On NCUEE’s “Basics in Information Processing” Tests (1)Yasushi KUNO∗
2006.6.17

2Contents□ NCUEE (or DNC) in Japan□ Subject ”Basics in Information Processing”□ Basics in Information Processing --relatively new subject (since 1998.1-).
Belongs to mathematics group.

□ Testing ”thinking abilities”

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NCUEE’s Entrance Exam Tests• Kuno was a member of test development
committee during 1997-1999. (This is NOT
a top secret because this information canbe made open 1 year after quitting.)• So I will talk about relatively earlystages of this test. Prof. Namiki willgive talk on newer (current?) info.

□ National Center of University Entrance
Examinations• An independent administrative organization
whose (primary) task is to organize
joint test for university entrance exams(mandatory for national universities).
• For us, "DNC" (Daigaku:university
Nyuushi:entrance-exams Center) --- itis a TOP SECRET that a person belongs tocenter’s test development committee, so
we should use the buzzword "DNC" for daily
conversations. "DNC" is also used for
official mail addresses.
□ The number of applicants --- approx.
(2005 school year)

Basics in Information Processing□ The position of "Basics in Information
Processing"• Subject only applicable to technicalhigh school, commercial high school, andother professional high school (to-be-)graduates.
• In Japan, majority of university/college
students come from regular high schools.
• Consequently, "Basics in Information
Processing" is quite a minor subject(approx. 600 applicants in these years--- 1/1000!)

570,000□ Detailed breakdown --- 32 subjects (*:subject)major• Japanese language --- I/I and II*• Geography, History, Civics --- WorldHistory A/B*, Japanese History A/B*,
Geography A/B*, Contemporary Society*,Ethics*, Politics and Economics*• Mathematics --- I, I and A*, II, II andB*, Mathematical Science in Technology,Bookkeeping, Basics in Information
Processing<==• Science --- Integrated Science, Physics
IA/IB*, Chemistry IA/IB*, Earth Science
IA/IB*, Biology IA/IB*• Foreign Languages --- English*, German,French, Chinese, Korean□ How about new "Information" subject?
2003, for regular high schools.)(Since• We have strongly hoped that "Basics
in Information Processing" evolve to"Information" in the year 2006 (forgraduates who took "Information" classes),and lots of applicants choose the subject.
• However, DNC decided not to start"Information" for the time being (willcontinue research on desirability of suchchange though).
• Hence, "Basic in Information Processing"is currently the only IT-oriented subject(and is very minor). (Mathematics include
some math-oriented programming.)∗ Graduate School of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba,Tokyo, Japan

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2.1

Problem Structure• Sufficient for describing algorithms usedin test problems.
• Weak points --- applicants have to learn
new language (without actual compiler) for
DNC exams only. (c.f. PEN)
• However, this "Japanese-keyword language"
approach is widely accepted. Also usedfor JITEC (Japan Information-TechnologyEngineers Examination Center) test.
(JITEC tests also includes real languages... C, Java, Fortran, COBOL.)□ 4 large questions. An applicant should
answer Q1, Q2 and either of Q3/Q4.

• Q1 --- General knowledge and thinkingability.
• Q2 --- Programming questions.
• Q3 --- Spreadsheet questions (target:commercial high school graduates).
• Q4 --- Hardware/technology-oriented
questions (target: technical highschoolgraduates).
• overview in reverse order below.

□ Q2 and Q3 --- tests for "procedural
automatic-processing" understandings:
the same line as our claim.

□ Q4 (selection) --- hardware system, digital
circuit, etc.

almost□ Q1 (mandatory) --- general questions• Further divided into 3 to 4 smallquestions• Mainly for technical high school
graduates.
• Selection ratio is not high (Q3:Q4 = 3:1?)• Problem on information systems in general(e.g. vending machine, network, ...)
might be OK for non-technical applicants.

□ Kinds of Q1 questions:• Test for some specific knowledge.
• Test for thinking ability (from the 2ndyear).

□ Q3 (selection) --- spreadsheet

2.2• Mainly for commercial high school
graduates, but also appropriate for otherapplicants. (Spreadsheets are taughtwidely)• Not at the level of simple "sum andaverage" calculation.
• Understanding on design of spreadsheet
layout is required.
• Many "special" functions (vlookup, rank,...) are also used.
• These test can be seen as testing"procedural automatic-processing"abilities.

□ Result 1st Year (1998.1):
Average 80.4/100 pts.

