QRR Testing

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I would like to comment on your recent article "Freshmen Complain About QRR Testing." Speaking on behalf of those who administer the tests. I admit that we do on occasion give more help than we should, or accidentally answer questions that shouldn't be answered. We are only human, and, at least I personally, feel had when someone gets 95 percent through a program and then gets stuck just on the verge of finishing.

However, it amazes me how many freshmen come down here without first practicing. On the last testing day of the semester we were generating accounts during the testing session, meaning that they had never been down to the computer room before, and of people who did have accounts, many had never used them.

This attitude defeats the entire purpose of the Core computer program, which is to make people at home with computers. Of the hundred or no people who took the test last Saturday, only one was able to type a copy of his/her program to the screen so I could see it. This, though not specifically part of the test, is an integral part of use, and spelled out quite well in a number of references that all people taking the test should have read (The command to type is "type," incidentally)

To take the narrow view that the test is all there is, and to walk into the test without any preparation (since to study the book without ever actually typing anything into the computer is like trying to swim without getting wet), is making a farce of the entire program and cheating the test-taker out of an educational experience.

Lastly, to have one quarter of the freshman class try to take a test that has been offered every week since Freshman Week the last week of the term is a sad commentary by any standards. Craig Werner '83   Core Assistant,   Core Computer Requirement