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Major Field Tests


creekland
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I was asked more about Major Field Tests and decided it was worth a post here.

 

Major Field Tests apply to many secular and Christian colleges and are another way to determine the level of education a student can receive in college. Tests are given to graduating seniors specifically in their major. Scores are NOT online (that I've found), but many schools advertise their own scores (when they do well) and you can ask for their report specifically. If you get the full report, it will be broken down into components so you can see a program's strengths and weaknesses. Make sure you get it as a PDF. If they are on the list and won't send the scores I, personally, would question how well they did.

 

Majors covered include:

 

Biology

Business (Associates, Bachelor, and MBA)

Chemistry

Computer Science

Economics

English Lit

Math

Music

Physics

Political Science

Psychology

Sociology

 

Here's the link to the main page:

 

http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/?vgnextoid=f119af5e44df4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=86f346f1674f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD

 

If you were curious to see the 8 pages of schools offering the tests in Business (Bachelor), here's the link:

 

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/MFT/pdf/MFT%20PDFs%202007/Business4CMFListofSchools.pdf

 

Be sure to check other lists for other tests. Not all schools give all tests. However, the list is extensive for many.

 

Overall, it can be used as one more factor in deciding where the best place to get a better college education for the money is - if your student is interested in one of the majors included.

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Very interesting. It looks like Baylor doesn't give the test in math, but East Texas Baptist does. ETBU is a MUCH less academic school than Baylor. Rugg's has Baylor listed as being good for math. I wonder why they don't do this test. So do you e-mail the school and ask for results?

 

Christine

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I e-mailed and asked. Some schools sent me the complete reports (those were the ones that did quite well). Others gave me a summary of subscores where they did well - leaving out the others.

 

Schools that don't test tend to want to rest on their reputation. Why put it at risk by testing the students? Could you imagine the uproar if Harvard didn't test top of the top? (And I'm not saying they wouldn't... but one doesn't really know.) In some cases, they might indeed be good. (I suspect Harvard would be in this group.) In other cases, I wonder.

 

Edited to add: This can be a good way to find smaller schools that are quite good in what they do. For us though, it was a way to ensure we were sending our son to a good, competent, school that we had never known much about previously. I'd hate to pay a lot of money (or even a little money), for a subpar education - esp in this economy. And, a school that is good in one field might not be so good in another. It's hard, and often incorrect, to generalize. Even my Alma mater, (VA Tech) that I absolutely love, is not necessarily the best in all subjects. :)

Edited by creekland
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And testing is testing, with all the problems it involves. I'm not at all sure that I want the whole teach to the test, reputation depending on test scores, obligation to cram for the test, what exactly is the test testing, conflict of interest, testing as a business mess pushed up into college. It seems as though the higher you get in some fields, the more less testing is able to show. What if the schools that do well on the field tests did well on the field tests because they only admitted students who proved themselves test well with the SATs and APs? I think sometimes we go to extreme lengths to quantify things that are difficult to quantify. And other times, we go to extreme lengths to not-quantify things that would be better quantified. Which is this? Sigh.

-Nan

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And testing is testing, with all the problems it involves.

 

While I agree with all this, I, personally, have never been anti-testing, because, from what I've seen at school, higher test scores often go along with better knowledge in general. Our local public high school fails our state testing. In class, many kids know VERY little math and science (I can't speak for English). Yes, there are students that test poorly, but those tend to be in the minority (number-wise), and therefore, overall, test scores do correspond with quality to me. When we checked with potential employers in my son's field, they agree that he ought to put the school with the higher scores as a higher preference. They'll be the ones hiring.

 

To each our own. It's good that you brought up the other side so people can consider their own thoughts to see which side they prefer.

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I watched the quality of education in our elementary school go down after Mass. began doing MCAS testing, and some other problems show up, so I always view testing like this with suspicion. I'm not adamantly in one camp or the other, though. I class testing in with things like affirmative action - possibly useful as a stepping stone if one is trying to improve the quality of education but perhaps not a good long-term solution. It is a complicated problem, one that might not have a good solution, or one whose best solution lies at a constantly shifting balance point, not at an extreme.

-Nan

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I looked at some of the institutions having the test. Most of the ones my daughter is considering have a varied policy- they test psychology but none test political science. I can understand that to a degree.

 

I don't care about the test at all. I graduated from one of the top colleges and never had a final test. Neither did my dh. We both went on and did fine with our lives. Fields that need testing often have them- engineering, accounting, nursing. Other fields often depend on papers and the academic reputation of the schools. My son is doing philosophy, my next dd is considering a few degrees but only as a stepping stone for law (in which cae a final exam is useless) and my third is considering engineering which already has a professional exam.

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my third is considering engineering which already has a professional exam.

 

I sort of think this is an attempt to do something like this with other fields. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. I don't THINK (but don't know for sure) these tests existed back when I graduated. Hubby has done the tests for Engineering (all the way to PE) and we do feel those work to show basic knowledge. More is learned on the job, of course, but one still wants to know the basic understanding is there to start with.

 

Poly Sci is an interesting field to even think about having a test in now that I think about it! It's not quite as concrete as Chem or Math. I'd be curious to see the questions. When I have more time maybe I'll look up sample questions on that test!

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I don't THINK (but don't know for sure) these tests existed back when I graduated.

<snip>

 

It's not quite as concrete as Chem or Math.

 

Back in the pre-paleolithic era when I graduated with an undergrad degree in biochemistry, we had an end of major test created by the American Chemistry Society (ACS). There may very well be tests like that that are created and sourced from various industry associations, rather than from the ETS. This is just speculation, but all things being equal, I'd prefer my students take the industry's test rather than the ETS test.

