Returning sophomores were also given opportunities to prepare themselves for the test during the summer. Some students living locally sought extra help from QRR staff members, while approximately 45 students got extra help by mail, says Kuwabara.

As part of what she calls "tutoring through the mails," Kuwabara says QRR staff members sent problems to students to complete and return. "Instead of bringing a paper to the teacher, you mail it," she says.

Some students sought to complete the QRR requirement this summer. At the Harvard Summer School, 17 people took "Quantitative Reasoning A" (QRA), a course that fulfills the QRR requirement in lieu of the exams.

Despite the hassles of re-evaluating the requirement, Core officials say they are optimistic that new and better ways to teach quantitative reasoning will eventually be found.

"The QRR is supposed to be part of your education--an enlightening experience, not a punishing one," says Mackay-Smith. "And the approach has to be an encouraging one, not a nagging one."

"While it is probably true that no student would give priority to learning the material over passing the tests, it is also true that with the more difficult tests of this year, the two issues are not so easily separable as in the past. It may be possible that better tests, perhaps including essay questions, and some revisions to the current content will result in a stronger focus on learning the material."

From "The Ten Year Report of the Subcommittee on Quantitative Reasoning," 1989.

"We are gratified that Harvard declares its expectation that undergraduates demonstrate or reach a level of competence in quantitative reasoning. This sends an important signal to the rest of the academic world. Unfortunately, however, the current quantitative reasoning test offers no guarantee that the students have a meaningful level of manipulative and logical reasoning and the essence of mathematics as a discipline."

From an evaluation of Harvard University by the New England Association of Schools, 1987.