Almost every where you go there is some form of standerdized test. In the USA there are the SAT's ACT's and PSAT's. Ohio has the proficinecy tests. New york has the regents. Isreal has the Bagrut's. What I was wondering is how many standerdized tests to you plan on taking? DO you study for them? Do you try to get out of taking them? (I know some people who live in new york but go to school in new jersy in order to not have to take the regents.) Do you think standerdized testing is fairly done? Thank you very much -yafa ***************************************************** 10-16-02, 01:03 PM BandaiJ I watched a special on the news on those tests and It said they're a load of crap. Colleges interviewed said they don't even look at them, that they're more concerned with your grades and school performance than a test. A lot of kids aren't even taking the sats, acts, for that reason.
10-16-02, 03:22 PM Leppi
quote:Originally posted by BandaiJ: Colleges interviewed said they don't even look at them, that they're more concerned with your grades and school performance than a test.
IT depends a lot also on what college you apply to. One college said that b/c I was homeschooled last year, even though I had my work viewed by a certified teacher and I got credits for it, I had to take the ACT's before I even though of applying. Also in ohio there is a program called PSOP. In that program, high school students can take college courses for free, once they have taken the ACT's. They are very important, it just depends where you are. -yafa
10-16-02, 04:21 PM cattywampus That's right. I once worked as the Secretary to the Graduate Dean of Northern Arizona University, and they certainly put a lot of reliance on the tests. Unless you had a certain score, you couldn't get into graduate school. Period.
Catty (who finally graduated after a 10 year effort) roll eyes confused big grin
10-16-02, 08:36 PM MkStfnz I strongly believe that standardized tests are necessary, but I am not very fond of the New York State Regents exams, especially in Mathematics.
Up until a couple of years ago, not everyone had to take the Regents exam. Taking the Regents exam was for higher level students. The test was harder, but the material was more straight forward. A person would be able to predict exactly the kinds of questions on the Regents exams, thus the test truly tested one's mathematical abilities.
A couple of years ago, New York gets an idea to redesign the Regents exam and force all of the students in the state to take it (in every subject, not just math). They make the tests easier to pass, but harder to master. The questions they ask become more like aptitude test questions, like on the SAT. The multiple choice choices are carefully written to match the students' most common errors. In many cases, answer choice #1 is the most common error students make.
How did New York students do? Before the changes, 66% of Regents students passed. Now, 33% of students pass.
Well, State Ed's plan backfired. Instead of seeing education ratings in New York go up, they go down. State Ed probably thought that the state would look better because everyone took the test and more people passed. WRONG.
Why can't we just go back to the old system?
10-17-02, 02:09 PM Sandy In Massachusetts the stakes are very high. We have what are called MCAS tests. They are taken in different grade levels, but the ones that the students take in the 10th grade are the most controversial. Without a passing grade, the student cannot graduate from a Mass. high School. I think that standardized testing has merit, but I don't believe that students should be refused a diplima based on a single test. The students do have a few tries to take the tests, but the tests don't get any easier. Some people just don't test well, but fufill the requirements of thier classes through other means. Also the students in the technical division often fail this test, and then there are the special needs kids. This is the first year that passing this test can cause a child not to graduate. One thing that is happening is the drop out rate is rising. Kids figure if they can't pass this one test, they won't graduate anyway, so what is the point. This is all very frustrating to me as a parent (even though my children will have no problem passing it.) and as a school board member. I think that the tests are fine, but I would rather see a diploma that had wording to the effect of "with MCAS distinction" for those who pass it.
10-17-02, 02:46 PM MkStfnz I do disagree with basing the fate of students on one exam. However, children with disabilities that limit their ability to pass the test would have a test exemption in their IEP (Individual Education Plan), a document that any student receiving special education services has from their home school district.
10-18-02, 07:21 AM Pin~Jinx ...........anyone???
Perhaps it is some Canadian thingee....
Err, from the posts made_ shall I assume that SAT and all aren't really necessary or important?
Still wondering, Pin~Jinx /anarchist
10-19-02, 12:17 PM MkStfnz The SAT is a very important test. While some colleges put more merit into it than others when deciding who they'll accept, some upper level colleges will not even consider you if you don't get a minimum score.
For example, I think (could be wrong) that Columbia and Notre Dame both require a minimum score of 1300 before they even consider your application.
10-20-02, 04:20 PM Son of Dwight In Alaska we now have the HSQE (High School Qualifying Exam) the idea was that not enough High School grads had actually learned necessary skills for Alaskan jobs, things like how to do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Only a few grads, it seemed, had much more then a very basic understanding of reading as well. So, now to get a diploma, and not just a certificate of attendance, High Schoolers need to pass this test... a few problems though, of the first group of 10th, 11th, and 12th grader's to take the test, about thirty percent passed, twenty percent were with in 30 points or so of passing, and fifty percent out right failed it quite badly. So of course, in the Alaskan way, we made the test invalid for three years to conduct "studies on why so many failed". Now the passing grade is being lowered, and several major changes are being made. I think now a fifth grade reading level will pass on the test, as will basic algebra skills, and an ability to fine a noun or two in a sentence oh well, I guess that's what happens when politics gets involved with schools.
