Students Take Last Shot at QRR

Fifty-two freshmen and eight transfer students will have one last chance to fulfill their Core requirement in quantitative reasoning when they take the data test tonight in the Science Center.

Those students who do not attend the exam, or do not receive a passing grade on this test must either petition the Ad Board to retake it during freshman week, or enroll in Quantitative Reasoning A next fall.

Sixty to 70 freshmen and transfer students usually end up enrolling in QRA each year, according to Deborah J. Hughes-Hallet, head instructor in QRA.

More Adept

But since the Core Quantitative Reasoning Requirement was established in fall 1980, students have grown more adept at passing the data test the first time, said Bruce E. Molay '75, preceptor in the Core Program.

He said that since 1982 QRR records show a 17 percent increase in those who scored 20 or better on their first attempt from 54 percent to 71 percent.

The 25 question exam, given four times a year, tests students' knowledge of data interpretation, hypothesis testing, and extrapolation and interpolation, according to Molay.

Numerical Skills

"The whole point of the test is to enable students to use numerical data in making arguments, or conversely, to enable them to criticize other people's arguments that have been made using numerical data," said Hughes-Hallett.

She added that data interpretation is becoming increasingly important. "It's very difficult to take a course in any of the social sciences now without running into a chart or a graph or data. So it's very helpful to have some kind of introduction to know what they say or do not say."

The QRR also includes a computer test, which was offered for the last time this year on March 21.

"The prime objective of the test is to get people aware of the fact that they too can use computers. A lot of people come in with the notion that computers are what other people use," said Chairman of the QRR Committee Andrew M. Gleason.