Were these questions for entrance from high school or a bachelors program?
If the latter, many (say half) of them are acceptable, but if the former then none of them are.
Jewish problems
11–20 of 203 posts
Re: Jewish problems
#12Makes an interesting read.
Does anybody know what kind of repository Cornell is there running? The paper seems a bit odd structured and I don't really see that as an open-access publication(lack of DOIs). Or is this just a working paper repository?
Re: Jewish problems
#13Whereas in the US the reason that colleges use essay questions is because jews score too highly on the SATs. We can thank Harvard for this, as usual. Gladwell has an essay about this here:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/10/051010crat_atlar...
I forget what Gladwell is copying from, but I know that there is an earlier article that goes into even more detail.
Re: Jewish problems
#14I've just browsed the pdf and problem 2 is my favorite.
At least when I was studying there (late 90-s), all entrance exam problems were supposed to be solved without any calculus. The motivation given was that algebra and geometry give enough variety of material for hard and beautiful problems and high school calculus is a joke so they would have to teach it again from scratch.
Re: Jewish problems
#15> ...these problems are distinguished by having a simple solution that is difficult to find.
Like the place to view the problems, for me at least: PDF http://arxiv.org/pdf/1110.1556v1
Re: Jewish problems
#16Makes an interesting read. Does anybody know what kind of repository Cornell is there running? The paper seems a bit odd structured and I don't really see that as an open-access publication(lack of DOIs). Or is this just a working paper repository?
It's the arXiv, a fairly well-known open-access repository. It contains a mix of unpublished drafts / working papers, preprints of papers at various stages in the submission/review process, and manuscript versions of published journal articles.
Re: Jewish problems
#17Whereas in the US the reason that colleges use essay questions is because jews score too highly on the SATs. We can thank Harvard for this, as usual. Gladwell has an essay about this here: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/10/051010crat_atlar... I forget what Gladwell is copying from, but I know that there is an earlier article that goes into even more detail.
> I forget what Gladwell is copying from, but I know that there is an earlier article that goes into even more detail.
I'm trying to find a similar - likely the same - earlier article too. I'd be much obliged if you could post the link if you find it.
Re: Jewish problems
#18Were these questions for entrance from high school or a bachelors program? If the latter, many (say half) of them are acceptable, but if the former then none of them are.
These were for university. This sort of addresses your point:
Now, after thirty years, these problems seem easier. Mostly, this is because the ideas of how to solve these problems have spread and are now a part of the standard set of ideas. Thirty years ago these problems were harder to solve and, in addition, the students were given these problems one after another until they failed one of them, at which point they were given a failing mark.
Re: Jewish problems
#19When they say 'oral exams', are the applicants expected to shoot out an answer without actually looking at the problem or writing a solution? And if that's the case, how much time would they get to solve these problems mentally? I can't imagine being able to solve any of these without a pen and paper. I would assume that unless you already know the answer, there isn't a way for an 'unwanted' applicant to be able to do so either.
Re: Jewish problems
#20When they say 'oral exams', are the applicants expected to shoot out an answer without actually looking at the problem or writing a solution? And if that's the case, how much time would they get to solve these problems mentally? I can't imagine being able to solve any of these without a pen and paper. I would assume that unless you already know the answer, there isn't a way for an 'unwanted' applicant to be able to d…
No - an oral exam in this context is more like a programming interview. You get a board and chalk, and you solve the problem on the board in front of the teacher, explaining what you're doing along the way. This is opposed to a "normal" exam where you have your pen and paper and a pre-set amount of time to struggle with the problem on your own.