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A test in math or chemistry is one thing....but if my kids were interested in English or political science as a major, I think I'd encourage them to actively avoid a school that administered a test like this. I took classes on Faulkner and Yeats in college; I can only imagine that those kinds of classes would be discouraged in favor of broader survey classes were the goal to do well on a general knowledge standardized test.

 

ETA: even with math (or chemistry I assume) I wonder how they deal with the specialization that takes place (as it should) in college; my husband majored in math and put an emphasis on operations research when selecting his classes. Other students leaned more toward, say, number theory.

Edited by kokotg
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atvery one of the thousands of colleges/universities out there is right for someone.

 

Look at this merely as another tool one can choose to use if they want to do so - and ignore if it doesn't appeal to them.

 

From my perspective, I'm considering it similar to Consumer Reports. When we bought our first dishwasher we looked at CR and did our homework picking up a Maytag that worked extremely well for us for 11 years before it finally needed replacing. When it needed replacing, we were in a store and simply got looking. I saw a Frigidaire that would fit my giant slowcooker pot in it and fell in love. We bought it. Within a year it needed 2 major repairs (both covered because we bought the warranty). It doesn't clean. We have to wash the dishes before we wash the dishes or they'll just turn out with baked on crud. I hate it. We didn't renew the warranty even though it'll probably need more repairs because I said I'd rather put the $50 into a machine that WORKS. Yes, my crock pot fits in it, but what good is it when I have to wash it first anyway? When we went back and looked at Frigidaire's record in CR it showed poor records on both repair needs and cleaning ability. Had I done my homework first, I could have saved myself a huge hassle and $500 (when we have to get the next machine).

 

I've learned that lesson - and it counts for more than dishwashers. When my kids (and my money) go to a school I want to make sure it is the best I can afford in what they want to major in. I don't want to spend money on something inferior when I could be getting something better.

 

We all are probably in the same boat. Whether one uses this "tool" as a potential CR or not is up to them. For some majors it doesn't apply (same goes for SAT/ACT scores). For others it might. For the amount of money we're spending, I want as many things to look at as I can find personally. In my experience, testing can be a great statistic showing a population's knowledge (or lack thereof). Subscores do a great job of breaking down specific strengths or weaknesses in a subject (at least they did for business).

 

In the end, to each our own. :)

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I don't really know anything about it, but I remember someone telling me once that they took a large math exam (like at the university level) and it consisted of ten questions, only one of which had to be answered correctly to pass. If the exam was like that, and it was graded by hand, it might be possible to assess something that was closer to what one would want to assess than the large multiple choice exam we probably are all picturing.

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Creekland, I'm sorry. It sounds like I put you on the defensive. I agree that this is one more tool to assess whether an institution is turning out students who have a level of knowledge in their field. I've used NASAD accreditation in much the same way--as a benchmark--to look at art programs.

 

My post reflected more my distaste for the C B than anything else. I hate to see them have their hands in yet another pie.

 

Again, my apologies; I appreciate the wealth of information you've shared from your journey.

 

atvery one of the thousands of colleges/universities out there is right for someone.

 

Look at this merely as another tool one can choose to use if they want to do so - and ignore if it doesn't appeal to them.

 

From my perspective, I'm considering it similar to Consumer Reports. When we bought our first dishwasher we looked at CR and did our homework picking up a Maytag that worked extremely well for us for 11 years before it finally needed replacing. When it needed replacing, we were in a store and simply got looking. I saw a Frigidaire that would fit my giant slowcooker pot in it and fell in love. We bought it. Within a year it needed 2 major repairs (both covered because we bought the warranty). It doesn't clean. We have to wash the dishes before we wash the dishes or they'll just turn out with baked on crud. I hate it. We didn't renew the warranty even though it'll probably need more repairs because I said I'd rather put the $50 into a machine that WORKS. Yes, my crock pot fits in it, but what good is it when I have to wash it first anyway? When we went back and looked at Frigidaire's record in CR it showed poor records on both repair needs and cleaning ability. Had I done my homework first, I could have saved myself a huge hassle and $500 (when we have to get the next machine).

 

I've learned that lesson - and it counts for more than dishwashers. When my kids (and my money) go to a school I want to make sure it is the best I can afford in what they want to major in. I don't want to spend money on something inferior when I could be getting something better.

 

We all are probably in the same boat. Whether one uses this "tool" as a potential CR or not is up to them. For some majors it doesn't apply (same goes for SAT/ACT scores). For others it might. For the amount of money we're spending, I want as many things to look at as I can find personally. In my experience, testing can be a great statistic showing a population's knowledge (or lack thereof). Subscores do a great job of breaking down specific strengths or weaknesses in a subject (at least they did for business).

 

In the end, to each our own. :)

Edited by Valerie(TX)
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Creekland, I'm sorry. It sounds like I put you on the defensive. I agree that this is one more tool to assess whether an institution is turning out students who have a level of knowledge in their field. I've used NASAD accreditation in much the same way--as a benchmark--to look at art programs.

 

My post reflected more my distaste for the C B than anything else. I hate to see them have their hands in yet another pie.

 

Again, my apologies; I appreciate the wealth of information you've shared from your journey.

 

No problem at all on my end. I can fully respect that we're all different in our likes/dislikes as we go about this journey. CB doesn't bother me, but I'm not "married" to it either. As tools used properly, I see them as useful (not just MFT).

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