Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

www.imsa.edu/

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, or IMSA, is a three-year residential public high school located in Aurora, Illinois, with an enrollment of approximately 650 students. Enrollment is generally offered to rising sophomores, although rising freshmen who have had the equivalent of 9 years of education may be invited to skip ninth grade and enroll as sophomores. All applicants must undergo a competitive admissions process involving grades, recommendations, essays, and the SAT. Rising sophomores are usually chosen over rising freshmen if IMSA has to decide between two applicants. Historically, nearly one third to one fifth of all applicants in any given year are admitted. Due to its nature as a public institution, there are no charges related to tuition or housing; however, there is an annual student fee which may be reduced or waived based on income.

Contents

1 History

2 Admission

2.1 Historic admission statistics

3 Academics

3.1 School day

3.2 Course requirements

3.3 Course offerings

3.3.1 Math

3.3.2 Science

3.3.3 History

3.3.4 Fine arts

3.3.5 English

3.3.6 Foreign language

3.4 Other academic programs

4 External programs

5 Student life

5.1 Residence halls

5.2 Study hours and work service

5.3 Publications

5.4 Athletics

5.5 Competitive activities

6 Student Leadership and Development (SLD) Programs

6.1 Student council

6.2 Peer Multicultural Educators (PME)

6.3 Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)

7 Awards

8 Notable alumni

9 See also

10 External links

11 References

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History

Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, director emeritus of nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, was among the first to propose the school in 1982, and together with Governor Jim Thompson led the effort for its creation. (Thompson has noted with pride that he chose to build IMSA instead of competing for the ill-fated supercollider project.) The school was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1985, and first opened to students in 1986. The Academy is housed in a building originally constructed in 1978 as the north campus of West Aurora High School, with seven outlying dormitories built after IMSA took over the campus. IMSA’s first class graduated in 1989, with the commencement speech delivered by Lederman. IMSA is one of the few high schools to possess a .edu second-level domain.

The founding president of the school is former Batavia Superintendent Stephanie Pace Marshall, winner of the Lincoln Laureate Award, who was involved with the project from the start and helped write IMSA’s original legislation. Marshall retired from the position on June 30, 2007, and was later named President Emerita by the Board of Trustees. She still has an office on campus and continues to position IMSA on the national and international stages. Marshall serves on the board of several non-profit and for-profit institutions, including nearby Tellabs.

Although the school received a significant budget cut in financial year 2002, its budget has since increased, with the support of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and House Minority Leader Tom Cross.

Admission

Front entrance

 

View of campus from southwest

Prospective students, who are usually freshmen in high school but in some cases can be students in eighth grade, must fill out an extensive application to gain admission to IMSA. This application can now be completed online and can be found here.

The applications consists of an official transcript from the student’s last 2 1/2 years of school, scores on the SAT I, several long and short essays totaling roughly four to five pages, three teacher recommendations in science, mathematics, and English, and a list of awards and extracurricular activities. Since it draws students from across the state, it is sometimes considered a magnet school.

Historic admission statistics

Class

Number of Students Invited

Average Incoming SAT CR Score

Average Incoming SAT Math Score

2012

252

590

665

2011

253

577

637

2010

231

587

652

2009

242

594

634

The invited Class of 2012 consists of 252 students, and is as of June 2010, the second-largest invited sophomore class in IMSA history. “The average SAT mathematics and critical reading scores for the students, most of whom are high school freshmen, are 665 and 590 respectively.” The largest class invited was the Class of 2011, which consisted of 253 students. “The average SAT for the in-coming class of 2011 was Critical Reading – 591 and Math – 651. The average GPA was 3.88/4.0.” However, due to dropouts, there are now there are fewer than 200 members of the Class of 2010, which originally admitted 231, and only 213 students from the Class of 2011.

In order to draw greater numbers of applications and “transform teaching and learning,” IMSA has an extensive outreach network run by The Center for Advancement and Renewal of Learning and Teaching (The Center@IMSA). Some students who are invited to attend IMSA are admitted on the condition that they successfully complete a three-week, intensive preparation course, known as EXCEL, over the summer. IMSA has a fairly low retention rate; incoming sophomore classes number roughly 240, but graduating classes are only about 200 (Class of 2006 had a graduating class of 185). The reasons for this may include the difficulty of the IMSA curriculum, home-sickness, disciplinary expulsion, student’s family moving out of state, and the inability for Illinois students to matriculate to IMSA after their sophomore year.

Academics

Students at IMSA take rigorous college preparatory courses, with all classes being taught at the honors level, though IMSA philosophically spurns the Advanced Placement curriculum. Each student must fulfill a set of specific credits in order to graduate. This set of credits is broken down by academic subject. Each semester-long class counts for 0.5 credits, unless it meets with greater-than-normal frequency.

In addition to the academic program, IMSA also offers over 50 clubs ranging from political groups and religious clubs to volunteer organizations . All these clubs are chartered by the Student Council, colloquially referred to as StudCo.

IMSA bills itself as an “educational laboratory”, and as such is frequently trying out new and experimental pedagogical techniques. These range from how classes are laid out to what is taught and even to who takes them; in the early 1990s IMSA received national attention for an exploratory study on whether girls learned physics better in single-sex or co-ed environments, as conducted by charter physics faculty, Dr. David Workman. IMSA’s main math sequence, entitled “Mathematical Investigations” and in development by IMSA faculty since 1991, was published in handbook form in 2005 and is beginning to be adopted by other school districts in the state of Illinois, such as Community Unit School District 303 in St. Charles (at St. Charles East & St. Charles North). IMSA’s core science curriculum has been through a number of ground-up restructurings. Its current implementation divided the old scientific inquiry curriculum into four classes: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Methods of Scientific Inquiry.

IMSA does not use report cards, but instead uses an online “student information service”, PowerSchool. All grades and attendance are recorded in PowerSchool, where both the student and the parents can view these at any time.

School day

The school day at IMSA runs between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm; however, most students do not have classes for all of the school day. Every school day is divided into 20 mods of equal length. They are 20 minutes long with a 5 minute break between mods. Therefore, 2-mod classes are 45 minutes long, 3-mod classes are 70 minutes long, and 4-mod classes are 95 minutes long. Currently, there are no 5-mod classes, although there have been in years past. Between mods 10 and 11, there is a 35 minute break, the midday break, usually utilized for eating lunch.

