Regents' Math

Regents’ Math Test sampled at Floyd

By Rebecca Alford
Assistant Editor

This past fall a Georgia Highlands College British literature class and a sociology class both had the chance to take the math section of the Regents’ Test in a sample testing.

The newly added math section contains mostly algebraic and geometric questions and was described by Zeke Baker, a student at Georgia Highlands College who took the sample test, as “easier than the math portion of the high school graduation test.”

LaNelle Daniel, associate professor of English, was instructing the British literature class that took the sample test.

“Some students finished quickly and had no trouble,” she said. “Others had a terrible time. One student I spoke with who hadn’t had math in years said it was near impossible.”

Daniel feels that the math portion should contain more general questions for those students who have not had a math class in a while.

This sample test was a way of allowing the Board of Regents to determine if the questions on the test were either too difficult or too easy.

“Georgia Highlands College was unusual in that math classes were not selected for testing,” said Kathleen Burk, assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

The results were broken down into three groups of students: those with no core curriculum mathematics, those who were enrolled in or had completed college algebra or math modeling and those who were enrolled in or had completed a higher-level math course.

FC students who scored highest were the students who are currently enrolled in or have already completed college algebra or math modeling.

“Despite the inherent flaws of field test data, the results should be very useful in helping to improve the test,” said Burk.

The Regents’ Test is a graduation requirement throughout the University System of Georgia for all students in transfer or degree programs.

Currently registered students will not have to take the math section; only the students who begin this fall and after will be required to take and pass the math section, as well as the already existing reading and essay sections.

“If the reading and writing sections are necessary, then I think the math is also. When school was first institutionalized students were taught reading, writing and arithmetic. These are the basic skills for life,” said Baker.