III. After you read

1. Imagine you are a mature senior student at an American University. Answer the following question an applicant puts you.

1. What will my final grade be based on?

2. What grading scale do the American colleges and Universities use?

3. What is GPA?

4. What will happen if my grades are poor?

2. Think of ONE word from the text to fit into each of the gaps. Do not overlook polysemy.

Group1.

1. It's a nice idea on……………….., but you'll never get it to work.

2. Why don't you put an ad in the ………………..?

3. When is your ……………….. on the Civil War due?

4. Buy teddy bear wrapping ……………….. for decorations.

Group2.

1. His criminal ……………… included convictions involving drugs.

2. An old Beatles ………… collection is my dad’s greatest pride.

3. As a student, he broke the Scottish …………….. for the 100 metres.

4. According to your medical ……………, you had an operation five years ago.

Group3.

1. Next year she will be in the 6^th…………….

2. I wasn't very happy with the ………………. on my essay.

3. The best …………… of tea is expensive.

4. What does it take to make the …………….. as a top golfer?

Group4.

1. The new national tests are intended to keep a closer check on children's………….

2. Mankind is destroying the planet, all in the name of ……………

3. A lecture was in ………………….. in the main hall.

4. At school his academic ………………. was hindered by a series of health problems.

3 (a) Consider the synonyms; match words with their definitions.

1. grade	a. American a number which shows how well or badly a student has done in an examination, especially an important exam given to a lot of students
2. mark	b. especially American a letter that is put on a student's work or on an exam to show how good or bad it is
3. score	c. American the average score that a student earns based on all their grades.
4. grade point average/GPA	d. especially British the number or letter that is put on a student's work to show how good or bad it is

(b) Build all the possible connections between the nouns and the surrounding words.

Final Pass

G ive Point

Exclamation

Get High

Test Top

Make

Average Low

Full School

(c) Suggest ALL the possible variants of collocations from (b) to fit into the gaps

1. I got ………………….. in the history test.

2. If he gets …………………, he'll get a scholarship to Michigan State.

3. ……………… on standardized tests have been steadily falling over the past ten years.

4. To be on the honor roll, students must have a ………………….

4. (a) Consider the two sets of synonyms with the shared meaning of “reaching/not reaching a high enough standard to succeed in a test or exam”. What register (bookish/neutral/colloquial) do the words belong to? Who and under what circumstances might employ them?

1. flunk, fail, bomb on something, not make the grade, not come up to scratch;

2. pass, sail/breeze through something, make it, scrape through, get through, pass with flying colors.

(b) Which from the synonyms from the #2 set in (a) bear the following shades of meaning:

a. to pass a difficult test or examination;

b. to pass a test or examination very easily

c. only just pass an examination, by getting only a few marks more than are necessary

d. to pass an examination extremely successfully.

(c) Fill in the gaps with the vocabulary units from (a); give ALL the possible variants. Suggest situations, in which they might occur and comment on their register.

1. "How did Chris do in his driving test?" "He 1……………. Monday will be his second attempt."

2. She 2…………………. the state bar exam four times before she finally passed.

3. "How'd it go?" "I 3……………………. the written section, but I think I did okay on the multiple choice part."

4. I 4………………………. my exams with marks just good enough to keep my place in the school of pharmacy.

5. "How'd his exams go?" "He 5…………………..- no trouble at all.

6. New recruits have to 6……………………a physical fitness test.

7. She was so nervous about her examination results, but in fact she 7……………………

8. The entrance exam is very difficult and only a small minority of candidates 8………….