Unlike conventional public high schools, a student does not have the same class schedule for every day. The days are instead divided into A, B, C, D, and Inquiry (I) days, each with their own class schedule. For the most part, A days are Mondays, B days are Tuesdays, C days are Thursdays, and D days are Fridays. IMSA students usually only attend class for four days per week, with most Wednesdays considered I days, days reserved for research and co-curricular activities. A given class may meet all four days, but need not meet for the same amount of time nor even begin at the same time each day. However, some classes may meet three, two, or in some special cases, only one day per week. Generally, A & C days have the same schedules and B & D days have the same schedules, although for students, usually sophomores, this is not the case. The pattern for each class is usually reduced to a pair of numbers: a 3-2 class meets for 3 mods on A and C days, and only 2 on B and D days, while a 0-4 meets only on B and D days, for 4 mods each day. As a result, there is considerable variation as to how many classroom minutes each course has per week:

Class schedules

Configuration

Minutes per week

3-0 class (or 0-3)

140 (2h20m)

2-2 class

180 (3h)

4-0 class (or 0-4)

190 (3h10m)

3-2 class (or 2-3)

230 (3h50m)

There are a small but growing number of courses which vary even from this structure.

Course requirements

IMSA students have a fairly rigid set of requirements at a departmental level, but within each department (especially in math and the sciences), they have many options for meeting each requirement. The class requirements are as follows, along with the typical meetings times of courses in that department (for clarity the symmetric alternatives are omitted—e.g. “3-2″ below means “either 3-2 or 2-3″):

Math: 3-2 for six semesters, though a small number of upperclass math electives are 3-0.

Science: two 4-0 classes for two (sophomore) semesters, but some classes can be tested out of, then four semesters of electives. Most electives are 4-0, but some are 5-0, and some are 3-2.

Foreign language: 3-2 for four semesters.

English: 3-3-2 for two (sophomore) semesters(new as of the 2006-2007 school year one day a week without English), then 3-0 for four semesters.

History and social science: 3-3-2 for two (sophomore) semesters (same as sophomore English), then 3-0 for three semesters.

Wellness: 3-2 for one (sophomore) semester, then 3-0 for one semester.

Fine arts: 3-2 or 4-0 for one semester.

There is also a two semester additional requirement that can be filled by either math or science electives. Once these requirements are complete, students are free to take electives in any area. Most students take a full six semesters of foreign language, for instance, and despite its nominal status as a “math and science academy”, IMSA offers a variety of electives in English and History as well.

Course offerings

IMSA offers a wide variety of rigorous courses spanning a number of academic fields. For all core academic disciplines (math, science, history, and English), there are core academic requirements. Once these are met students are free to take electives in that subject. Some electives may be taken concurrently with core classes.

Math

Core curriculum includes the Mathematical Investigations (MI) series, from MI I to MI IV, covering topics from Algebra I to Precalculus, and the AB and BC Calculus series. Students may be placed into either the AB or the BC Calculus tracks depending on performance in the MI courses or based on a placement test. Many elective options are offered including popular ones such as Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Discrete Mathematics, Number Theory, and Statistics. However, there are also various others on a which cover a variety of mathematical topics including Advanced Geometry, Graph Theory, Polyhedra and Geodesics, Mathematica, Problem Solving, and Mathematica.

The computer science courses are considered math electives. Courses on Web Technologies, Object-Oriented Programming, Assembly Language Programming, as well as various others are offered.

Students who exhaust a significant portion of the elective curriculum are eligible to take advanced courses that are offered on a by-need basis. Examples include Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, and Group Theory, among others. If a student wants, he/she may also conduct an independent study of his or her choice under a member of the math faculty. Popular independent studies include Group Theory, Game Theory, Set Theory, in addition to various others.

Science

Core curriculum includes the Scientific Investigations (SI) series, which are a series of four semester-long courses taken during a student’s sophomore year. They include SI Physics, SI Biology, and SI Chemistry, classes which introduce students to the respective courses subject matter, and Methods in Scientific Inquiry, a course which teaches scientific writing, basic experimental methodology, and basic statistical analysis. After a student’s sophomore year, they are free to take science class so long as they meet the prerequisites and graduation requirements.

Electives include Advanced Chemistry, Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Advanced Physics, Calculus-Based Physics, Modern Physics, Planetary Science, Electronics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Microbes and Disease, Physiology and Disease, and Bioinformatics.

History

Core curriculum includes American Studies and World Studies, year-long courses taken during a student’s sophomore and junior years respectively. These courses cover various aspects of American and World history and focus on using primary source documents in analysis.

Students may take elective courses after completing the core requirements, although this is not required. Electives offered include International Relations, European History, Political Theory, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, History of Philosophy, History of Biology, History of Astronomy, as well as various others.

Fine arts

There is no core fine arts curriculum. Electives include Band, Orchestra, and Choir, as well as Photography and Ceramics.

There are multiple bands, choirs, and orchestras in which a student can be placed depending on playing ability.

English

English core curriculum includes the Literary Explorations (LE) series, a series of courses spanning three semesters covering topics in American and British literature. Electives students may take include Romantic Poetry and Prose, Idea of the Individual, Portraits of Creativity, IMSATube: Film, Graphic Novels, Film Studies, as well as others.

Foreign language

Foreign language courses are year-long courses in which students are “immersed” in the language. Languages offered include Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese. Spanish, French and German are offered up to level 5 while Russian, Chinese, and Japanese are only offered to level 3. Students who are native speakers of any language are not eligible to take that language. Additionally, a linguistics course is offered to interested students.

A complete list of IMSA course offerings can be viewed on the IMSA website, in a document titled Learning Opportunities.

Other academic programs

Intersession

During the week before the second semester students are required to participate in Intersession, a week they choose from among dozens of enrichment sessions and off-campus trips. Most students choose to participate in two half-day or one full-day on-campus course(s), while a relatively small number travel abroad on faculty-sponsored trips to countries including France, Spain, and Russia, and others perform a week of mentorship. Classes range from “Build Your Own Computer” to studying lighthouse keeping at Washington State. Alumni often teach Intersession courses and lead overseas trips along with faculty members. Clubs are also allowed to take trips and do activities during this time. The scuba club takes a trip to the Caribbean, while the FIRST Robotics team 2022 spends the entire week building the current robot.

Student Inquiry and Research

Most Wednesdays are “I Days” (for “inquiry”) and are usually reserved for research in the SIR programs. These programs give students the opportunity to develop their own scientific research and/or to work with scientists, primarily from around the Chicago area. All IMSA students are encouraged to participate in this program, and several every year publish their research results in academic conferences and journals.

Usually, only students in grades 11-12 participate in these programs. Sophomores go to Navigation (first semester) or other required activities, usually seminars, (second semester) from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, where they are helped with adjusting to residential life and other affective issues; they then have the rest of the day off to work on assignments from their classes.