249 applicants,• Problems were too easy --- target average:
60/100 pts. (For good discriminating
performance, 60/100 is ideal.) (Othermathematics subjects: 41.3-63.9/100.)• Q4, Q3, Q2 --- Make the problems moredifficult --- possible.
• Q1 --- What should we do? Question more"difficult (rare/unknown)" knowledge isinappropriate.
□ Principle: knowledge questioned have to
be something written in textbook (in Japan,textbooks must be approved by the Minitsteyof Education).

□ Q2 (mandatory) --- programming□ What programming language should we use?

• DNC’s experimental (pre-) test --- sameproblem was described in three languages:
Pascal, C and COBOL.
• Each language has its strong/weak points
on describing specific problem ==>fairness was questioned.
□ Answer:

Test for Thinking Ability• However, textbooks were too old, many
important facts were not described(no Internet, no WWW, ...); technology
progress were too rapid, while text
revision was being done once in several
years.
• Thus, we have to determine "standard(mandatory) knowledge" ourselves; if wemake the knowledge test difficult, it willbecome inappropriate.

DNCL (DNC Language)• Pseudocode-like language (Ordinarystructured control statements withJapanese keywords)
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□ Solution: in addition to knowledge tests, we
include "thinking ability" tests.

• Ask for specific strings generated by thegiven rules.
• Ask for the general property of thosestrings.

• Explain general settings/frameworks of theproblem.
• Ask for some specific(prodecural/algorithmic) solution.
• Applicants have to "think" themselves tokraft the solution.
□ Example:Y -->Y -->
X -->
Z -->

X Y Zge ff e

□ q1. Starting from "Y", what is the possible
outcome? Choose two. (0) efefefefefefe (1)efgfgfe (2) efefgfe (3) efefefgfefefe (4)efegefe (5) efgfe (6) efgfefgfe

Dark Rooms (1999.1 Q1-3).

• Several rooms are connected by one-way
passages with stamps.
• One walk along the rooms, pressing stamps
on his/her stampbook.
• Ask for possible/impossible combination ofstamp letters.

□ q2. What is the property that is true for
ALL string generated from "Y"? Choose one.

• (1) The number of "e" is a positive evennumber.
• (2) The number of "e" and "f" is the same.
• (3) If the number of character is divided
by 4, 3 remains.
• (4) The string is one or more repetitionof "ef", then "g", and then one or more
repetition of "fe".
• (5) The string is one or more repetitionof "ef", then one or more repetition of"gf", then "e."□ These problems can be crafted from many
domains of computer sciences (finite automata
and context free grammars in the aboveexamples).
□ These problems were successful in obtaining
appropriate average points. 1999.1 -> 75pts,
2000- -> 51-58pts.

□ q1. What is the IMPOSSIBLE outcome of thestamp book? Choose two. (0) (no stamp)(1) aaa (2) aba (3) ababa (4) abababa (5)abaababa (6) ababba (7) ababababa□ This kind of "thinking ability" seems
important for IT professionals (not only
as a programmer, but also as upstream
planner/designer and manager...)□ q2. What is the CORRECT RULE of stampcharacters? Chose one.

3• (0) two adjacent "a"s do not occur.
• (1) the number of "a" is twice the numberof "b" plus 1.
• (2) if two or more "b" occur, one or two"a" occur between adjacent "b"s.
• (3) "b" occurs at least once.
• (4) The smallest count of letters is 3.
• (5) The count of letters is always an oddnumber.
□ Example:

Summary□ University Entrance Examinations for IT.

• Procedural automatic-processing should betested (programming --- Q2, spreadsheet
logics --- Q3).
• Knowledge test is also appropriate to somedegree.
• Testing "thinking ability" will be also
desirable --- such tests are acturally
possible (examples shown).

Rewriting Strings (2000.1 Q1-3).

• A set of string rewriting rules is given.
34References□ NCUEE, Overview of National Center for
University Entrance Examinations, 2006.
http://www.dnc.ac.jp/dnc/gaiyou/pdf/
youran english H17 HP.pdf□ NCUEE "Basics in Information Processing" test
problems. (in Japanese)
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/98/problem/center.cgi/inform?page=0
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/99/problem/index.cgi/info?page=0
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/00/problem/index.cgi/info?page=0
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/01/exam/240/1.html
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/02/exam/240/1.html
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/03/exam/240/1.html
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/04/exam/240/1.html
http://hiw.oo.kawai-juku.ac.jp/nyushi/center/05/exam/240/1.html

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Appendix: Answer to the Problems□ Dark Rooms --- q1 (1) and (6), q2 (2).
□ Rewriting Strings --- q1 (3) and (5), q2 (2).

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