Preparing for the Critical Thinking Proficiency Exam (L5)

Introduction
Instructions
Criteria for Assessment
Signing Up for the Exam

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Introduction
This exam satisfies the L5 competence and is designed for students who have extensive experience analyzing the components of written arguments, generating data to test assertions, and generating testable theories to explain observable phenomena. It may only be taken once. In order to register, students must have successfully completed Learning Assessment Seminar and a subsequent Admissions Interview and been declared a fully admitted student by an SNL advisor. There is a non-refundable fee of $150.

The exam is offered once a month. It is emailed as an attached Word document by noon on the scheduled exam date. Students have until midnight on the day after the exam was sent to write a short essay and email it as an attachment to SNL. After signing up, students may reschedule their test date only once without repaying the fee. Rescheduling must occur at least 48 hours before the exam is emailed.

If the student does not receive the exam on the scheduled date on the scheduled date by noon, he or she MUST contact the SNL office or email snlexams@depaul.edu so the exam may be re-sent. If the student does not contact the office and thus, does not submit the exam by the scheduled deadline, he or she will not be able to reschedule. Failure to submit the exam on time means the student has to take the course: LL 155 Critical Thinking to satisfy the L5 competence.

Exam results are emailed within four to six weeks of submission.


The exam has three components.

Part One requires students to read several articles and complete the following tasks:

• identify the authors’ evidence and examples.
• assess the relationship of evidence to argument.
• identify plausible additional evidence to support and refute the arguments.
• assess the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments.

In Part Two, students are given a graph and must complete the following tasks:

• identify the patterns in the data.
• generate testable theories to explain the data.

Part Three asks students to write a short essay explaining ways in which they have applied critical thinking to make a decision.

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Instructions

• Use MS Word to open the attached documents
• Complete the exam and save it as a Word document.
• Send it as an attached file to snlexams@depaul.edu
• You have until 11:59 pm on the day after the day the exam was sent to return your exam but you can submit it earlier.
• This exam may not be shared with anybody. It must be original work written and edited entirely by the student to whom it is sent. See DePaul's Student Handbook for more information on cheating and plagiarism and their consequences.

Criteria for Assessment
To receive an exemption from Critical Thinking, the exam must receive 12 points
and have completely responded to all questions. Possible points for each criteria are in parentheses.

Part One
1. Student accurately identifies evidence and examples for each writer (0-2).

2. Student assesses relationship of evidence to argument for each writer (0-2).

3. Student identifies plausible additional evidence to refute each writer (0-1).

4. Student identifies plausible additional evidence to support each writer (0-1).

5. Student assesses strengths of each writer’s argument (0-2).

6. Student assesses weaknesses of each writer’s argument (0-2).

Part Two
1. Patterns in data are accurately identified (0-1).
2. All theories are testable and relevant to data (0-1).

Part Three
1. Demonstrates an understanding of critical thinking as applied in an actual situation. (0-3)

Signing Up for the Exam
Please download this Microsoft Word document and follow its instructions to sign up for the exam. Do not begin the exam based on the preview posted on the website. This preview is only intended to give students and idea of the components of the exam. The official copy will be e-mailed to you have may have some changes made to content and exam requirements.

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