External programs

Unlike many other secondary schools, IMSA boasts a broad array of extracurricular and summer programs for the teachers and students of the state of Illinois. The Center @ IMSA, the branch of the academy that coordinates these programs, is composed of the Kids Institute (KI), the Problem Based Learning Network (PBLN), and Excellence 2000+ (E2k), the Illinois Virtual High School (IVHS), and, until recently, 21st Century Information Fluency . KI runs several summer experiences dealing with science, math, and/or technology, including some residential programs. PBLN is largely the professional development arm of The Center that aims to certify teachers in Problem Based Learning, a philosophy deeply rooted in many of IMSA’s cirricula. They do run one summer program for middle school students called Summer Sleuths, in which students are challenged to solve a serious problem affecting the state of Illinois; to formulate a solution with the assistance of newly certified PBL teachers, the Sleuths must develop research and analytical skills as well as scientific and mathematical knowledge. E2k is an after-school enrichment program that aims to stimulate schools and students in the instruction of math and science. They also “place a special emphasis on students who are historically under-represented and under-served in math and science.”

Many IMSA students help out with these external programs. Kevin Bock ’04, and Katie Linder ’04, were crucial to the development of IMSA on Wheels, a KI program that brings science demonstrations to schools and films videos for distribution across the state. The Summer Sleuths are also guided by “Watsons”, IMSA students whose charge is to help develop the students research and analytical skills on a more interpersonal level.

The Center is also partly responsible for the export and implementation of IMSA curricula in other institutions, the most notable of which is Mathematical Investigations (see above).

Student life

Residence halls

Residence halls on campus

There are seven residence halls on campus. Each hall is composed of four wings housing up to 24 students each. Three halls are all-male, three are all-female, and a seventh contains two all-male wings and two all-female wings. All rooms have their own attached bathroom and standard residence hall furniture for two students. Furniture includes a desk, wardrobe, bed frame, mattress, and desk lamps for each student. Two pairs of rooms in each wing (“quads”) have connecting doors that the residents can petition to have opened. One room per wing is built to be more accessible to disabled students, with a different room layout and a larger bathroom. One room per hall has a hypoallergenic room, with tile flooring instead of carpet.

Each wing also has a lounge area with a kitchenette and a television. Many wings have accumulated a variety of other furniture, including chairs, couches, and entertainment centers.

Study hours and work service

Study hours are a two-hour block set aside from 7 pm to 9 pm on Monday through Thursday for all sophomores. Study hours are almost always waived by the second semester of sophomore year.

In addition, as a graduation requirement, each student at IMSA is expected to complete a mandatory amount of service work for the school (60 hours per year for juniors and seniors and 20 hours per year for sophomores). Like the federally-funded college work-study program, a variety of jobs are available, both skilled and unskilled. The program serves two purposes: to expose the residential students to work experience and to assist the school’s state-controlled budget by providing free laborers.

Publications

Hadron is IMSA’s student-run math and science magazine, a periodical which focuses on science and its application to current events and popular culture.
IMSA students also produce the Heliotrope, an art and literature magazine that produces an annual edition.

The Acronym is IMSA’s newspaper. In 2008, the publication began publishing online, ceasing paper publishing in the 2008-2009 school year and turning the newspaper into more of a blog format.

IMSA’s Yearbook, The Gallimaufry, was featured in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 “Yearbook Yearbook”, Taylor Publishing’s books of exemplary work.[citation needed]

Athletics

IMSA competes independent of conference affiliation, and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), the organization which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. Teams are stylized as the Titans.

The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. Young men may compete in baseball, while young women may compete in bowling, cheerleading, and softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a dance team for young women.

Competitive activities

The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament:

Chess: 4th place (199798, 9899); 3rd place (199091, 9495, 200304, 0405); 2nd place (198990); State Champions (198687, 8788, 9596, 9697)

Scholastic Bowl: 4th place (199192); 2nd place (199293); State Champions (198889, 8990, 9394, 9596, 9697, 9798, 9899, 200001)

Student Leadership and Development (SLD) Programs

Student council

In addition to its primary role as the mediator between administrators and students, the Student Council controls large aspects of the residential life. The Student Council Website maintains a trip wiki, which lists trips to local restaurants, stores, and venues that are taken by residential conselors. The website is also used by all student council chartered clubs as a means of communication. Campus-wide events are displayed here and students have personalized calendars listing all their club meetings.

Peer Multicultural Educators (PME)

As an institution with competitive admissions, IMSA has taken initiatives to improve diversity within the community. PME represents the student body’s initiative to improve the condition of living at IMSA by combating racism, sexism, residence hall stereotyping, segregation, and more. PME conducts research on student perspectives, manages funds for cultural clubs chartered by Student Council, and conducts diversity work including various workshops and programs.

Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)

IMSA is unique in that it is one of few high schools that has a program whose main purpose is to educate students about leadership. The LEAD program, which is mandatory to incoming sophomores, teaches essential skills and concepts that serve as an integral part of leadership. The first semester of the program consists of teaching concepts; the second semester of the program focuses on applying concepts learned in the first semester to the real-world. The 2007-2008 LEAD program introduced an organization simulation as the real-world integration. The LEAD program is almost entirely student-run, with two student co-coordinators and approximately 20 facilitators each year, in addition to a faculty member that simply oversees the program.

Awards

IMSA consistently ranks at the top of the nation in standardized test scores (of roughly 200 students in the senior class, about 50 are National Merit Semifinalists), as well as in the prestigious Siemens and Intel Science competitions. The class of 2005 produced six semifinalists each for Siemens and Intel. There was also one finalist for the Siemens competition (Rohan Bhobe c/o 2005), and three finalists in the Intel competition (Timothy Credo, Lyra Haas, and Abhi Gulati, all c/o 2005). In addition, two of the finalists in the Intel placed in the top ten; one student stood second overall, while another won sixth place. The class of 2006 continued the success, with five students being named semifinalists in both the Intel and Siemens competitions. In the class of 2009, five students were named Siemens Regional Finalists and ten others as semifinalists.

Six mathematics teachers have been honored with the Edyth May Sliffe Award: Titu Andreescu (1994), Ronald Vavrinek (1995), Micah Fogel (2001), Steven Condie (2002), Michael Keyton (2003), Don Porzio (2004), and Steven Condie (2nd award) (2007). Asteroid 21441 Stevencondie is named after Dr. Condie.

IMSA has repeatedly been included on Newsweek’s annual list of “Best High Schools in America”, along with approximately 20 other schools, due to the above-average SAT and ACT scores of exiting students.[citation needed]

IMSA was also one of the top four High Schools in the Mandelbrot Competition in the 2003-2004 school year.

Notable alumni

Dominic Armato (1993), voice actor[citation needed]

Steve Chen (1996) is the co-founder/Chief Technology Officer of YouTube, and an early engineer at PayPal.

