For many college students, it's sometimes nerve-racking to decide exactly what to study. While some students apply to college with certainty of what they'd like to major in, others take two or three semesters to make a decision.

We recently named the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the best college in America. With five schools of study—Architecture and Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; Management; and Science. Allan Ko, a student MIT admissions blogger, recently wrote about an experiment that he and two fellow students conducted to explore the process to choose a major. 

"This is a process that we think is universal to college students everywhere, not just at MIT – we are just trying to make sense of who we are and what we care about learning," Ko said in an email to Business Insider. "Choosing a major is a formal declaration of what you value and what you want to learn, and is therefore filled with difficulty."

Ko and his teammates, Alyssa Smith and Aaron Suarez, first sat down with 15 students to talk about the responsibilities, fame of different majors at MIT. They quickly discovered that students' majors became a part of their self-identity on campus.

“Each person – each story – is different and represents a highly personal process, reflecting questions like ‘what do I want to do with my life?’ or 'what am I truly passionate about?' or 'how best can I make the world better with my skills?'” Ko said. They decided to dig deeper, and asked a larger group of students.

The answers were used to demonstrate the path that each student takes in their major-choosing at MIT. Ko said the project wasn't just a discussion of how students choose their majors. 

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1.The underlined word “nerve-racking” in the first paragraph may mean _________.

A difficult

B interesting

C happy

D necessary

解析：选A。A。词意推测题。从第一段最后一句的...others take two or three semesters to make a decision可知学生们要好几个学期才能选定学什么，因此选择专业是“困难的”。

2.Allan Ko study the students in order to find ________.

A what the best way to be admitted into the famous university is

B how students at the top school in the US choose their majors

C which is far more important, Engineering or Social Sciences

D when he and two fellow students conducted an experiment

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据第二段最后一句的...to explore the process to choose a major可知得知研究的目的就是要看看那些顶尖学校的学生是如何选择自己的专业的。

3.What Ko said in the third paragraph means ______.

A choosing a major is hard

B students know what to choose

C teachers’ advice is important

D campus life is very valuable

解析：选A。A。推理判断题。根据第三段最后一句的Choosing a major is a formal declaration of what you value and what you want to learn, and is therefore filled with difficulty可以得知选专业是很难的。

4.What is important in deciding the students’ self-identity?

A Their fames.

B They responsibilities.

C Their appearances.

D Their majors.

解析：选D。D。根据第四段最后一句的They quickly discovered that students' majors became a part of their self-identity on campus可以得知学生的专业能够显示学生们的身份。

5.The researchers designed the questions to ______.

A help other students choose majors

B get the students deep feeling

C discuss the students’ nutrition

D take in different knowledge

解析：选A。A。细节理解题。根据文章最后一段第一句的The answers were used to demonstrate the path that each student takes in their major-choosing at MIT可以得知他们研究的结果用来帮助其他学生来选择专业。