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It's mostly a math/reasoning test to check their algebra/trig skills. Also
a few metric conversion to see what they know. Only takes about 30 minutes
to do. You don't want to scare kids away from physics -- some kids are
"rusty" from the long summer break. And there are those who might be weak
at math but can understand physics and do fairly well in the course. But
so far it's a fairly good predictor for me. And it's better to have this
information early on in the course rather than later, when it might be
difficult for kids to switch into another class.
Here are the ten questions on my current test. (Teacher notes in
parentheses).
1. A small turtle is at the bottom of a 25-foot well. Each day it crawls
up 3 feet then slides down 2 feet while it sleeps. How long will it take
the turtle to get out of the well?
A. 21 days
B. 22 days
C. 23 days
D. 24 days
E. 25 days
2. A bat and ball cost $1.10. If the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball,
then how much does the ball cost?
A. 1 ¢
B. 5 ¢
C. 10 ¢
D. 20 ¢
E. 100 ¢
3. A lily pond starts with a single leaf. Each day the number of leaves
doubles, until the pond is completely covered by leaves on the 20th day.
On what day was the pond half covered?
A. 5th
B. 10th
C. 15th
D. 18th
E. 19th