Rob McCool (1991) is the author of NCSA HTTPd web server and an early Netscape employee who was a member of the team which invented the early web browser, Mosaic. He also invented the forerunner of the Apache HTTP Server.

Ramez Naam (1990) is a software developer and author. He helped develop Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Outlook.

Yu Pan (1995) was one of the six co-creators of PayPal and was the first employee at YouTube.

Tay Zonday ’00, YouTube Celebrity (“Chocolate Rain”) attended but did not graduate from IMSA[citation needed]

Sam Yagan ’95, is one of the original co-founders of SparkNotes and has also co-founded OkCupid, one of the largest (free) web-based online dating sites in the world.[citation needed]

See also

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities

University Laboratory High School

Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky

External links

IMSA’s website

IMSA’s School Profile (2008)

IMSA Student Council Website

School newspaper The Acronym

IMSA Cross Country

References

^ “IMSA President Dr. Max McGee – President’s Bio”. biography. IMSA. https://www3.imsa.edu/president/bio. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

^ “Trustees”. IMSA. https://www3.imsa.edu/board/trustees. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

^ “Message from the Principal”. IMSA. https://www3.imsa.edu/learning/principal. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

^ a b “Aurora (Illinois Math and Science Academy)”. Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 16 December 2009. http://www.ihsa.org/school/schools/0131.htm. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 

^
^ a b c “Clubs and Organizations”. directory. IMSA. 2009-10. https://www3.imsa.edu/living/activities/clubs. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

^ https://www3.imsa.edu/news/releases/2009/06/24/imsa-announces-invited-class-2012

^ https://www3.imsa.edu/news/releases/2009/06/24/imsa-announces-invited-class-2012

^ https://www3.imsa.edu/admissions/FAQ

^ http://www.imsa.edu/news/releases/2007_2008/classof2010.php

^ Hadron Website

^ a b c “Athletics”. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. https://www3.imsa.edu/living/athletics. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 

^ “IHSA Season Summaries”. Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 16 November 2009. http://www.ihsa.org/school/records/sum0131.htm. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 

^ Siemens Foundation. November 2008. “MATHEMATICAL SUPERSTARS FROM MISSOURI, INDIANA AND TEXAS HONORED FOR RESEARCH IN NATION PREMIER HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE COMPETITION”

^ IMSANews. (December 2004).”IMSA Math Teacher is Sixth to Receive Prestigious Award”

^ Ceres Connection. Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “2005 Award Honorees”

^ JPL Small-Body Database Browser. “21441 Stevencondie (1998 FC144)”

^ “2008 Alumni Award Recipients”. IMSA. https://www3.imsa.edu/alumni/awards/recipients08. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

^ a b c “2007 Alumni Award Recipients”. IMSA. https://www3.imsa.edu/alumni/awards/recipients07. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 

Categories: Gifted education | High schools in Illinois | National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology schools | Magnet schools in Illinois | Educational institutions established in 1985 | Education in Aurora, IllinoisHidden categories: Articles needing additional references from July 2009 | All articles needing additional references | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2009

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Hello. I can’t decide what I should take. I’m a Russian student, so I have a more difficult school program for Science and Math. But I’m not sure that I’m going to have a lot of time for preparation because the first tests will be in December. I have also SAT II US History and Physics. My college list is three Ivies, Stanford, MIT and NYUAD.
Should I take level I or II?

Technorati Tags: ivies, math, physics, russian student, science, stanford, us history

This year I would have been a senior at a high school in New York City. I dropped out of my junior year of high school with a 98.9% GPA. A few months ago I finished my G.E.D. and will be attending community college this fall. I want to transfer to a good college in New York City (NYU, Hunter, etc). My only problem — sometimes I score really badly in standardized tests.

I took the ACT and had a overall score of 17.
English: 20
Mathematics: 17
Reading: 15
Science: 14

SAT score:
English: 780
Math: 340 (TERRIBLE!!!)

I am DEVOTED in changing my scores around this fall so I can go to a good college. I did try tutors last year but they didn’t work very well (everything just went in one ear and out the other). Do you guys have any tips (good books, study habits) I could use to achieve these goals of mine??? I won’t stop! I won’t stop!

Technorati Tags: college in new york, good books, good college, gpa, math, mathematics, new york city, nyu, science, standardized tests, study habits, tutors

Okay so i took the ACT twice…got a 22 both times.
First time:
English 24
Math 21
Reading 22
Science 22

second time:
english 22
math 21
reading 20
science 23

do they take the best scores for each category? I’m confused! HELP
what about:
Baker
UMKC
Wichita State

does anyone know?

Technorati Tags: math, science, second time, umkc, wichita state

Okay it’s my first time taking it:
english i have: 15
Math: 15
Readin: 19
science: 18
What type of colleges would i be able to attend??

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I am taking the ACT test next month for the 3rd time. My English has improved but my Math, Reading, and Science I am having trouble with. Here are the problems:

English: I have a score of 27. I want to bring it up to a 34-36 range. How can I do that?

Math: I have trouble with the Trigonometry/Geometry questions but I seem to so fine with the Algebra. What can I do besides getting a tutor? I have the Real ACT prep book, Barron’s, and Princeton Review. What others would you suggest? How can I improve my score from a 20 to at least 25-28 range? How can I do that?

Reading: I currently have a 22 on the reading. How do I go about doing the passages efficiently? I have heard read the passages first then do the questions and go back to the passage if you can’t find the answer. I have also heard read the questions first then read the passage. Which one is faster? How can I understand the passages even if they are boring? I really need to raise my score to a least 27-30 range. What should I do?

Science: I currently a 18 on the Science. How do I study for the science part? How can I do it fast without missing a lot? I would like at least a 26-30 range. What can I do?

Please help me. I am not sure how to study these. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: act test, algebra, barron, geometry questions, math, passages, princeton review, science, score, taking the act, tutor

The Science Education Belief In America

Political leaders, tech executives, and academics often claim that the U.S. is falling behind in math and science education. They cite poor test results, declining international rankings, and decreasing enrollment in the hard sciences. They urge us to improve our education system and to graduate more engineers and scientists to keep pace with countries such as India and China.

Yet a new report by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, tells a different story. The report disproves many confident pronouncements about the alleged weaknesses and failures of the U.S. education system. This data will certainly be examined by both sides in the debate over highly skilled workers and immigration. The argument by Microsoft, Google, Intel, and others is that there are not enough tech workers in the U.S.

The authors of the report, the Urban Institute’s Hal Salzman and Georgetown University professor Lindsay Lowell, show that math, science, and reading test scores at the primary and secondary level have increased over the past two decades, and U.S. students are now close to the top of international rankings. Perhaps just as surprising, the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands.

