This is finals week at Barton and many of the other colleges around the state. For instructors it’s time to evaluate what students learned over the last semester. For students it’s time for that one last push to maintain or raise their grades. While faculty see testing as a method to evaluate learning and adjust accordingly, students often see testing as a way to be tortured. Students focus on the grade while faculty focus on learning. In agriculture, as in most curriculums, it is a process of providing the building blocks that provide a foundation on which to build the knowledge allowing for critical thinking. So for today’s column, let’s see if you can answer some potential questions from this week’s finals.
1. The major factor in determining what type of soil can form is:
   a) Climate
   b) Vegetation
   c) Topography
   d) Parent material
   e) Time
2. An essential nutrient is:
   a) Necessary for a plant to germinate, emerge and grow
   b) Necessary for plants to be nutritionally balanced for animals to consume
   c) Necessary for the plant to complete its life cycle
3. Which of the following is not an input for photosynthesis?
   a. Oxygen
   b. Carbon Dioxide
   c. Water
4. 95% of the dry weight of plants is composed of?
   a. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulfur
   b. Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen
   c. Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen
5. The EPA classifies pesticides as either:
   a. General or restricted use
   b. Systemic or contact use
   c. Residual or persistent use
   d. Herbicide, fungicide, or insecticide
6. Consumption of standing forage by livestock is termed:
   a. Browsing
   b. Grazing
   c. Both a and b are acceptable terms
If any students are reading this, no these questions aren’t on any finals.  For the rest of you, the answers next week.