7.6: Timed Writing Practice
- Page ID
- 304779
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Your instructor will set up timed writing practice for the midterm and final exams on Blackboard. Below are midterm exam practice article with exam instructions to help familiarize you with the exam format. For additional practice articles, see the chart in Part B.
A. Midterm Practice: One-Day Exam (Fall/Spring)
INSTRUCTIONS
Write a four paragraph essay summarizing the following article and responding to it using evidence from your own knowledge and experience. You may use this online dictionary. No other websites or resources are allowed. ( 75 minutes)
Teens Need Social Skills, Not Social Networks
Christina Patterson (she)
Recently more than 200 employers were interviewed, and they nearly all said that social intelligence, defined as "the set of abilities and skills we use to understand social situations," was now more important in new hires than IQ or exam results. Managers said they were wasting too much time in interviewing people who seemed to have no social skills at all, and that if you didn’t have any by the time you started applying for jobs it was probably too late to acquire them.
We need to prepare our young people for a world some of us are only now beginning to face. But how to begin? Six out of 10 of the 12- to 17 -year-olds polled for the report said they were lonely. One in 20 said they never spent time with friends outside school. Girls were lonelier than boys. A third of the young people polled said they hardly ever felt popular with their peers and \(36 \%\) said it was "difficult to make friends". Nine out of 10 said they were nervous about mixing with people from different backgrounds. It seems that many teens struggle to interact meaningfully.
If today’s young people are locked in their bedrooms, gazing at their smartphones, this, at least according to the report, isn’t actually making things worse. The young people who spent more time online said they had more fulfilling and stable friendships than the ones who spent less. This, says the report, could be because it helped them to practise their social skills before trying them out in "real life."
Still, the takeaways are clear. Adolescents who want to get ahead at work need to spend a bit less time on their smartphones and get an awful lot better at studying human interaction. They need to understand how to read and respond effectively to body language and nonverbal communication cues. They need to know when a colleague needs a kind word or some quiet to get on with a deadline. They need to know that when the boss’s face goes red, you can’t just swipe left and move on.
Not least because these are the things that robots still can’t do. About half of jobs are at risk of automation, according to a series of terrifying reports, including one by the Oxford academics Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne on The Future of Employment. It’s still not exactly clear what will be left when the robots come, but we do know that they are on their way. And that it isn’t just the low-skilled workers who will see their jobs wiped out.
In this forcibly brave new digital world, the shift will be away from employees to freelancers and contractors. It will, in other words, be away from security to a world where you have to bid for every tiny scrap of work. If you are good at it, you will be taken on for a project, and when that is over you will be dropped. It’s zero hours and it’s a stressful way to live. Ask a journalist who has lost their job. Ask me.
We need to prepare our young people for a world some of us are only now beginning to face. We need to teach them to be strong and to cope with disappointment. We need to teach them how to cope when they work at home on their own, but also the social skills to win the work. Parents need to do this. Schools need to do this. And students need to understand the importance of building their social skills for their future.
Article adapted from Patterson, Christina. "Our Teens Need Social Skills, Not Social Networks." The Guardian, 22 March 2016. Article link.
B. Articles for Additional Timed Writing Practice
|l|l| &
Fall & Final Exam Practice: "Combatting Fake News"
Spring & Final Exam Practice: "Getting Wise to Fake News"
Summer &
| Midterm Exam Practice: "Globalization - Who Benefits?" |
| Final Exam Practice: "Teens and Risky Behavior" |