So You Want To Be A Teacher In Nebraska? Take This Test.
Nebraska's requirements to become a new teacher are among the nation's least demanding, earning a grade of D-minus from the National Council on Teacher Quality and prompting calls to stiffen the standards. Officials with the Nebraska Department of Education may impose a more rigorous test for college students wishing to enter teacher-preparation programs. The state is also looking at testing graduates on academic subject matter before they are certified to teach. That's something Iowa apparently is starting this year. Here is a sample of questions, courtesy of the Educational Testing Service, used on content-knowledge tests in other states. Nebraska has not yet decided what battery of content tests it would use.
- 1.The movement of water upward in xylem vessels of trees is most directly related to which of the following?
- A.
Wall pressure
- B.
Turgor pressure
- C.
Transpiration
- D.
Cytoplasmic streaming
- 2.Which of the following is a true statement about the flow of energy in an ecosystem?
- A.
Smaller organisms need less energy per gram of body weight than do larger organisms.
- B.
Energy transfer between organisms normally involves conservation of heat energy.
- C.
Energy flow between trophic levels is inefficient.
- D.
Chemical energy is converted into radiant energy, which is then converted to chemical energy at the next trophic level.
- 3.The diversity of the finches on the Galapagos Islands is an example of which of the following?
- A.
Adaptive radiation
- B.
Seasonal isolation
- C.
Mechanical isolation
- D.
Selective hybrid elimination
- 4.Two parents who do not exhibit phenylketonuria (PKU) have a son with PKU. Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from this situation?
- A.
The allele for PKU is located on the Y chromosome.
- B.
PKU is a dominant trait.
- C.
PKU is a recessive trait.
- D.
A mutation occurred in the sperm of the son.
- 5.All of the following represent primary consumers feeding on first-trophic-level organisms EXCEPT
- A.
Paramecia feeding on green algae
- B.
Mice feeding on seeds
- C.
Deer feeding on branches of trees
- D.
Slugs feeding on mushrooms
- 6.Jerry is 50 inches tall and is growing at the rate of 1/24 inch per month. Adam is 47 inches tall and is growing at the rate of 1/8 inch per month. If they each continue to grow at these rates for the next four years, in how many months will they be the same height?
- A.
24
- B.
30
- C.
36
- D.
42
- 7.The measures of the hand spans of ninth-grade students at Tyler High School are approximately normally distributed, with a mean of 7 inches and a standard deviation of 1 inch. Of the following groups of measurements of hand span, which is expected to contain the largest number of ninth graders?
- A.
Less than 6 inches
- B.
Greater than 7 inches
- C.
Between 6 and 8 inches
- D.
Between 5 and 7 inches
- 8.A two-sided coin is unfairly weighted so that when it is tossed, the probability that heads will result is twice the probability that tails will result. If the coin is to be tossed 3 separate times, what is the probability that tails will result on exactly 2 of the tosses?
- A.
2/9
- B.
3/8
- C.
4/9
- D.
2/3
- 9.For lines in the plane, the relation "is perpendicular to" is
- A.
Reflexive but not transitive
- B.
Symmetric but not transitive
- C.
Transitive but not symmetric
- D.
Both symmetric and transitive
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