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Flashcards: Authorial Purpose in Contemporary Life Passages
"Why Learning Multiple Languages in Graduate School is Important" by Matthew Minerd (2013)
In graduate school, students are often required to learn a number of foreign languages in addition to their regular coursework. This can be quite frustrating and difficult, for the normal courses in graduate school require significantly more reading and writing than do undergraduate courses. It is not unusual for graduate students to have regular reading assignments of several hundred pages for each course that they take. Likewise, they often write papers of much greater length than those that they wrote as undergraduate students. When language examinations are added to this difficult course load, it can be very frustrating for graduate students to try to find the time to prepare for these additional examinations.
Although these frustrations are understandable, this system has not been created solely to cause woe for graduate students. Much of the work for which these students are being prepared will focus on research. While much has been written in English about many topics, adequate research can only be done if one is able to read what people have written in other languages. For instance, there are many important articles and books written about almost every topic by European scholars. If a graduate student does not know any foreign languages, all of these article and books will be impossible to read, and hence useless to their research endeavors. This would be a great loss for a student's research. Therefore, in spite of its frustrating aspects, the language examination process is an important component of graduate school education.
What is the overall purpose of the passage?
To summarize the state of language exams in graduate schools
None of the other answers
To consider the antiquated methods of graduate school education
To list frustrations that are felt about taking language examinations in graduate school
To defend the language examination system found in graduate schools
All HSPT Reading Resources
If your child is in the eighth grade and planning to attend an independent or magnet high school, then he may be required to take the nationally recognized High School Placement Test. Private schools across the country require incoming students to take the test in order to determine acceptance into the school, proper course placement, scholarship qualification, or some combination of all three. The HSPT is composed of five main sections, including quantitative, verbal, language, mathematics, and reading. If your child is not a strong reader, they may feel some anxiety when it comes to the reading section of the HSPT. Sufficient test preparation can help to reduce your child’s anxiety and improve their overall test performance. Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools are free online HSPT study resources that are easy to use and offer self-study support. Online HSPT Reading Flashcards are one of these exceptional Learning Tools. The Flashcards tool offers a concept-specific tiered structure that allows your child to quickly assess his strengths and weaknesses, providing quality High School Placement Test review.
The reading section of the HSPT consists of over 60 questions to be answered within only 25 minutes. The purpose of the reading section is to assess your child’s ability to understand details and meanings presented in different reading passages. The HSPT Reading Flashcards are designed to help strengthen these skills in two main categories: Comprehension and Vocabulary. The tiered structure includes concept-specific subtopics within these categories, helping your child focus on the topics in which they need the most improvement. For example, within the Comprehension category, your student could study a broad selection of content using the Passage Reasoning Flashcards, or they can select a more specific HSPT Reading review using the Passage Reasoning in Contemporary Life flashcards.
Once your child selects a concept to practice, an HSPT Reading sample question is presented in a multiple-choice format which simulates the actual exam. Once your child selects an answer, the flashcard flips and the correct answer is revealed, followed by a detailed explanation of the answer. The explanation also includes links to relevant concepts and definitions. The multiple-choice answers are randomly assigned with each use of the flashcard, securing a valid learning experience and denying the possibility of automatically memorizing the answers based on their order.
In addition to the Flashcards, Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools for the HSPT Reading section include Learn by Concept, a Question of the Day, and Practice Tests. The Question of the Day exercise is a fun and interactive way to ensure your child fits some study time into each day. Learn by Concept and the Practice Tests are organized in a similar way as the online Flashcards, with a tiered concept-specific structure that allows your child to focus on the concepts they need to review most. The HSPT Reading Full-Length Practice Tests allow a realistic testing experience with timed and scored assessments, allowing your child to get a true measurement of their progress. Each of these valuable Learning Tools is free and accessible anytime your child has a moment to study.
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