36-301-2002
Personally I really don't enjoy taking standardized tests like the
TAAS test. Although I did rather well on the test I would really not take the test
if I had the choice. Preparing in my different classes helped me in achieving
the scores that I got. Going over reviews of previous exams gave me an edge of
what to expect when taking the exam. I believe that preparing of the exam
really aided me to achieve the scores that I can be proud about. Preparation is
the key to success and preparing for an exam is crucial in achieving the
highest score possible. Eventhough I don't enjoy taking those tests I think
that preparing for them helps me when taking the exams.
36-302-2002
Personally I think TAAS is a joke. There is entirely too much emphasis
on this one test. We spend months preparing for this one test while all other
education is put on hold. We spend hours and hours learning HOW to take the
test and how they are going to try to trick us that we don't ever learn WHAT is
going to be on the test. I think teachers should just teach what they have
planned and then at the end give some sort of TAAS to make sure everyone has
learned what they are expected to know. There is no reason to spend that much
time on a simple test that really only tests below average students. Most above
average students are so bored with this test that they get simple answers
wrong. I was in higher level math classes and I was being tested on stuff that
I had learned in 7th and 8th grade. This test just tests the minimum level that
one student should already have to be in high school. Students should be able
to be exempt from the TAAS and the hours of preparing for it.
36-303-2002
Personally I thought the TAAS test was way too simple. There is no
point in having a test like the TAAS if it is going to be too easy to pass. It
took no preparations really to pass. It wasn't a big deal. I along with most of
my friends(if I recall correctly) saw it as a way to come to school late(during
the years we didn't take it) or as a way to get out of our regular classes. I
honestly didn't think it gave a good representation of what I knew. I'd say
that it wasn't a good educational experience.
36-304-2002
Preparing for the TAAS English test was pretty boring. It was very
repetitive and long. At my school we prepared for it countless of times it just
got old after a while. But my teacher still had to review us for the students
in the back of the room that didn't have a clue as to what was going on in
class. Throughtout the year we were given writing assignments until the TAAS
test came around. We wrote about all different types of promts.I have always
done fairly well in English. The first time I took the TAAS test, I made a “4”
on my writing. Then, my sophomore year, I also made a “4” on the writing
section and was awarded with Academic Recognition for the English section as
well. I still remember being confident going into the test, and coming out
twice as confident afterwards.
36-305-2002
Preparing for the TAAS test in my sophmore year english class was a
time of depression for me. Naturally being an avid writer I was appalled at the
thought of structured writing and cranking out paper after paper that had to
have the exact same syntax and layout or suffer a failing grade. I think that
teaching to the TAAS test is a horrible way to teach a person how to write in
an intelligent and independent way. What makes the situation even worse is that
the motivation behind the whole preparation for passing the TAAS is not to
educate and make the students better wirters but to teach them how to pass one
test in all of high school. Overall percentiles determine the amount of funding
and the school's status. The only real benefeit that the students get for
becoming mindless writing drones and making high scores on the test is that
maybe they will be TASP exempt and not have to suffer through another god-awful
standardized test to make sure that students have the equivalent of an 8th
grade education. I personally resisted the brainwashing of my freshman and
sophmore english teachers and remained steadfast in my belief that I could
write and original and insightful essay and get just as high a score as a bland
concrete detail commentary commentary paper. Personally I think that the whole
TAAS writing system poisoned minds that once had the potential to become great
writers. I am only glad that I did give in and that I stayed with my original
style of writing.
36-306-2002
Preparing for the TAAS test started in elemtary school all the way
through high school. My teachers were enthused about going through practice for
the TAAS every time we met. It wasn't such a big deal in elementary school but
as we started middle school there was more talk about how important it was. My
English teachers in middle school had us go through some practice sheets at the
beggining of class. When high school began I noticed I was much better prepared
than classmates whose teachers did not have them do the exercises. I never had
a problem with the TAAS and always earned a score of 4 on my essay writings. I
believe my teachers were very helpful in preparing me.
36-307-2002
Since I can remember I have been participating in the TAAS. Either
taking the test or preparing for it. It seemed as though most teachers
objectives when you are of younger age is getting the students ready for the
TAAS test. In my opinion this is quite stupid. For starters the TAAS test is
mainly common sense material. These things a person in the 5th grade could do.
You learn more about the TAAS test throughout school then you do other basic
things that will be helpful and needed once you step out into the "real
world." I don't blame the teachers though. If someone was paying me to do
it and said I wouldn't get paid or have a job unless I taught the TAAS material
then I myself would teach it. My school was all about attendence and how many
people they had there. With my high school being such a small school, we needed
the money. So of course when it came to TAAS testing they pushed it on the
teachers and the students extra hard. We had tons of practice ones and those
who couldn't pass those would get out of school at various times to go to
workshops and practice. So they would take students out of school were they
need to be and place them in some building to practice things like 2+2. Our
school was more oriented with getting money than better educating the students
at my school which really disgusts me. I mean what are we going to school for
anyways then!? I personally think it is ridiculous and I feel that becuase of
this I am worse off then other students now that I am in college. All I know is
TAAS and once you get out of high school those things that are applied within
the TAAS test are not necessary.
36-308-2002
Since the TAAS was a required test to take to pass out of High School
it was the topic of freshman and sophomre English. I thought the experience was
slightly dull. We work on TAAS objectives the whole time and then when I took
the test I thought it was so easy. I think the standards should be higher. In
English we would go over TAAS examples as a class or we would take an old
practice TAAS for practice. I think TAAS practice worksheets should take up the
whole class. We should be doing work that will enable us to pass the TAAS but
such dull worksheets that make practicing boring. After taking a test that I
already knew I passed when I got the results I wasn't shocked. I thought if you
didn't pass it the first time you should be held back. A lot of the concepts
are elemtary and should be made harder. I think it wasn't a bad experience
since I did pass all parts I just feel that for the future the test chould be
made slighty harder so when other students come to college it's such a shock
for them.
36-309-2002
Since we have been taking the TAAS since the second grade I honestly
feel that I have not learned much at all. I do not remember anything from the
test and we reviewed and reviewed day after day. I think it's horrible that I
spent so much time from second grade to my junior year in high school reviewing
for this test and in the end it was a more or less waste of time because I
memorized the material for the test and when it was over I never used the
information or could even remember the information. On the test we didn't get
the chance to really show anyone what we had been learning or what we were
thinking . . . it was all multiple choice memorization and facts. All the way
up to the TAAS that is all the teachers in the classroom were focused on.
Preparing for the test was the main task of every year of every class. I don't
blame the teachers for this because they have so much pressure put on them to
make us pass so the only thing they can do is repition of the material. I think
it might have deprived us from some good information that might have actually
stuck with us and helped us in the future.
36-310-2002
Standardized tests are a waste of time. In many cases they do not show
how a student has grown through the school year because most students think
that it is a joke. They should not be used to grade students because all
students show that they have learned in different ways. I do not even think
that the SAT is a good way to test the knowledge of a person. There are any
people that are not good at test taking but they are great at doing something
else. I understand that there has to be a way to show how well a student has
learned through the school year but I do not believe that a standardized test
is the best way.