These findings go against what has been the dominant position about our education system and our science and engineering workforce. Consider reports on national competitiveness that policymakers often turn to, such reports as the 2005 “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” by the National Academy of Sciences. This report says the U.S. is in dire straits because of poor math and science preparation.

The report points to declining test scores, fewer students taking math and science courses, and low-quality curriculums and teacher preparation in K-12 education compared to other countries.

The call has been taken up by some of the most prominent people in business and politics. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said at an education summit in 2005, “In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind.” President George W. Bush addressed the issue in his 2006 State of the Union address. “We need to encourage children to take more math and science, and to make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations,” he said.

Salzman and Lowell found the reverse was true. Their report shows U.S. student performance has steadily improved over time in math, science, and reading. It also found enrollment in math and science courses is actually up. For example, in 1982 high school graduates earned 2.6 math credits and 2.2 science credits on average.

By 1998, the average number of credits increased to 3.5 math and 3.2 science credits. The percent of students taking chemistry increased from 45% in 1990 to 55% in 1996 and 60% in 2004. Scores in national tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the SAT, and the ACT have also shown increases in math scores over the past two decades.

And the new report again went against the grain when it compared the U.S. to other countries. It found that over the past decade the U.S. has ranked a consistent second place in science. It also was far ahead of other nations in reading and literacy and other academic areas. In fact, the report found that the U.S. is one of only a few nations that has consistently shown improvement over time.

Why the sharp discrepancy? Salzman says that reports citing low U.S. international rankings often misinterpret the data. Review of the international rankings, which he says are all based on one of two tests, the Trends in International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMMS) or the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), show the U.S. is in a second-ranked group, not trailing the leading economies of the world as is commonly reported.

In fact, the few countries that place higher than the U.S. are generally small nations, and few of these rank consistently high across all grades, subjects, and years tested. Moreover, he says, serious methodological flaws, such as different test populations, and other limitations preclude drawing any meaningful comparison of school systems between countries.

As far as our workforce is concerned, the new report showed that from 1985 to 2000 about 435,000 U.S. citizens and permanent residents a year graduated with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in science and engineering. Over the same period, there were about 150,000 jobs added annually to the science and engineering workforce.

These numbers don’t include those retiring or leaving a profession but do indicate the size of the available talent pool. It seems that nearly two-thirds of bachelor’s graduates and about a third of master’s graduates take jobs in fields other than science and engineering.

Michael Teitelbaum, vice-president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which, among other things, works to improve science education, says this research highlights the troubling weaknesses in many conventional policy prescriptions.

Proposals to increase the supply of scientists and engineers rapidly, without any objective evidence of comparably rapid growth in attractive career opportunities for such professionals, might actually be doing harm.

In previous columns, I have written about research my team at Duke University completed that shattered common myths about India and China graduating 12 times as many engineers as the U.S. We found that the U.S. graduated comparable numbers and was far ahead in quality. Our research also showed there were no engineer shortages in the U.S., and companies weren’t going offshore because of any deficiencies in U.S. workers.

So, there isn’t a lack of interest in science and engineering in the U.S., or a deficiency in the supply of engineers. However, there may sometimes be short-term shortages of engineers with specific technical skills in certain industry segments or in various parts of the country.

The National Science Foundation data show that of the students who graduated from 1993 to 2001, 20% of the bachelor’s holders went on to complete master’s degrees in fields other than science and engineering and an additional 45% were working in other fields. Of those who completed master’s degrees, 7% continued their education and 31% were working in fields other than science and engineering.

There isn’t a problem with the capability of U.S. children. Even if there were a deficiency in math and science education, there are so many graduates today that there would be enough who are above average and fully qualified for the relatively small number of science and engineering jobs. Science and engineering graduates just don’t see enough opportunity in these professions to continue further study or to take employment.

With U.S. competitiveness at stake, we need to get our priorities straight. Education is really important, and a well-educated workforce is what will help the U.S. keep its global edge. But emphasizing math and science education over humanities and social sciences may not be the best prescription for the U.S. We need our children to receive a balanced and broad education.

Perhaps we should focus on creating demand for the many scientists and engineers we graduate. There are many problems, from global warming to the development of alternative fuels to cures for infectious diseases, that need to be solved. Rather than blaming our schools, let’s create exciting national programs that motivate our children to help solve these problems.

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This is a question about a specific detail in The Real ACT Prep Guide, so you will not be able to answer it unless you own or have access to a copy of this book.

I know that the book contains 3 real ACTs that have been administered in the past. I also know that the book contains the answers for each question. I’d like to know whether the book also contains the tables that convert raw scores into scaled scores.

I’m considering using the book as an instructor, so it’s important to me that the book contain specific scaling information. I’m not looking for a general table that shows what scaled scores usually correspond to what raw scores (ie, a Science raw score of 35-40 gives a scaled score of 30-36). Instead, I’m looking for the actual "curve" for each exam administration. For instance, I’d like to know that a student who got 5 wrong on the Science for ACT practice exam 1 would have scored precisely a 30 (for instance) when that ACT was actually administered.

Since the scales vary from year to year, there would need to be three separate tables, one for each practice exam.

I’d appreciate if you could pull out the book and take a glance for me. Thank you so much for your help!

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW

        SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW

The intellectual thinking of man, since time immemorial, has resulted in the development of science and technology. The principles of science and technology have developed in response to differing objects of interest. Science and technology have had a great impact on the way we live. Law has tried to regulate the use and abuse of science and the extent of its application. The major question however is whether we are well equipped with the laws to regulate the use of such technologies.

The subject Law, Science and Technology is of great relevance today when Courts have become ”activists” and there has been a tremendous advance in science and technology. The need for sharpening the evidentiary techniques employed in Courts with the help of science and technology cannot be denied. At the same time, one has to be conscious of the limitations. The limitations of both science and the law and the need for both to join hands to strengthen the court-systems by legally admissible scientific evidence must be considered.

MEANING AND DEFINITIONS

v SCIENCE

The word “Science” comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning “knowledge” or “knowing”. According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is “knowledge attained through study or practice,” or “knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world.”

In other words, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge that people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it. Perhaps the most general description is that the purpose of science is to produce useful models of reality. Most scientific investigations use some form of the scientific method. Science as defined above is sometimes called pure science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of research to human needs. Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:

-Natural sciences, the study of the natural world, and

-Social sciences, the systematic study of human behavior and society.

v TECHNOLOGY

The word “technology” comes from the Greek word technologia, which means the systematic treatment of an art, form or skill or a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods or knowledge. In other words, the term technology refers to the application of science, especially to commercial or industrial objects.

v LAW

A rule of conduct established and enforced by the authority, legislation, or custom of a given community, State, or nation. In essence, law is the tangible and intangible context that links individuals to the community. In addition, it defines responsibilities of individuals to society as much as it defines and protects individual rights. In short, it is a pillar of good governance.

INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF SCIENCE AND LAW

Today”s high technology society forces the two professions (law and science) to interact in a wide array of cases. Legal disputes involving patents, product liability, environmental torts, regulatory proceedings and criminal cases are some fields of such interaction. Further, law and science encounter each other in the laboratory through a number of actions governing intellectual property, research misconduct, etc. The fact-finding agendas of the two disciplines have frequently begun to overlap, if not merge. Because there is a general lack of understanding of each culture, these interactions often lead to a cognitive friction that is both disturbing and costly to the society. Scientists are distrustful of the lawyers and legal proceedings and prefer not to venture into the courtroom. The scientific community that believes that its methods and procedures are above legal scrutiny and questioning often frustrates lawyers. Lawyers and scientists seldom speak the same language. Each should develop a better understanding of the principles and methods of the other”s profession. Bridging the gap between the two cultures is a challenge that this conference seeks to address.

Science and technology seek knowledge through an open-ended search for expanded understanding, whose truths are subject to revision. Law, too, conducts an open-ended search for expanded understanding; however, it demands definite findings of fact at given points in time. The meeting of these two disciplines in the courtroom magnifies the differences between the two cultures. Even the search of truth does not serve the same aims and may not be subject to the same constraints and requirements.

The Courts today deal with complex cases relating to highly sophisticated crimes where criminals take care to erase all evidence of their involvement. In such cases, modernized, scientific and highly sophisticated methods are required to trace the involvement of criminals. A report published in the New York Times (August 7, 2008) stated that with a new analytical technique, a fingerprint can reveal much more than the identity of a person. It can also identify what the person has been touching: drugs, explosives or poisons, for example. Such a laboratory technique can have a wider application in crime investigation. The chemical signature could also help crime investigators trace out one fingerprint out of the smudges of many overlapping prints if the person had been exposed to a specific chemical.

Then there are serious cases of medical negligence and related torts where rival parties seek to rely on expert evidence. Even in the field of environmental pollution involving toxic substances, there is serious difficulty in finding out the levels of danger, the extent of actual and latent damage to humans and environment, and there are uncertainties in accepting the technology installed by the polluter to conform to environmental standards. In some civil cases where handwriting, forgery, or paternity issues are involved there is extensive use of scientific techniques. The Courts are thus dependent and, in fact, compelled to analyse evidence of experts examined on each side. There is again the difficulty of evaluating the conflicting expert evidence adduced by the contesting parties in an adversarial judicial process. However, none can deny that expert witnesses retained by parties often are partisan. In such cases, the technique of “Hot Tubbing” must be embraced. The Australians discovered the technique of “Hot Tubbing” to improve expert evidence. In this procedure, also called concurrent evidence, parties still choose experts, but they testify together at trial-discussing the case, asking each other questions, responding to inquiries from the judge and the lawyers, finding common ground and sharpening the open issues. According to UCLA law professor Jennifer Mnookin, “‘Hot Tubbing is much more interesting than neutral experts.”

DEVELOPMENTS TILL DATE AND THE RECENT TREND

In this era of genomics, of crime prevention and of conviction the following questions need special attention:

Is the legal profession ready for this new information?

How would these techniques benefit the justice delivery system?

Is our society ready for the implications that genomics brings to every facet of our lives?

Is our society struggling with the ethical and social issues thrown up by the new biology such as human cloning, use of animals in biomedical research, etc.?

With the rapid progress in science, are laws in their present form really able to deliver justice efficiently or is some rethinking in the form of new laws or amendments to existing laws required?

Before any major changes can be effected, all stakeholders have to sit together and look for the answers to these unsolved problems. This contact which was missing in India became a reality when the first ever conference of this kind was held. This conference, who”s Chairman was the erstwhile President of India; Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam formed the basis of the ”Hyderabad Declaration on Impact of New Biology on Justice Delivery System”. These deliberations of law were co-organised by the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and NALSAR University of law. The deliberations brought together the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, representatives from various Commissions like the Law Commission and the Human Rights Commission, Directors of the National Law Schools and other legal luminaries, lawyers, scientists, doctors, bio-industrialists, NGO”s, police investigators, journalists and a couple of participants from abroad. Inter alia the meeting emphasized the following:

To establish a Human Genetics Commission to provide technical and strategic advice about the current and emerging issues in Human Genetics, and a consultative mechanism for development oh National Genetics Policy and guidelines in that area;

To establish an Ethics Committee to assess ethical, legal and social issues raised by research on human genome and use of DNA databases;

To statutorily define status of human embryo so that research on embryonic cells is done under statutory control and regulations;

To devise a mechanism to establish links with the International Community of Dispute for resolution of new issues in new biology;

To suitably amend the Patents law to strike a fair balance between public and private interests in case of patents that assert property rights over genetic material.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON INVESTIGATION

Science is a compelling and commanding weapon in the armoury of administration of justice. Forensic Science is a science pertaining to law. In particular, it works as the branch, which is used mainly in criminal investigation and findings of which can lead to arrests and convictions. Undoubtedly, scientific investigations generate evidence in favour of the victims and against the accused. Forensic Science helps in providing the identity of the culprit or the accused who willingly or unwillingly, in most of the cases, leaves the mark of his crime, thereby making the job of the investigator much easier in proving the culpability with the aid of Forensic Science.

Forensic Science provides scientific study for investigation of crime. The growth, development and use of Forensic Science in detection of crime in developed countries are tremendous and increasing with new techniques. The area of Forensic Science in India has not been properly looked into, as it ought to have been and more so when the average acquittal rate is alarmingly high. Therefore, in our country, also, the necessity and importance of Forensic Science hardly needs any emphasis. The lack of understanding and appreciation of the importance of specialists in general, by non-specialists, in all fields, cannot be denied. The field of Forensic Science is no exception. Many a time, neither the judge, nor the lawyer nor even the police appreciate fully, the advances or the extensive, promising potentialities of the science and the fusion of new technologies, methodologies, modalities and research. Multitask and multi-professional nature of Forensic Science needs an inter-professional approach, which is, many a time, lacking. Therefore, sincere and serious efforts are required to be made to eliminate personal and professional bias of the involved personnel and professionals.

Forensic Science in criminal investigation and trial is principally concerned with materials and circuitously through materials, with men, places and time. It embraces all branches of science and applies them to the purposes of law. The scientific examination by Forensic Scientists adjoins a missing link or strengthens a weak chain of investigation.

