Wisconsin's High School
Graduation Test

The eligible content standards are taken from Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards. These are the standards that students are responsible for on the High School Graduation Test.

Mathematics

A. Mathematical Processes

  1. Use reason and logic to
    • evaluate information
    • perceive patterns
    • identify relationships
    • formulate questions, pose problems, and make and test conjectures
    • pursue ideas that lead to further understanding and deeper insight
  2. Communicate logical arguments and clearly show
    • why a result does or does not make sense
    • why the reasoning is or is not valid
    • an understanding of the difference between examples that support a conjecture and a proof of the conjecture
  3. Analyze non-routine problems and arrive at solutions by various means, including models and simulations, often starting with provisional conjectures and progressing, directly or indirectly, to a solution, justification, or counter-example
  4. Develop effective oral and written presentations employing correct mathematical terminology, notation, symbols, and conventions for mathematical arguments and display of data
  5. Organize work and present mathematical procedures and results clearly, systematically, succinctly, and correctly

B. Number Operations and Relationships

  1. Use complex counting procedures such as union and intersection of sets and arrangements (permutations and combinations) to solve problems
  2. Compare real numbers using
    • order relations (>,<) and transitivity
    • ordinal scales including logarithmic (e.g., Richter, pH rating)
    • arithmetic differences
    • ratios, proportions, percents, rates of change
  3. Perform and explain operations on real numbers (add, subtract, multiply, divide, raise to a power, extract a root, take opposites and reciprocals, determine absolute value)
  4. In problem-solving situations involving the application of different number systems (natural, integers, rational, real), select and use appropriate
    • computational procedures
    • properties (e.g., commutativity, associativity, inverses)
    • modes of representation (e.g., rationals as repeating decimals, indicated roots as fractional exponents)
  5. Create and critically evaluate numerical arguments presented in a variety of classroom and real-world situations (e.g., political, economic, scientific, social)

C. Geometry

  1. Identify, describe, and analyze properties of figures, relationships among figures, and relationships among their parts by
    • constructing physical models
    • drawing precisely with paper and pencil, hand calculators, and computer software
    • using appropriate transformations (e.g., translations, rotations, reflections, enlargements)
    • using reason and logic
  2. Use geometric models to solve mathematical and real-world problems
  3. Present convincing arguments by means of demonstration, informal proof, counter-examples, or any other logical means to show the truth of
    • statements (e.g., these two triangles are not congruent)
    • generalizations (e.g., the Pythagorean theorem holds for all right triangles)
  4. Use the two-dimensional rectangular coordinate system and algebraic procedures to describe and characterize geometric properties and relationships such as slope, intercepts, parallelism, and perpendicularity
  5. Identify and demonstrate an understanding of the three ratios used in right-triangle trigonometry (sine, cosine, tangent)

D. Measurement

  1. Identify, describe, and use derived attributes (e.g., density, speed, acceleration, pressure) to represent and solve problem situations
  2. Select and use tools with appropriate degree of precision to determine measurements directly within specified degrees of accuracy and error (tolerance)
  3. Determine measurements indirectly, using
    • estimation
    • proportional reasoning, including those involving squaring and cubing (e.g., reasoning that areas of circles are proportional to the squares of their radii)
    • techniques of algebra, geometry, and right triangle trigonometry
    • formulas in applications (e.g., for compound interest, distance formula)
    • geometric formulas to derive lengths, areas, or volumes of shapes and objects (e.g., cones, parallelograms, cylinders, pyramids)
    • geometric relationships and properties of circles and polygons (e.g., size of central angles, area of a sector of a circle)
    • conversion constants to relate measures in one system to another (e.g., meters to feet, dollars to deutsche marks)

E. Statistics and Probability

  1. Work with data in the context of real-world situations by
    • formulating hypotheses that lead to collection and analysis of one- and two-variable data
    • designing a data collection plan that considers random sampling, control groups, the role of assumptions, etc.
  2. Organize and display data from statistical investigations using
    • frequency distributions
    • percentiles, quartiles, deciles
    • line of best fit (estimated regression line)
    • matrices
  3. Interpret and analyze information from organized and displayed data when given
    • measures of dispersion, including standard deviation and variance
    • measures of reliability
    • measures of correlation
  4. Analyze, evaluate, and critique the methods and conclusions of statistical experiments reported in journals, magazines, news media, advertising, etc.
  5. Determine the likelihood of occurrence of complex events by
    • using a variety of strategies (e.g., combinations) to identify possible outcomes
    • applying theoretical probability

F. Algebraic Relationships

  1. Analyze and generalize patterns of change (e.g., direct and inverse variation) and numerical sequences, and then represent them with algebraic expressions and equations
  2. Use mathematical functions (e.g., linear, exponential, quadratic, power) in a variety of ways, including
    • Recognizing that a variety of mathematical and real-world phenomena can be modeled by the same type of function
    • Translating different forms of representing them (e.g., tables, graphs, functional notation, formulas)
    • Describing the relationships among variable quantities in a problem
    • Using appropriate technology to interpret properties of their graphical representations (e.g., intercepts, slopes, rates of change, changes in rates of change, maximum, minimum)
  3. Solve linear and quadratic equations, linear inequalities, and systems of linear equations and inequalities
    • numerically
    • graphically, including use of appropriate technology
    • symbolically, including use of the quadratic formula
  4. Model and solve a variety of mathematical and real-world problems by using algebraic expressions, equations, and inequalities
Posted December 9, 1998

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