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The standardized educational or psychological tests that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress. The target is wrong, for in attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly upon the tool itself but largely upon the user.

All informed predictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance. How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error.

Standardized tests should be considered in this context. They provide a quick, objective method of getting some kinds of information about what a person has learned, the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is. The information so obtained has, qualitatively, the same advantages and short-comings as other kinds of information. Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the empirical evidence concerning comparative validity, and upon such factors as cost and availability.

In general, the tests work most effectively when the traits or qualities to be measured can be most precisely defined（for example, ability to do well in a particular course or training program）and least effectively when what is to be measured or predicted cannot be well defined, for example, personality or creativity. Properly used, they provide a rapid means of getting comparable information about many people. Sometimes they identify students whose high potential has not been previously recognized.

1．The essence of this article on educational tests is____.

A．“These tests do not test adequately what they set out to test”

B．“Don't blame the test, blame the user”

C．“When a student is nervous or ill, the test results are inaccurate”

D．“Educators are gradually losing confidence in the value of tests”

2．It would seem to the author that tests like College Entrance Scholastic Aptitude Test are____.

A．generally unreliable

B．generally reliable

C．meaningless

D．misleading

3．The selection implies that, more often, the value of an educational test rests with____.

A．the interpretation of results

B．the test itself

C．the tests

D．the directions

4．“The empirical evidence”（Line 5, Para. 3）is most probably____.

A．one based on scientific ideas out of books

B．one presented by other people

C．one guided by practical experience

D．both A and C

5．Which statement is NOT true, according to the passage about educational tests?

A．Some students “shine” unexpectedly.

B．Predictions do not always hold true.

C．Personality tests often fail to measure the true personality.

D．The supervisor of the test must be very well trained.

1．【答案】B

【精析】作者在文章的第一部分清楚地讲明了，测试本身只起到一个工具的作用，其价值的大小在很大程度上取决于运用者而不是测试本身。因此B项为正确答案。

2．【答案】B

【精析】作者在第四段的开头部分谈到，当要测试的特性或品质（如在某一特定的课程或培训中干得怎么样）可以给予准确的界定时，那么，这种测试的可信度就高。而College Entrance Scholastic Aptitude Test就属于这一种，所以它的测试结果一般来说有较高的可信度。故选B项。

3．【答案】A

【精析】从第二段第二句“How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount...”可知，测试本身的价值在很大程度上是由对测试结果的解释来决定的。因此A项为正确答案。

4．【答案】C

【精析】从该表达所在的第三段的最后一句话可推知，其意思为“通过实际经验而获得的依据”。故选C项。

5．【答案】D

【精析】由第三段的最后一句话可知B项正确；由第四段的第一句话和最后一句话可知C项和A项正确。因此答案为D项。