675 Freshmen Yet to Try Test As Computer Deadline Nears

More than 40 per cent of the freshman class has not attempted the computer programming test for the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (QRR) and will face unspecified action from the Freshman Dean's Office if they fail to take the test before winter vacation, QRR officials said yesterday.

About 675 students have not yet taken the test, which freshmen must attempt by the end of the fall term and pass by the end of spring semester, Jeffrey Tecosky, a Core Curriculum preceptor responsible for QRR, said yesterday. The test has been offered three times weekly since the beginning of the term and will not be administered during reading or exam periods, he added.

Tecosky said that the names of freshmen who do not attempt the computer test by the deadline will be sent to the Freshman Dean's Office, but Henry C. Moses, dean of freshmen, refused to comment last night as to what action would be taken.

"It's a problem of procrastination, not a problem with ability," Andrew M. Gleason, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and chairman of the Core subcommittee on QRR, said yesterday. In planning, "we seriously underestimated the amount of procrastination, and overestimated the number of people who would need help" passing the test, Gleason added.

Students can fulfill QRR, instituted in 1980, by passing both the computer exam and a data analysis test, or by passing Quantitative Reasoning A (QRA). A total of 206 freshmen are enrolled in QRA or one of the introductory computer courses--"Automatic Computing," Applied Sciences 10, and Applied Sciences 11. "Computers, Algorithms, and Programs"--from which a passing grade can be substituted for the computer test.

As of yesterday, more than half the class--860 students--had yet to fulfill the requirement, while 549 freshmen of the 717 who have taken the computer test have passed, Tecosky said.

QRR officials set individual deadlines for attempting the test based on math placement and achievement test scores and have sent letters of warning to the approximately 300 students who failed to meet their deadlines.

Almost three-quarters of all freshmen have passed the data analysis test, which was administered during Freshman Week and on October 13. For the 402 students who must still pass the test, it will be offered again February 4, Tecosky added.

According to academic rules, students who do not fulfill QRR by the end fo freshman year will face action from the Administrative Board and must "enroll in an appropriate credit course" (QRA) in order to register for the second year.