在下面这句话中:as poor as it was 是什么意思?

问题描述:

在下面这句话中:as poor as it was 是什么意思?
We may be very pleasad with the rapid progress we have made in every field of study,but the way to test a student's knowledge and ability still remains as poor as it was.

意思是考察学生能力的方法还是和以前一样不够全面或是健全