ETS, who produces the SAT and the GMAT, has been testing a new Information Literacy test on campuses. Here at Purdue we have been "encouraging" our first-year students to take the pilot test. The feedback from my students has been mixed. The Slashdot crowd has also chimed in with its customary mixture of wheat and chaff.

The questions on the test involve skills such as using search engines effectively and filtering email messages. The test will, of course, be utilized differently by the campuses that adopt it. Some are considering making it mandatory for incoming Freshmen (and some apparently already do). Reactionary caveats about standardized tests notwithstanding, what are some thoughts about a test like this?