For anybody that doesn’t know, Taks is Texas assesment of crap and stuff, a standardized test that every Junior in Texas is required to take today. It’s something new out of the wood works to replace the old one Tx had, Taas.
Well, the graduating class of '05 is the first batch of guinea pigs that they decided to really test this on. The hyped it up saying it would be harder than the Taas ever was. It’s just longer. If anything it was easier.
It took all day, it was boring, and the administrators didn’t anticipate that no Junior would finish that test by 3rd period. They took our tests and tried to move us all into a tiny room, then they were surprised that 300 juniors don’t fit into one room. They then forgot that sophomores were taking the test too, and still needed a place to be moved.
They moved around 50 of us to 3 different spots until settling on herding us into the small gym. They placed us at chairs that have a desk with a width of 5 inches. It’s kind of hard to write a paper when the test booklet you have is falling and the dictionary you’re supposed to use is falling off your lap (they got mad when I put it on the ground).
More juniors were brought to the gym along with the sophomores and they discover they’re out of the wierd desk chairs, so they tried setting 2 chairs up together and let people work like that.
It doesn’t seem like much, but hell, I had to deal with all this on a short fuse and a cynical attitude about the whole deal in the first place. I’m just ticked that I had to take the damn thing to get a diploma.
Originally posted by Kairi For anybody that doesn’t know, Taks is Texas assesment of crap and stuff
If that’s what it stands for, shouldn’t it have been Tacs instead? Sheesh, they want to judge your intelligence, but they can’t even spell properly themselves.
As a senior, the only standardized tests I’ll have to take are the ACTs and SATs.
In Missouri, we have the MAP assesment, and in elementary school we had the CTBS (we always said it meant Child Torture Before Summer) testing. Either test can be hell depending on perspective.
I wormed my way out of the California Exit Exam; since I was already a sophomore in High School when it was approved, I was exempted from it. In other words, I got lucky.
Every kid from 6th grade and up has to take it. They just take different sections. It replaced TAAS last year, I think.
I had to take the writing section. I took a nap at the beginning since I didn’t feel like doing the test at the time. Horrible prompt. “Write an essay on how people have an impact on the life of another.”
I don’t feel motivated to work hard on the TAKS because scoring well means the school districts get more money, but I doubt that it will. My school district recieves minimal state and federal funding as is, and Gov. Perry has refused to give school districts more money, claiming they already have enough and aren’t showing results. Kind of hard to educate kids without enough money for all the teachers.
Today was extremely short with ~35 minutes per class, and a lot of kids spent extra time taking the TAKS, so we didn’t do much in class, and my teachers let me go into other classes after the little lessons.
In my town they are talking about making seniors take the MAP which will blow since it will be the English and PE sections and I didn’t feel like taking an English this year and PE is for Freshmeat.
The damned Regents was pretty bad as well. My sister got a seventy nine on the math Regents last year- and was the best in her class (average score: sixty three). Why? Because the fucking Regents board didn’t tell the math teachers what would be on the tests! Idiots.
Not only that, but standardized testing is laughable to people like me, who know how to manipulate multiple choice tests and can bullshit well enough for the generalized essays they made us write. Not only that, but it sets the BAD test taker- not necessarily the one who knows less than I do- back significantly. Grargh.
Homeschooled kids have to take a standardized test every year… at least that’s what I’ve been doing for the past three years… and last year we had to take it right before Christmas, and at the time, my brain wasn’t working to it’s full capacity because by then, we had been on break for a couple of weeks…
Anyway, I still managed to get a good score last year… but I wish that I didn’t have to take it…
Originally posted by Alice
I had to take the writing section. I took a nap at the beginning since I didn’t feel like doing the test at the time. Horrible prompt. “Write an essay on how people have an impact on the life of another.”
Hey, that’s the one we had last year. I think they’re just reusing tests. I bulled that essay through and through and still managed to get a 3.
If that’s what it stands for, shouldn’t it have been Tacs instead? Sheesh, they want to judge your intelligence, but they can’t even spell properly themselves.