NationStates Jolt Archive

In Virginia, it is the beginning of testing season. This is when all the good little boys and good little girls get to spend hours inside taking APs, SATs, SOLs, and more acronym-based yardsticks of knowledge.

I'm curious, do similar tests exist in other parts of the world? What are NSGers feelings on the tests, the standardized tests in particular?

SUCKERS!

I've already taken my MSA test! :D (Happy to be out of that horrid test)

In Virginia, it is the beginning of testing season. This is when all the good little boys and good little girls get to spend hours inside taking APs, SATs, SOLs, and more acronym-based yardsticks of knowledge.

I'm curious, do similar tests exist in other parts of the world? What are NSGers feelings on the tests, the standardized tests in particular?

Standardise test are stupid. Put sadly there not a better system to test chidren
both quickly and easily.

SUCKERS!

I've already taken my MSA test! :D (Happy to be out of that horrid test)

That's an acronym I'm not familiar with. What does it test?

In Illinois we take the ISAT(Illinois Standard Achievement Test) It blows:headbang:

That's an acronym I'm not familiar with. What does it test?
MSA Maryland State Assesment.

In Illinois we take the ISAT(Illinois Standard Achievement Test) It blows:headbang:

It sounds like the SOLs, and no, they don't stand for what you're all thinking, but rather Standards of Learning. They were helped into existence by George "Macaca" Allen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI).

Standardise test are stupid. Put sadly there not a better system to test chidren
both quickly and easily.

There is a more efficient way, but the children won't benefit.

There is a more efficient way, but the children won't benefit.

What is it?

Yeah, I've got AP exams next week. US Gov., English Lit., and Latin: Vergil should be easy for me, Calculus AB will be hard for me, and Statistics and Biology should be in between.

I think AP exams are good, they show how much you learned in that class and you can get college credit for it.

I don't know if I like the SATs as much though. I mean I got 800 on the reading and 790 on the writing with no problem, but the math was a lot harder for me to finish on time and so I just got 650. They're easier than AP tests though, with the exception of AP Psychology. That test was really easy...

FCATs, our state test which you have to pass in order to graduate, kind of seem like a waste. For everyone in the honors classes, there's pretty much no chance that you'll fail as long as you actually do the test and don't just completely write it off or Christmas-tree it. So for us it's kind of just a waste of class time, especially when we have AP curriculums to get through. There are not enough teachers to be able to administer the tests while still running classes for juniors and seniors, so basically we lose about a week or two of class time just sitting around while the freshmen and sophomores take their tests. I made good use of that time, a lot of us came in even though it wasn't required and worked ahead in calculus so that we would be able to get to everything in time for the AP test, and on the days we didn't do that I did some of my translating work for AP Latin or read Crime and Punishment for AP English Lit. But I think most of the juniors and seniors either slept or didn't show up to school that week. But usually the pass rate is only about 40-50% at my school, and my school is one of the suburban high schools that is usually ranked either an A or a B.

But I'm not sure what the logic is in testing students in math subjects they've never been taught before, and that may contribute to lower pass rates, I suppose. They base the test on the average, which would be Algebra I in 9th grade and Geometry in 10th grade here, while some people take Algebra I Honors in 8th grade, Geometry Honors in 9th grade, and Algebra II Honors in 10th grade, and others need to spend two years on Algebra I and so take Algebra IA in 9th and Algebra IB in 10th, which means that they wouldn't really be prepared for the half of the test that's based on geometry when they have to take the FCAT in 10th grade, which is when it counts for graduation...

Here in Southern California we have the California Standardized Test. And some other crap. I don't remember them off the top of my head.

We have STD tests...

(Sorry, poor pun, I know, But it had to be said after I thought of it...)


In seriousness, In Australia every state has a different test: QCS, HSC, VCE etc...

We have state wide tests here (Victorian Certificate of Education) at the end of the last 2 years of high school, to determine your university entrance score. That's pretty much it.

Juken jigoku, or examination hell, is what students here in Japan undergo. It starts in junior high for most kids (Though it can be far, far earlier. They are now testing to get into nursery school). Since compulsatory education in Japan ends after junior high school, to go to high school, the kids have to test. If you want a good high school that leads to college, you have to do very, very well on these tests. Pretty much from January through March, my 3rd year students do nothing but take practice tests day in and day out. They sleep about 4 hours a day (There's a saying in Japan, 4 pass, 5 fail; meaning that if you sleep 5 hours a day, you will fail your tests). After school, these guys don't go home, but to cram schools (juku) and work until about 10 at night, studying and getting one on one lessons.

