General Areas of Competence

Student will be required during their last semester to take the Academic Profile, which is a nationally standardized test of general academic knowledge and skills. The score of this test will be printed on the student’s transcript and become a permanent part of the academic record. Within each of the general education sections, competencies in reading, writing, critical thinking, and mathematics will be evaluated.
Fine Arts and Humanities:

1. Reading:
   Understand and interpret figurative language.
   Recognize the salient features or themes in a work of art.
   Discern the main idea, purpose, or focus of a passage.
   Recognize explicitly presented information.
   Draw appropriate inferences.
2. Writing:
   Recognize agreement among basic grammatical elements.
   Organize units of language for coherence and rhetorical effect.
3. Critical Thinking:
   Evaluate hypotheses.
   Identify flaws and inconsistencies in an argument.
   Draw reasonable conclusions.
4. Mathematics:
   Interpret a trend represented in graphic form.
   Solve problems involving insight or logical reasoning.
   Solve problems involving sets.

Social Sciences

1. Reading:
   Understand the primary purpose for which a piece of social science writing was composed.
   Comprehend statements that are explicitly made in a piece of social science writing.
   Become familiar with rhetorical devices used in social science writing.
   Interpret the meaning of key terms used in a piece of social science writing.
2. Writing:
   Identify the most grammatically correct revision of a clause, sentence, or sentences from a piece of social science writing.
   Order units of language into coherent larger units.
   Understand and reword figurative language used in a social science passage.
3. Critical Thinking:
   Evaluate assumptions made in a piece of social science writing.
   Determine the best hypothesis to account for information presented in a social science passage.
   Weigh information that strengthens or weakens arguments.
4. Mathematics:
   Read and interpret tables and graphs.
   Evaluate formulas.
   Order and compare large numbers.

Physical and Life Sciences

1. Reading:
   Comprehend the primary purpose of a given science passage.
   Understand explicitly presented statements.
   Recognize valid inferences that can be made based on information presented in a passage.
2. Writing:
   Pick out the most grammatically correct revision of a sentence or sentence drawn from an example of scientific writing.
   Organize elements of scientific writing into larger units of meaning.
3. Critical Thinking:
   Determine the best hypothesis to explain a scientific phenomenon.
   Interpret the relationship between variables.
   Draw valid conclusions from data.
   Recognize statements that strengthen or weaken an argument.
4. Mathematics
   Interpret scientific material presented in graphs and tables.
   Understand ratios, proportions, or percents presented in scientific materials.
   Order and compare very large and very small numbers.
   Recognize equivalent mathematical formulas or expressions
   Read a scientific measuring instrument.