What is "four and a half"? Alan Benson explained that "four" refers to academic level, critical spirit, innovative ability, and problem-solving wisdom, and the other half refers to the goal and motivation of learning.
The academic level of Chinese students applying to Harvard University is generally relatively high, which is reflected in the written application materials provided by the students. They can get very high scores on SAT, TOEFL, and IELTS. Especially for SAT II, ??there are many perfect scorers. In the other three aspects, it seems to be lacking.
The test of "critical ability" will be reflected in the interview process. During the interview, the examiner may set a threshold to mislead the candidate and deliberately give wrong answers to see if the candidate responds in time.
On the other hand, even if the examiner is correct, the examinee can question him. As long as the candidates raise questions based on their original knowledge instead of asking naive and simple questions, they can demonstrate their critical ability.
"Innovation ability" seems illusory, but it can actually be assessed through interviews. Sometimes the examiner will give you several questions to which there are no correct answers. After answering "what", the examinee also needs to say "why". This depends on the examinee's way of thinking and research process. For example, ask "How did Einstein surpass his own theory?"
Professor Allen said: "There are many questions in the world that have no answers. You have to stay calm about what you don't know. If you can't find the answer, there is no answer. Relationships, how to deal with problems and finding answers are equally important. ”
“Problem-solving wisdom” is also important. The examiner may give you a pile of materials and ask you to find the answer within five minutes.
Harvard University also requires students to have clear goals for their future. "Those who are prepared are successful." During the interview, the examiner will test whether the student understands the major he wants to study and what kind of job he plans to do after graduation. They believe that a person should set goals and have a spirit of dedication in the second year of high school, so that such students will have enough motivation to study.
Experience Harvard, students have clear goals
The written selection test held on April 13 was to select students who would experience life at Harvard during the summer. Dozens of students from all over Jiangsu participated, including students from Nanjing Foreign Languages ??School, the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, and Jinling Middle School. There are the largest number of students from Nanjing Foreign Studies University, accounting for nearly half.
It is understood that every summer, more than 1,000 high school students from all over the world are selected to experience life at Harvard University Summer Institute. Through 4 weeks of study, you can get 4 credits from Harvard University, which can be transferred to the undergraduate university where the student will study in the United States. Zhang Wuhua, head of the Ansheng Education Foundation, which is responsible for the selection, said: "The selected students can generally be admitted to the United States and have a considerable chance of being selected by an Ivy League school."
Because of this, almost All students participating in the program selection have plans to study in the United States. Liu, a freshman at Nanjing Foreign Language School, really wants to go to an American university to study medicine. Her mother is a primary school teacher and her father is a doctor. Their income is average, but her parents are very supportive of her studying abroad and are willing to pay nearly 70,000 for a four-week summer camp. A high fee of RMB.
Classmate Liu's mother said: "Going out has a great impact on the child. During the summer vacation of the third grade of junior high school, the child went to the University of California. After returning, he obviously loved working and his ability was much enhanced. She sat alone The flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles went very smoothly. "The reason why she is keen on letting her daughter participate in various overseas projects is to allow her children to expand their living space, have different life experiences, and work happily in the future to do what they like. Don't be forced by life and work passively.
Professor Allen also holds a similar view: If a child wants to go out and explore, parents should give him enough space. He also advises parents to try to be satisfied with their children's performance. It is inevitable for children to make mistakes, but they can be tolerated as long as they do not make them a second time. "Allowing mistakes is very helpful in cultivating children's sense of innovation."
Candidates also have tips for coping with the exam
How difficult is the selection exam? Students walking out of the examination room told reporters that the examination was divided into three parts: listening, writing and reading. The question type is a bit like the IELTS test, equivalent to the difficulty level of IELTS 7.5.
There are half an hour of listening questions, many questions, and the speed is fast; there are 2 writing questions. The first question is to describe a bar chart in English, and the second question is about: "A person with a college education" Do you agree that the salary should be higher than that of people without a college education? "The reading question contains a lot of new words."
Candidates find the writing questions difficult. Some students did not understand the meaning of the question at all and wrote completely off topic. Liu Aizhou, a freshman in high school at Nanjing Foreign Language School, said with experience that it is better to answer questions like this with a prominent point of view, and it is boring to answer a generic question.