And this is just the warm up for big daddy of them all, the college entrance exams. THOSE tests are like high school entrence, x5. Sadly, 2/3 of the students will not make the cut into the top line universities where cushy jobs in the private sector and government are guarenteed. These kids become ronin, an old Japanese word for masterless samurai, but used now-a-days for students who fail to get into a school and who therefore spend the next year studying daily to try again, sometimes for three to four years.

Makes you feel a wee bit better about the ACT now, don't it?

Some testing just ended here, more is still on the way. Ah, life after NCLB.

As a teacher, I feel like we put far too much emphasis on testing. There isn't really a good way to measure student achievement across the grades and states, so I understand why we have it, but there are so many flaws with the current battery of tests and the way the results are used.

As a student, I always looked forward to standardized testing, because it was something I was actually good at, and my teachers would look at the results and realize I was not in fact an idiot. Plus, saltines and tree top apple juice. And extra recess. You can't beat those.

Yep. In Massachusetts we have the MCAS. Then I'm taking the SAT, AP exams, finals, and I already took the ACTs.

I HATE TESTS:upyours:

God I hated standardized tests. I still do. As a side note, my brother is taking the SATs tomorrow. :: crosses fingers ::

Well I have final exams coming up. Hooray

In Virginia, it is the beginning of testing season. This is when all the good little boys and good little girls get to spend hours inside taking APs, SATs, SOLs, and more acronym-based yardsticks of knowledge.

I'm curious, do similar tests exist in other parts of the world? What are NSGers feelings on the tests, the standardized tests in particular?

I'm in Canada, I have a comparative politics AP exam on Monday, my other tests, Diploma Exams are in mid-June, they aren't Canada wide but several provinces have them. We don't really do "standardized tests" at the high school level in Canada, I mean we do have tests uniform throughout the provinces but the marks aren't standardized to a bell curve and there is nothing nation wide.

Glad this is done with. If all goes well, my next "standardized" test will be the bar exam.

proctored the MCAS, had to take the MTLEs...Those are the worst exams I've ever had to take. Ever.

I think the Abitur is approaching for German 'high school' pupils. The sheer thought of it brings back bad memories!

In Ohio we have OATs (Ohio Application Test)

Yeah, I've got AP exams next week. US Gov., English Lit., and Latin: Vergil should be easy for me, Calculus AB will be hard for me, and Statistics and Biology should be in between.

I think AP exams are good, they show how much you learned in that class and you can get college credit for it.


AP exams also include essays, or, if its a math-based class, a chance to show you understand the concepts. I agree, I think they are a pretty good test.

proctored the MCAS, had to take the MTLEs...Those are the worst exams I've ever had to take. Ever.

Are those tests for potential teachers?

Tell me about it.

I've got seven AP tests coming up starting Monday... now if I don't screw up on any of them, I get to go into college with 44 credit hours as a freshman. :)

Are those tests for potential teachers?

for MA, yes. two tests, 4 hours each. The communication and literacy test was pretty easy. The subject area test, however, made me want to die.

AP exams also include essays, or, if its a math-based class, a chance to show you understand the concepts. I agree, I think they are a pretty good test.

Yes, that's good, too. I feel like they cover pretty much what was in the course. Yeah, I know Latin: Vergil has 3 essays and 2 translations, English Literature has 3 essays, and US Gov. has maybe 4 or 5 shorter essays. Statistics even has a lot of writing, although no essays, mostly like explaining how you would set up an experiment in the situation they give you and what factors would affect it and that sort of thing.

We've been taking old tests as practice. On the practices I got a high 5 on Latin, a low 5 on English Lit, and I keep getting between 54 and 56 correct answers out of 60 questions on the multiple choice parts of the US Gov... which would be somewhere between 52 and 55 points and you only need 61 out of 120 possible points (after the essays) to pass.

I got a 3 that was somewhere in the middle of the range for a 3 on the old AP Calculus test we took, it was very hard for me. I've got to study a lot this weekend and Monday and Tuesday nights so that I can make sure I get at least a 3, and see if I can manage to get a 4.

Last year I took five AP exams. I got 5s on the Psychology, English Language, Latin Literature, and US History exams, and I got a 3 on the AP Chemistry exam. The AP Chemistry one was the hardest test I had ever taken up to that point, so I guess I'll see if AP Calculus will be harder than it was... my calculus teacher said that both of them are "The Tests from Hell".

Oh, and one great thing standardized tests have done for me: because of how well I did on the PSAT I'm a National Merit Finalist and so I'm getting a $48,000 scholarship from USF and I'm also one of the winners of a $2500 scholarship from National Merit. So excited! :D (If any of you are younger and get the opportunity to take the PSAT in your junior year, you should do it. Awesome opportunities with it, and even if you don't qualify for National Merit it's at least good practice for the SAT)