CEEB Approves Exams For Advanced Standing

NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 27, (Special)--The College Entrance Examination Board approved almost unanimously a national program for advanced placement examinations, at its semi-annual meeting here today.

Under the plan, which will go into operation in May, 1956, superior secondary school students will be able to qualify for advanced college standing in the same manner that all students now qualify for regular admission to Board member colleges.

Harvard, which will begin its formal advanced standing program next fall, will definitely participate in the testing program, Dean of Admissions Wilbur J. Bender '27 said after the Biltmore Hotel meeting. This year the College is conducting an experimental advancement plan.

Approval of the national exam program will greatly simplify the present methods of admitting students the present methods of admitting students with advanced standing--now done individually by interested secondary schools.

But it is expected that the centralization will have far greater significance as a stimulus to both administrators and students.

Operating procedure of the $50,000 a year plan calls for placement tests in 12 fields to be given annually in May. Both the scores and the examinations will be sent by the CEEB to participating colleges.

For the present, the tests will be similar in form, although not in content, to the regular Board examinations. Experimentation with "essay and objective testing techniques, and aural techniques in modern foreign languages" will be encouraged.

"Secret Treaties" Frowned On

The proposal is based on the premise that "There is sufficient similarity in content and objectives of beginning colleges courses among the Board's member colleges to make a single advanced placement testing program a feasible venture."

Discussion among the 350 representative at the business meeting was brief. Virtually all was favorable. Several secondary school administrators noted that their schools have been conducting informal arrangements with the colleges in the past.

"But, said Andover Dean of Students G. G. Benedict, "I quail at the prospect of making 'secret treaties' with all of the colleges (43) in which our superior students are interested."

In addition to testing, the approved plan will comprise a "research program designed to determine the tests' effectiveness and aid the colleges in the use and application of test results." It is expected that an additional $15,000 annually will be devoted to this phase.

Multiple Applications

In other business, the Board also approved the addition of a September date for administering exams, and elected five colleges, including Penn State and Davidson, to Board membership.

Earlier, at a symposium which opened the conference, three educators acknowledged the problems of multiple applications, and presented solutions which will now be considered by an ad hoc committee of the CEEB.

Application by secondary school students to a number of colleges to insure admission to at least one, was pointed out as an administrative problem that will expand each succeeding year.

Eugene S. Wilson, Director of Admissions at Amherst outlined six possible answers to the steadily increasing flood of applications from students who "won't take yes for an answer." These ranged from a return to a demand by the colleges for a 1-2-3 preference list from the student, to a clearing house system.

A less radical arrangement was proposed by Arthur Jowe, Jr., Director of the Yale Office of Admissions. His solution would be a two-stage admissions plan, admitting one group of top students first. Then, students from a less-qualified category would he admitted depending on the number of acceptances in the first group.