need to be solved. Therefore, in this paper, through the literature, the comprehensive quality evaluation, the study found that the comprehensive quality evaluation has certain problems, such as the understanding of comprehensive quality evaluation function orientation, part of the comprehensive quality evaluation index operability is not strong, the comprehensive quality evaluation play inadequate, this paper puts forward the countermeasures of comprehensive quality evaluation.

Common education in schools. Gauging potentials for democratic transformation: a case study from Greece

This article examines how educational commons, in which teaching and learning are shaped by the entire educational community on terms of equal freedom, contribute to democratic empowerment and renewal. Intervening in the critical debate over public formal education and the scope it allows for radical democratization, discussion draws on a case study conducted in the self-organized school Solidarity School Mesopotamia in Moschato, Athens, Greece.The Solidarity School is an informal tutoring or supplementary tuition school which is attached to the formal high school curriculum. One of its main objectives is to support students for the courses they attend in public schools and to prepare them for public school and university entrance exams. This attachment foists constraints on education, however, the commons-based organization and the alter-political nature of the school put a crucial twist on educational practice. This generates considerable transformative effects which are reflected markedly in the ambiance of teaching and learning.The School promotes socio-economic and political equality not only by providing free tuition to students whose families may not be able to afford private supplementary teaching and might not be able thus to enter university or to learn foreign languages. The School nourishes also a culture of equal freedom, solidarity and civic engagement which refashions the hegemonic habitus of consumerist individualism, passivity and submission to socio-political hierarchies.The article argues thus that there is room for educational commons and democratic transformation even in structures which remain tailored to formal schooling but refigure educational hierarchies and modes of governance, infusing education with an alternative democratic ethos of solidarity, equal freedom and grassroots self-organization.

How sociocultural factors mediate washback effect: a study of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination English Language Paper 4

The study explores the unaddressed washback on the English-speaking test of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE-English Language Paper 4). The HKDSE is a university entrance exam in Hong Kong which includes a group discussion speaking test known as English Language Paper 4. To identify ongoing washback effects, including sociocultural perspectives, the study analyses ongoing student washback of test-specific and non-specific preparation and how the mediating factors affect these preparations. One-hundred and ninety-nine secondary 4th to 6th grade students provided the questionnaire data in two rounds. Results from exploratory factor analysis indicate six major types of test preparation, which are categorised as two test specific, three non-specific, and one integrated type of preparation. Mediating factors comprise five categories of learner characteristics and stakeholders in and out of school. The cluster analyses identified four students’ groups intertwined with the involvement of washback and the mediating factors. A strong relationship between extrinsic factors and explicit learning and intrinsic factors and implicit learning was found. The study concludes that students’ washback is affected by mediating factors aside from the test; learning method choice by students (e.g. learning from entertainment content) has a strong relationship with specific mediating factors (e.g. interest in English).

A novel frequency-range analysis (FRA) method for determining critical words among English high-stakes tests

Within the new era of artificial intelligence (AI), education industry should develop in the direction of intelligence and digitalization. For evaluating learners’ academic performances, English high-stakes test is not only a mere means for measuring what English as a Foreign Language (EFL) stakeholders know or do not know but also likely to bring life-changing consequences. Hence, effective test preparation for English high-stakes test is crucial for those who futures depend on attaining a particular score. However, traditional corpus-based approaches cannot simultaneously take words’ frequency and range variables into consideration when evaluating their importance level, which makes the word sorting results inaccurate. Thus, to effectively and accurately extract critical words among English high-stakes test for enhancing EFL stakeholders’ test performance, this paper integrates a corpus-based approach and a revised Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) method to develop a novel frequency-range analysis (FRA) method. Taiwan College Entrance Exam of English Subject (TCEEES) from the year of 2001 to 2022 are adopted as an empirical case of English high stake test and the target corpus for verification. Results indicate that the critical words evaluated by FRA method are concentrated on Quadrant I including 1,576 word types that account for over 60% running words of TCEEES corpus. After compared with the three traditional corpus-based approaches and the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) method, the significant contributions include: (1) the FRA method can use a machine-based function words elimination technique to enhance the efficiency; (2) the FRA method can simultaneously take words’ frequency and range variables into consideration; (3) the FRA method can effectively conduct cluster analysis by categorizing the words into the four quadrants that based on their relative importance level. The results will give EFL stakeholders a clearer picture of how to allocate their learning time and education resources into critical words acquisition.

Does medical education reform change who is selected? A national cross-sectional survey from China

ObjectivesApproximately 10 years ago, China introduced an education plan to improve the overall quality of medical education and to better serve the population’s health needs. Many medical schools were then...

A Critique of the Computer-Based English Speaking Test in Fujian (CEST-FJ)

This essay applies Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) Test Usefulness Framework to scrutinize the reliability, construct validity, and impact of the Computer-based English Speaking Test in Fujian (CEST-FJ). The CEST-FJ’s inclusion in the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) represents a positive step towards promoting communicative ability in English language learning in China. The computerized administration and scoring processes enhance the test’s reliability and control over construct-irrelevant variance. However, limitations such as potential variations in difficulty, construct under-representation of communicative competence, challenges for pronunciation assessment in the context of English as an International Language (EIL), and the non-compulsory and low-value nature of the test have been identified. Additionally, the lack of transparency surrounding the CEST-FJ hampers assessment and accountability. This essay emphasizes the need for more theoretical and empirical research to justify or enhance the test in the future, particularly in light of its high-stakes nature and influence on test-takers’ university admissions. Test designers are urged to prioritize transparency and provide more information to facilitate further research and ensure the effectiveness of the CEST-FJ.