22-021-2002
For a long as I can
remeber I have taken the TAAS test. In my oponion It has been a big waste of
time and not a very good way of showing a persons capability.
We as students are
required to take time out of our learning to take classes that prepare for a
dumb mltiple choice test. Administrtaion makes a big whoop over it whin in fact
I can honestly say that the TAAS test made no impact on my education. I mean how
can one single test be responsible for telling what a student is capable of.
What if a studant is having a bad day or misses it. I think it is a overall
waste of time and moey that the state of Texas is using.
22-022-2002
For a lot kids including myself the TAAS test was basically a quiz to
make sure you weren't retarded. The questions were easy and required little
critical thinking. It wasn't hard to write the times essay. My first experience
with it was a dissapointment. While I tried writing something of substacne the
person next to me was writing the extremely obvious in a less than accelerated
style of writing. She made a better grade than I did. It turned out ok in the
end. I was exempt from taking the TASP test. The TASS isn't a test that you study
for. In fact some students didn't mind it at all. It messed with the schedule
and postponed some real tests in certain classes. Sometimes people would take
long on purpose just to have more time out of class. If you showed me the test
I took when I was ten and the one I took when I was fifteen, I woulnd't be able
to tell the difference. I know that I always made good grades on them. I
usually missed no more than four on a section. That was always a pleasant
experience. It made my parents proud of me. Little did they know a blind monkey
could pass the TAAS test. It was kind of time consuming too. The funniest part
was when the teacher would watch like a hawk if anyone dared break the seal
before being instructed to. Then after "giving permission" the teacher
would talk like a robot from her manual and guide the class through the sample
questions. Teachers and principles usually left candy on every kid's desk in
the morning. "Taking the TAAS? Have a Tootsie Roll!"
22-023-2002
For as long as I can
remember the whole time I was in school all we did was prepare for the TAAS. In
every class in high school especially English we would do TAAS practices and
whatnot. I actually hated doing those exercises everyday. After a while they
got kind of old. All that stuff was old to me. I had already learned it so it
was real repeatitive. The teachers had a real good goal set for us though and
they had a lot of faith in us. They were just there to help us. Whenever
testing time came I wasn't nervous at all. I figured I'd do fine because I had
be so well-prepared. Testing days were cool because we got to have drinks get
out of class and all that good stuff. After the tests I wasn't too worried
about the results. I forgot all about taking the test until they came in. My
scores on the TAAS were real awesome. Overall TAAS wasn't a bad experience at
all but I wouldn't want to do it again.
22-024-2002
For me I think that TAAS
was kind of tedious. In class all we did to prepare was grammar grammar and
more grammar. There's only so much you can do with grammar. TAAS wasn't as hard
as the teachers made it out to be. It was basically just simple knowledge that
we learned in 4th grade. When I took like the practice TAAS or whatever you
call it in like 9th or 10th grade it didn't give me a very good outlook on how
the real thing was going to be. The practice test was a lot harder than the
real thing. I don't think that's very fair because you try harder than you
actually need to. When I got my results I wasn't shocked or anything that I had
"mastered all objectives". It wasn't really that hard to do. I don't
really understand the purpose of the TAAS test. It seems pretty much pointless
to me.
22-025-2002
For me TAAS was an extremely big deal in high school. For some reason
thinking about the TAAS test always made me nervous. Not only are we as
students affected by the results but our school was also. My school always had
a good reputation when it came to scoring on the TAAS test so I felt pressured
to be successful. I truly believe that the TAAS test is an unreliable source of
information. Anyone can have a bad day on the day of the test. Using that score
to categorize that person or that school is silly. If you want to test students
to determine an accurate intelligence level you should provide small tests more
often during that time period. I just don't think determining something so
important should be based on one single test.
22-02601-2002
For me the TAAS experience was very boring. Both my freshman and
sophmore years were copletely focused on the exam. I believe my school focused
to much on it the scores its student made on the TAAS rather than the education
we would get.
22-027-2002
For me the TAAS test was always extremely easy. I've never failed any portion
of the TAAS and never scored below a 4 on the writing section. I feel that the
material covered on the TAAS test should be easy for anyone. I really don't
think it matters where you grew up and how much money your family has. Anyone
should be able to read a passage and pick out the main idea or identify where a
comma should be placed in a sentence. The TAAS test isn't hard and if you think
it is then you shouldn't be able to graduate from high school. I'm not saying
that I think schools should base their teaching on the TAAS test I'm not even
saying that I think this standardized test should be used. I'm only sharing my
opinion that if you can't pass the TAAS then you're definitely not advanced
enough for college or a career. There are many excuses that people make about
why some students don't do well on the TAAS. You could say it's because you
grew up in a bad neighborhood or because you never overheard intelligent
conversations in your household or even because your teachers didn't give you
enough attention. These things could all be true but I don't feel sorry for
those that don't do well the bottom line is: If you really want to do well and
go far then you can. Anyone can over come any obstacle if they really try. If
you have no ambition then I think it's ridiculous to blame your failure on
society.
22-028-2002
From junior high till my
sophomore year in high school I can remember having some sort of class or class
time spent on preparing me for the TAAS Test. Compared to the amount of time
that we spent preparing I thought that the test was relatively easy. I∆m
not sure if the test had any real basis on the type of education we have
received. I know that in my high school we could not graduate from the 10th
grade if we did not pass the TAAS Test. I always thought that this was a
disadvantage in our school system. I have never been one to think that one day
and one test can determine whether or not you are educated enough to move
forward through your academic career. With all of that said though I do believe
that the TAAS Test was an easy test.
22-029-2002
From what I can remember about the TAAS test first of all that it was
very easy. I think the easiest part was the English and Writing parts of this
test. This test was very boring. At the time I took the test I felt that it was
very important. Which actually it was at that time but now that I think of it
it was sort of a waste of time and no point in it. Because everyone made a big
deal about passing the TAAS test all of my teachers emphasized on how to pass
the test. They would show us different strategies and hints and all sorts of
stuff like that. Because of that we really never got taught half the stuff we
really needed to know for college. Also when writing prompts or essays for my
classes in college now I catch myself writing in the format as I was taught to
write like for the TAAS test and that really isn't the ONLY way to write a
paper. So to conclude I think that the TAAS test was a good tool for some high
school students but not really a good tool to prepare a student for college.
22-030-2002
From what I remember the TAAS test was thought of as an unnecessary
burden at the school I went to. TAAS practice testing was a common thing in
middle school but once in high school it evaporated. TAAS became something that
bothered the teacher's schedule the lesson plan was put on hold for two weeks
to review for the TAAS test. The test's required skills were set so low that
people were more bored with class than they should be. Teachers would audibly
voice their displeasure with having to go over such a joke of a test. This all
occured during my freshman year in high school. After spending almost ten years
in the Texas public school system each year containing a TAAS practice test and
review I enrolled in a private school never to be bothered by TAAS again.