Self-Assessment

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.

1. What are the forms that pre-school education in the USA may take?

2. What is the main purpose of elementary school?

3. Schooling in the USA may be organized according to the following patterns: 6+3+3; 6+2+4; 8+4; 6+6. What is the difference?

4. What are the main characteristics of secondary schools in the USA?

5. What are the admission requirements to colleges and universities in the USA?

6. What degrees are offered by institutions of higher education in the USA?

7. What is the difference between colleges and universities?

Exercise 2. Explain the meaning of the words in glossary.

high school

residential college

community college

graduation gown

senior college

athletic fee

resident tuition

credit hour

faculty

MA/MS thesis

junior college

vocational school

campus-collegiate university

tenure

full professor

undergraduate course

an Ivy Leager

the Seven Sisters

class of 1975

alumnus/alumni

sophomore

Exercise 3. Fill in the blanks.

1. Keith is an unknown quantity: the results of his oral assessment may be pretty poor but the _________ will certainly praise him for his writing tests.

A) invigilators B) associate professors C) teaching assistants D) markers

2. Being a brilliant student, my Mom graduated from Yale with honors.—What were her__________?

A) majors B) biases C) affiliations D) in-born abilities

3. Mike’s parents were thrilled to bits about his progress in Spanish. They even traveled to Spain so that their son could master his language code. Right now he has got a good command of five languages. His Italian is a bit ______, though.

A) flowery B)rusty C) authentic D) fluent

4. Sheila can still get ____ in Russian, `cause she spent three years in Moscow working at her thesis under professor Dobronravova.

A) by B) off C) out D) away

5. We were in the same class and in the same group. That’s why I know perfectly well that he could often bluff his way through without any revision for the exams. –It’s amazing! Could I have a look at your ____ ring?

A) wedding B) signet C) engagement D) class

6. My second cousin is not an avid reader, though he passed all his exams in World literature easily and graduated from High School with flying

A) colors B) grades C) marks D) performance

7. I haven’t seen the two of my group mates for ages. Last year they were also conspicuously absent at our ____________ event.

A) fashion B) sports C) students D) alumni

8. “_______________: principle is of crucial importance if you want to get life tenure.

A) “Live or die” B) “Publish-or-perish” C) “Play rough or take your ball and go home”

Exercise 4. Fill in the chart with the information needed about the Ivy-League Universities.

University	exact location	state	capital of the state
Harvard University(1636)
Yale University(1701)
University of Pennsylvania (1740)
Princeton University (1746)
Columbia University (1754)
Brown University (1764)
Dartmouth College(1769)
Cornell University (1865)

Exercise 5. Project work. Prepare the report on the topic: “Higher Education in the USA: pros and cons”.