10-20-02, 11:15 PM nursey63 IN high school they offered the ACT and SAT's. To get into nursing school they looked at both. I know friends that did not do well and took it again just so they could get into school. So it is best to take while you are in highschool while you are in the test taking mode. If you don't go to college right after school and wait you might do as well on the test. So take them no matter what you decide to do so you will be prepared just in case you do want to go college.
12-22-02, 01:19 PM pschick9 ok i live in ohio and i had to take the proficency tests! those werent fun! u have to pass them all in order to graduate from hs. and if u dont study for them u have to be a genious to pass them! trust me they are hard!! red face
your advice has really been helpful as I do intend to pursue my higher studies either in Canada or the UK. (THough, some ppl did imply that they , as in SATs are not asked for any more....???) Anyhow.
Taking from you, PSchick9, I would start studying for them right away!
Pin~Jinx / (does that mean the anarchist would have to become a nerd....?)
12-27-02, 09:24 AM Elexina I would recommend studying for and taking the SATs. You can never be sure what college you are going to apply to and what they may require, so your best bet is to take it. You (well, maybe not you but people in general) need every egg in your basket that you can get. Different colleges put different emphasis on different things, so you can never be sure.
My opinion on standardized tests: bad bad bad. They don't give an accurate picture of every student because students test differently. Most of them test your ability to take a test rather than test your knowledge. I believe in standards just not standardized tests. I think that every third grader should be able to read at the same level, and every high school graduate should know algebra and geometry, but how you determine that they know it is up to the schools. I also think that stricter standards are good especially if a student were to more from state to state. That way, all of the other kids would be learning the same stuff in the same order, and it would be easier on the kid. When I was in high school, we had ‘Sequential’ math, where we learned algebra, geometry and trig all together all three years instead of splitting them up into three separate years. Had I transferred to a high school that learned the other way, I would have been even more lost than I already was. So standards are good.
12-27-02, 08:11 PM Sherasi
quote:Originally posted by MkStfnz: I do disagree with basing the fate of students on one exam. However, children with disabilities that limit their ability to pass the test would have a test exemption in their IEP (Individual Education Plan), a document that any student receiving special education services has from their home school district.
Both of my sons are disabled, and they both have IEP's.. they get report-cards that are more a discussion of progress rather than specific grades (they don't actually GET grades). They soulnd't pass any tests because they couldn't even comprehend what is being asked in the first place.
12-28-02, 09:07 PM Kirby Lynn I took the SAT, did not study, did not do *great,* (not awful, but not Yale-worthy) and don't plan to retake the tests. The college I'm looking in to doesn't even ask on the application what your scores were. Amidst all the standardized testing hype associated with senior year, I'm just not stressed about them since my GPA is pretty high.
12-29-02, 02:27 PM BlueJewel06 I HAVE to take every last one of them offered to me for where I plan on applying...I want very badly to be accepted into the US Naval Academy and they take the tests seriously as far as I have learned. We must take the High School Assesments, SATs PSATs, Skills Assesments, and all through grade school and middle school we were made to take the CTBS tests, MSPAP tests, and then pre-HS assesments...every year we are basically bombed with these tests!! There is NO WAY I could study for all of them and do midterms and finals and just regular class study! I dont worry about it...whatever I know when I go in there is what I am going to know, whatever I dont know I simply dont know and that is the end! razz There is NO way to get out of these tests...we cannot graduate without taking and passing most of them (excluding SATs and PSATs) so anybody who tries is only making it worse for themselves. They are done as fairly as you can do a stand. test I believe. Although I cannot see the point of half the ones we have to take...I mean c'mon, how many times could they ask us the same types of ?s??
01-04-03, 05:08 PM Yelena I like taking standerdized tests and I'm glad colleges will look at the because I'm good at standerdized tests and don't do as well with my grades. I don't study for my tests because they always end up asking questions that you don't study for so there really is no point you just have to know stuff. I know a few people who are pretty smart with a hig IQ and know alot of things but they don't have a high GPA because, well I don't know why but that's how it is most of the time, so I think it's a real advantage to these kids who just aren't boook smart but smart in a differnt way.
01-21-03, 09:34 AM methos Pin~Jinx - the GREs (Graduate Record Examinations) are similar to the SATs (made by the same company). They are generally taken in your senior year of college if you plan on going to graduate school.
Yafa - The SATs (and ACTs and the rest) are valuable in that they offer a way for colleges to evaluate people from schools that they are not familiar with (a B at one school isn't necessarily exactly the same as a B at another).
I took the SATs, PSATs (twice), and several SAT IIs, and several AP exams before college. I took the Chemistry GRE and the general GRE befor graduate school.
That said, I think that standardized tests are very poor reflections of intelligence, academic ability, and the like, and this is from someone who got perfect scores on 2 out of the 3 GRE sections, so I'm not just bitter; I just don't believe they have a very strong correlation with anything except each other, and colleges are beginning to realize this and have been de-emphasizing them lately.
Take them and try to do your best on them, but don't stress about them because they aren't that important and don't reflect much.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