Systematic uses of Forensic Science provide significant assistance in answering the following questions:

(i) How was the crime committed?

(ii) When was the crime committed?

(iii) Who committed the crime?

Law-enforcement agencies refer to Forensic Experts to help solve mysterious situations concerning human life and thereby, provide help and useful contribution to the criminal courts in the journey for search of truth in criminal trials. Forensic Science deals with various aspects, including routine post-mortem to sophisticated tracking piece like DNA analysis.

Unfortunately, techniques and methodology with necessary materials used extensively in Western countries has not successfully clicked in India because of a variety of reasons, the major one being the investment of huge finance. This science is also, at times, useful in finding out the truth in some of the civil cases.

The prosecution mainly calls Forensic Scientists as expert witnesses. The practice of the defense producing Forensic Scientists or the courts consulting on their own listed experts is not very much in vogue. In fact, there is an acute need to bridge the communication gap that presently exists between lawyers, judges and Forensic Scientists. An independent analysis and evaluation of the scientist”s data and any subsequent testimony that may follow again depends on the judges” familiarity and understanding of the principles of Forensic Science.

In Western countries DNA test and profile is widely employed. In a country like ours, the need of such a test and profile may, hardly, be emphasized. In many developed countries, DNA test, genetic testing techniques and “racmization” — testing based on systematic examination of teeth and bite-marks has proved to be very useful. “Racmization” technique is currently used in Japan and Germany. It has potential to replace the traditional method that took into account the eruption and/or fusion and falling sequence of teeth. A fusion of such knowledge of Forensic Science and newly developed techniques will, undoubtedly, not only provide proper perspective and dimensions, but will also lead to detection of crime, and be a great help in search of the truth. It will be useful in the prevention and control of crimes and will provide required assistance to the parties to civil disputes, as well.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON THE JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

Common view is that the Indian justice administration system is slow. However, the major question is, is it the primary problem with Indian justice delivery system? The key issue is, is it is delivering justice at all in majority of cases? If a machine is faulty and makes bad products, then if one speeds up the machine, it will deliver more of those bad products. Therefore, if we speed up a malfunctioning Justice Administration System, it will simply toss up more of injustice. Is that the goal of any justice delivery system?

In the words of Justice Shayamal Kumar Sen, “The investigation process needs to be hastened; otherwise the criminal justice system will suffer”.

Justice Sen urged that research and development should be initiated in a way that would ensure that crime at the grassroots level is detected immediately and an effective management system should be introduced.

According to M P Singh, vice-chancellor, West Bengal National University Of Juridical Science, new techniques should be introduced as it will help in crime detection and the infrastructure should be developed in a way that will not only give momentum to effective criminal delivery system but will also hasten the entire long drawn process of investigation.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON COURT AND COURT PROCESSES

Science is not new to the Indian courts. Towards the end of 1989, one low-end computer was installed in Supreme Court of India for caveat matching. Immediately thereafter, in 1990, Justice GC Bharuka, as a sitting Judge at the Patna High Court initiated the process of court computerization. On his transfer to Karnataka in 1994, he undertook to introduce ICT (Information and Communucation Tecnologies) in the entire judiciary of the state of Karnataka.

Presently all the courts upto the taluka level are computerized. All the judicial officers and court staff are trained. There is complete automation from filing of a case to grant of a certified copy. Digital production of under-trial prisoners by video-conferencing is made possible. Through website, causelists of the Supreme Court of India, High Courts, district courts and various Tribunals is made available online, a day before.

SCIENCE AND GREY AREAS OF LAWS

v SPACE LAWS

Simply put, Space law is a part of International jurisprudence related to outer space. It follows customary practice in defining outer space, the region 100 km beyond the earth”s surface.

With the advancement of science and technology, things that were once considered impossible are now increasingly becoming possible and even fashionable. No one, some six decades back would have thought of going to space, let alone marrying in space. Thanks to science, this has now become a reality. For .3 million, a person can cement bonds from 62 miles straight up. Japanese company First Advantage, along with former X-Prize contender Rocketplane Global, is teaming up to offer weddings in space.

According to a LiveScience article, Rocketplane Global “is developing the XP Spaceplane for private suborbital spaceflights. The four-seat spaceship is slated to be about the size of a fighter jet and designed to carry two jet engines and a rocket engine to reach space.”

Besides shelling out .3 million, a person has to undergo four day”s worth of training for the one-hour ceremony. Training includes safety procedures, weightless maneuvering, and to explain to one”s family why they were not invited.

Not only this, Sapporo Breweries, the Japanese beer maker established in 1876, is brewing beer from barley descended from seeds that spent five months on the International Space Station ( ISS).

According to a CNN article, “The project is part of biological studies of the adaptability of plants to environmental changes and the impact from stresses such as space travel.”

If successful, the study will bring the world one-step closer to growing crops in space. In addition, fortunately, right now, scientists cannot tell the difference between the ISS grains and homegrown barley.

However, in order for commercial space activities to grow, there must be an attractive legal environment. Unfortunately existing space law consists mostly of some inter-governmental treaties that are quite inappropriate for business.

Space is just another place where humans are going to live. In addition, because space is almost limitless humans are going to live there in vast numbers in the future. In other words, it will become a completely new habitat. Today most activities in space are government ones because getting to and from space is so expensive. Once travel from orbit is cheap enough, as on earth, individuals, private companies and organizations will carry on most activities in space. At that time space activities will involve almost every industry, be it catering and drinks, fashion and entertainment, or law.

An attractive legal environment is needed to enable operating companies to plan passenger services and place orders for the vehicles that they require, and for manufacturers to finalize vehicle design details and raise the investment that they need in order to put the vehicles into production.

Sovereignty over outer space is another debatable issue that needs to be resolved.

CYBER LAWS AND JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES

With the advent of internet, a whole new category of crime that includes fraud, theft of services and data, copyright infringement, destruction of data through computer sabotage (viruses) and acts causing inconvenience to agencies comprising sensitive, secret or confidential functions has come up. Chances of use of the web as a forum for publication of defamatory content has increased multifold and there is a need for a clear, coherent expression of the law in this area.

Hacking time theft (stealing someone else”s internet time) pornography, sending threatening e-mail, defamatory e-mail, hacking e-mail, e-mail bombs, etc. are the main areas of cyber crime.

The people who commit cyber crimes are mostly those who have white-collar jobs, unlike usual criminals. They can even be high school kids. The territory that a cyber crime can stretch across is immense. It can go over continents

The principles that govern the exercise of criminal jurisdiction are based on the assumption that “crime” is a territorial phenomenon. Cyber crime makes these principles problematic in varying ways and in varying degrees. Unlike real-world crime, it is not physically grounded; it increasingly tends not to occur in a single sovereign territory.

