Read the following passage carefully and answer Question. Initially, most…
2020
Read the following passage carefully and answer Question.
Initially, most children want to do well in school. But the student who has experienced consistent failure in the classroom tends to lower his own expectations concerning school success. He may direct his energy outside the classroom to athletics or youth gangs or to other areas where he can experience the satisfaction of success. The student who has been negatively evaluated in the classroom rationalizes that school is not important to him because he believes it is impossible for him to succeed there.
If a student is to continue to expect to do well in school, he needs to receive some positive evaluations for his academic performance. If an individual is to develop a positive concept of himself as a student, he needs to perform competently and to receive evaluations that interprets to be positive within his own frame of reference. When the student is perceived as a less competent learner, forces are set in motion that reduce the chances that his potential will be developed to its fullest extent in school. The other students and his teachers may come to view him as having less potential than he really has. The academic goals he sets for himself and those that are set for him by his well-intentioned teachers may not sufficiently challenge his true abilities. A student may divert his own personal resources to non-academic areas because he believes that success in academic subjects is not open to him. If he does not apply his maximum efforts to learning school subjects, he may fail to acquire some of the skills and knowledge he needs as a basis for further learning.
Ques: Positive evaluation of a student's academic performance will help him to
- A.
perform well in future also
- B.
take up athletics
- C.
make friends
- D.
be considered as a role model by other students
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
This is a reading-comprehension item: the answer must be supported directly by the passage, not by outside opinion. The governing idea of the passage is that a student's effort and self-image in school are shaped by the evaluations he receives. Positive evaluation of academic work reinforces the expectation of success, which in turn sustains continued academic effort.
Application
The passage states the link explicitly: “If a student is to continue to expect to do well in school, he needs to receive some positive evaluations for his academic performance.” Reading this directly:
Positive evaluation → the student keeps a positive self-concept as a learner.
A positive self-concept → he continues to expect to succeed academically.
Continued expectation of success → he keeps applying effort, so he performs well going forward.
So the direct effect the author attributes to positive evaluation is that it helps the student to keep performing well in his academics in future as well.
Why the other readings do not fit
Taking up athletics: the passage names athletics as where a negatively evaluated student diverts his energy after failure — it is a consequence of discouragement, not of positive evaluation.
Making friends / social outcomes: the passage is about academic self-concept and performance; making friends is never offered as a result of positive academic evaluation.
Being seen as a role model by other students: the passage discusses how peers and teachers may view a less competent learner as having less potential; it never claims positive evaluation turns a student into a role model for others.