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41-401-2002

The TAAS test was something that the schools and teachers prepared you for for almost your whole school career. We were taught the ins and outs the do's and don'ts but when we finally got there it was all for nothing. We had been taking mock TAAS test almost every year and every year the same thing. We took it so much that it became to me anyway, just another test. Kind of second hand in a sense. So when the final exit TAAS test came around no one was really worried. It was really easy. The only people that did not pass where those who either didn't show or didn't take the test seriously. It is not to say that this kind of testing is not essential but maybe mix it up a bit. Not making it so standardized would be good. If you just give the same test with little changes every year you only get the same regurgitated junk used to answer every test the years before that. If you really want to see what someone knows you have to mix it up and give new test every year. Take me for example. The test was so easy for me that I was exempt from TASP and got a four on my writing. The teacher I guess over prepared me. And it was not even that hard to get those scores. I am not saying to make the test harder or anything because for some kids the test is hard but at least make an effort to make new questions and new prompts. Believe me it will make the test that much more “challenging”. So if you haven't guest already my TAAS experiences have been less then challenging to say the least and if this test is to “test” people's knowledge then somethings have got to change.

41-402-2002

The TAAS test was the most ridiculous boring and pointless standardized test ever invented. I don't really remember that much about studying for TAAS in any of my classes because I hardly ever went to them when I knew that we would be doing so. When I was unfortunate enough to go to class and and got tricked into studying I remember crying inside of my head and being ridiculously bored.

41-403-2002

The TAAS test was too easy . . . It's only my 5th week of school and I'm already wondering how some of these people got here let alone into high school. It's almost scary . . . I'd say the TAAS tests should cover more topics than “using common sense" and things we learned in middle school. If knowledge is power, then I've seen some pretty weak people this past month.

The AP tests though were a little more challenging. (I'm not sure if that matters to you though.)

41-404-2002

The TAAS test was very boring. I don't think the test was realy necessary because we were susposed to learn all of it in middle and high school. The problem is the teachers and school. They must hold students back that don't know the material. Schools can't just pass a student just to "get rid" of him/her. The TAAS was very boring because we had to go over what we had learned years ago. The students that didn't pass it were just unaccepable. If a student can't pass the test it's the schools problem. There was alot of writing also. I think its the schools responsibility to teach the student how to write and not the states right to test the student. Schools have to be more strict on their pass/fail policy. The TAAS test was not educational it was a waste of time. In the time we had to review for the test(might I mention all the stuff we already knew) we could have learned something more useful to us in life. The test shouldn't be a factor in graduating or not the school should determine the students potential and qualifications.

41-405-2002

The TAAS test was very easy to me and I don't see how anyone could accually fail it. I don't think that it was challening at all. Plus the paper we had to write for the English part or writing part was so simple. The paper I wrote for TAAS was probably one of the worst paper I had ever written in high school and I scored a 3.

41-406-2002

The TAAS test wasn't a very good experience for me. I thought that it was a waiste of time I knew everthing on the test and I feel I could have taken it when I was in middle school and still made a good grade on it. My freshman year the teachers were dedicated to teaching different skills and tricks to use on the TAAS test on average I bet a good 30 minutes every day was waisted towards learning things for the TAAS test. The skills the teachers taugh me were pretty much useless in the long run the things they taught me were things I already knew or could figure out. I feel that instead of waisting valuable class time for learning TAAS techniques I could actually be learning something useful that would help me out in the future. I feel like this wasn't a good educational experience for me I learned nothing from taking this test and it was a waiste of my time. When I was taking the test I realized that I could have been in class learning knowledge instead of taking the test. The only good thing that came out of taking the TAAS test at my high schol was that if you passed the test you got to go to Fiesta Texas which is a theme park in San Antonio. I feel like the TAAS test should not be given to students anymore because students could be doing something better like learning versus taking the TAAS test.

41-407-2002

the TAAS test well what can I say it was too easy. if this test was suppose to test our skills in certain learning departments I guess you could say it did to a certain extent. the stuff we tested over our sophomore year was stuff we should have tested over in our earlier years. by the time we were in high school our learning skills were beyond what we had to test on. the TAAS test had multiplying and dividing problems. my brother who is in the seventh grade could probably take the 10th grade TAAS test and pass. the writing part of the test was so simple. it was just a persuasive essay. anybody could do that. they didn't even check for punctuation sentence or spelling errors. if you knew how to read and look up answers then you were able to pass the reading part of the test. I just think that it should have had problems a little more complicated so they could see what problems we are missing and then know that the teachers should be teaching that area stronger. there are some people with learning disabilities who have help on the test so there shouldn't be anyone who doesn't pass. the only way someone could fail is if they absolutely do not care and just don't even try at all.

41-408-2002

The TAAS test. Well it seems like a long time ago that I took this test but from what I remember it was a joke to me. I distinctly remember all of the teachers and students complaining about the test the preparation required, the necessity to “teach for the TAAS” instead of curriculum teachers themselves may have deemed important. I remember administration complaining of the way it disrupted the schedule and took up so much time. Whenever it was mentioned the name of the test was always ineveitably followed by a huge sigh of disgust and clearly looked at as a necessary evil as laid out by the state educational standards. Although the state felt that it was important to uniformly test all public school students, the attitude from teachers and district administrators often communicated to the students that their feelings about the test were in stark contrast to those of the state educational board who laid out the requirements. The feeling I got from the teachers was that it was not really necessary but something that we all had to go through together in order to graduate and prove that our school was getting the job done.

I think that the response of the teachers and others was often because of pride and the resistance to someone checking and questioning thier ability to teach and instruct students. The test itself I feel was very easy and pesonally I quietly looked forward to test days because I felt like it was a break where everyone treated you like you were going through something really hard when really it was easier than daily classwork to me just time consuming. It really didn't bother me that much to have my abilities tested if a student is prepared it should not be a problem. I don't feel that the standards are to high possibly they are not high enough. While it is time-consuming and problematic to systematically test the entire state I feel that some standard is definitely needed to ensure the quaility of Texas graduates and though this may not be the most effiecient method it is at least an attempt.

41-409-2002

The TAAS text is a big waste of time. It is to easy to long and des not tell you what you tink it does. Every single student in school know all the info on the TAAS test but many can not take standardized test for the life of them. There are other wasy to tell if the students are learnign what they are supposed to and they dont have to be tests. To many kids get held back because of the TAAS and most of the time it is because they do no know how to concentrate on those tests. I know that is it wasnt such acrappy test that I would have done much better. There should be another form of figuring out how stdents are doing then puting kids through this kind of torchure that can determin were he or she goes to schoo and what kind of classes they get to take. Have the teachers take a teaching test or somthing.

41-410-2002

The TAAS was a very easy test and I really didnt have to study much for it but in my english class we did alot of prep work. We had alot of sample prompts to write about and did alot of essays. Other than that I dont really think I did any other form of prepertation for the TAAS test and I scored very well. My english teacher made sure we were all ready and that we new what we were doing and how to make the best grade.