The perpetrator of a cyber crime may physically be in Country A, while his victim is in Country B, or his victims are in Countries B, C, and D and so on. The perpetrator may further complicate matters by routing his attack on the victim in Country B through computers in Countries F and G. The result of these and other cyber crime scenarios is that the cyber crime is not committed “in” the territory of a single sovereign state; instead, “pieces” of the cyber crime occur in territory claimed by several different sovereigns.

Cyber crime is a primary example of cross-border crime, and so, it raises the issue of jurisdiction. This is a tricky issue. Acts on the Internet that are legal in the state where they are initiated may be illegal in other states, even though the act is not particularly targeted at that state. Jurisdiction conflicts abound, both negative (no state claims jurisdiction) and positive (several states claim jurisdiction at the same time). Above all, it is unclear just what constitutes jurisdiction: is it the place of the act, the country of residence of the perpetrator, the location of the effect, or the nationality of the owner of the computer that is under attack? Or all of these at once? It turns out that countries think quite differently on this issue. The cyber crime statutes of numerous countries show varying and diverging jurisdiction clauses. Since internet allows transactions between persons of various jurisdictions, an international agreement (to be crystallized into a convention, later) is required for any regulation. However, in arriving at a uniform law, varying standards adopted by jurisdictions across the world and the point of balance adopted by them have to be kept in mind.

Jurisdiction is a highly debatable issue as to the maintainability of any suit that has been filed. Today with the growing arms of cyberspace the territorial boundaries seems to vanish thus the concept of territorial jurisdiction as envisaged under S.16 of C.P.C. and S.2.of the I.P.C. will have to give way to alternative method of dispute resolution.

In addressing the issues of what problems were posed by cyber-crime, Mr. Corell noted that the scope of international cooperation is limited by international agreements and by the national law of the State from which information has been requested. There are also differing priorities between developed and developing countries. These differences complicate international cooperation and expand the gap between the two groups.

There is no authoritative, comprehensive elaboration of the principle of universal jurisdiction concerning cyber-crime, he said. There are different views concerning the offences that constitute crimes under international law that are subject to universal jurisdiction. There are also different opinions with respect to the significance of the obligation to prosecute or extradite, as contained in various treaties, as evidence of universal jurisdiction. Whether States are not only permitted, but also required, to exercise jurisdiction with respect to crimes under international law, is also subject to different opinions.

CONCLUSION

The magnetism of science has always captivated members of the legal profession. People look up to science to rescue them from the experience of uncertainty and the discomfort of difficult legal decisions, and are constantly disappointed.

The notion of what constitutes science and what it would take to make law more scientific varies across time. What does not vary is our constant return to the well. We are constantly seduced into believing that some new science will provide an answer to laws dilemmas, and we are constantly disappointed.

In the words of Senior Advocate K.T.S. Tulsi — “There is no doubt that [science] is going to overtake the law enforcement agencies by storm. No one will be able to avoid it. It is like standing on the shore and asking the waves of the sea not to come. What is required is a proper debate about the real value of [science] and whether it fits into the overall picture and what use could be made of it by the investigators.”

REFERENCES

v BOOKS AND ARTICLES

A Convergence of Science and Law. A Summary Report of the First Meeting of the Science, Technology and Law Panel: National Research Council. Science and law blog: August 8, 2008. Fingerprints” Chemical “Footprints”? Science and law blog: August 11, 2008. “Hot Tubbing”: Old wine in New Bottles for Expert Witnesses. The New York Times: August 7, 2008, Kenneth Chang. Law, science and technology collaboration: Justice M. Jugannadha Rao-Chairman Law Commission of India. Kolkata Newsline, Thursday, February 01, 2007. A profile of forensic science in juristic journey: Justice Jitendra N. Bhatt. Do space laws need to be modified? S Bhatt Space weddings. I do. I really do. Carol Pinchefsky, 7 July 2008. Tara Blake Garfinkel, Jurisdiction Over Communication Torts: Can You Be Pulled into Another Country’s Court System for Making a Defamatory Statement Over the Internet? A Comparison of English and US Law, 9 Transnat’l Law 489, 492 Bryan P. Werley, Aussie Rules: Universal Jurisdiction over Internet Defamation, 18 Temp. Int’l & Comp. L.J. 199, 219 Para 1.16 of the British Law Commission Report on Defamation and the Internet, cited from (visited on 7th August, 2004 1996 US Dist LEXIS 8435 (SDNY 19 June, 1996), cited from R. Matthan: The Law Relating to Computers & the Internet, p. 2 (New Delhi: Butterworths, 2000). In this case, the defendant was an Italian, who had, using an Italian server, set up a website, under the name “Playmen”. The court had earlier issued a permanent injunction against the defendant from using that name in any magazine sold, published or distributed in USA. The court accepted that it could not order the website to be shut down as that would amount to asserting that every court in the world had jurisdiction over all information providers on the internet In info age, time for cyber savvy cops. Uma Karve. October 5, 2002. Learning the law, Indian Express. Karina Sudarsan Beware! Cyber Criminals are on the prowl, Navhind Times,March 17, 2002; by Shaikh Jamaluddin. 10 Myths of Electronic Security, Banking Frontiers September, 2002; Rohas Nagpal, Asian School of Cyber Laws. I”ll be watching you! Times of India, December 19, 2002; Zahra Khan, Times News Network. Approaches to Cybercrime Jurisdiction; Susan W. Brenner, University of Dayton – School of Law, Bert-Jaap Koops Tilburg University – Faculty of Law (TILT). Challenge of borderless ”Cyber Crime” to International Efforts to Combat Transnational Organized Crime Discussed at Symposium, 14 December, 2000. Towards Speedy, Inexpensive, Transparent and Accountable Justice; Justice GC Bharuka, 4th November, 2007.

source : www.thinklegal.co.in (ThinkLegal Resources Pvt Ltd)

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ok so it was my first time to take the ACT test, and i graduated high school, in 2009, and my GPA was a B (3.0-3.4) and I’m currently a freshman in college. I’m only taking my basics for now, but I want to go to The Dallas Nursing Institute, BUT you have to have at least a 19 on the ACT… so is having an 18 on the ACT a bad score? I got a 20 on English, a 16 in Mathematics (i really suck in math. I’ve always struggled with it), a 17 in Reading (I’m good in reading, but I kind of rushed through the whole 45 minutes that they gave us on the test, so I think this is where I messed up :/ ), and a 20 in Science (I suck in science as well). My Writing scores haven’t came in yet… but I really want to go to this school and the only way to retest is NEXT year I don’t want to wait that long… Help me because I getting kind of depressed… ugh!

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