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I feel that the TAAS test has not had very positive results. This test has been in the state of Texas for many years and still it has not proven to be a good source of preperartion for further education. Throughout my highschool years I was taught by my teachers that it was an extremely immportant test that should be taken very seriously. We spent countless days and hours preparing for this test and I greatly feel that this time was wasted. I took various pre-test, did additional writings in class, and in all this my true opinion is that the TAAS test is a test that completely drains, stresses, and bores people out. It is a very long test that contains not only one, but three sections that seem to drag on and on. I feel that this test should undoubtably be taken out of the school system
I, personally, hated all the preparation for TAAS. Everyone does though. I think that the preparation really helps. It is like building you up for the real thing. My brother takes them now and he made a 99% last year in 5th grade, I think that is awesome. Through the years if teachers keep drilling that in his head, he will do awesome on the real thing. That will open up many opportunities for him. I did pretty well on the TAAS, and I think it is because I had so much practice, from elementary all the way up through freshman year of high school. Sure it may be a pain in the, you know what, but practice makes perfect. Those who chose to pay attention will learn and do better for it.
I’ve taken the TAAS test so many times! As I moved back and forth to different schools in Texas, the years that the TAAS test was taken always seemed to switch at every school. My English classes were all about TAAS. English class wasn’t the only class that went over TAAS objectives with us. Each day the principal would anounce the TAAS subject of the day over the intercom, and we’d have to learn about it in whatever class we were in! We would be playing in band, and have to stop and do math problems on the board! After being TAASed to death, my overall TAAS scores were pretty good. I ended up getting academic recognition in every subject. Oh, and since a certain number of people passed with high scores, we got a class trip to Sea World!
In a nutshell, TAAS testing is a joke. All our school was worried about was having acceptable scores on these tests. All of our English courses were designed to teach the students how to do well on the TAAS. I remember having to work on TAAS handouts from previous year tests and thinking what a waste of time it vas. Our teachers went to seminars on “How to get your students to score higher on standardized tests” so they were constantly “experimenting” with us with their new techniques. From a lazy standpoint, sure, I loved working on TAAS all year because we never had to DO anything. There was no real work. There were no real tests. There was no writing. There were fewer things to worry about. But I still never learned anything, and that bothers me.
TAAS (and all standardized tests) are designed to measure how well you’re learning the material in your classes that your teachers are suppose to be teaching you. Well, it never did that. First, how can you accurately measure how well someone writes? There’s spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure, but that’s about it. It’s hard to measure thoughts and ideas and the ability to actually WRITE. We never learned how to do that, and those are the very basics of what these tests try to measure. Second, when your entire course is designed to master the TAAS test, how can you learn the things that it’s supposed to be testing you over? You can’t. You learn how to master the testing process and not the actual writing. And that benefits no one.
In conducting my personal opinion on TAAS testing and how it took effect on my writing, I will have to tell you my opinion is rather negative. I was in Advanced Placement English and learned all my writing skills from practicing for the AP exam. Not once did my teacher ever have us practice for TAAS writing because she believed that it was a waste of our time for the fact that we as Advanced English students should already have mastered the type of writing needed to pass TAAS. I agree with my English teacher, because I believe that spending almost a whole semester teaching objectives of TAAS, is a waste of a prosperous education. Several of my friends who were in regular English talked nothing but about how they were constantly writing papers in order to be fully prepared for the TAAS. What about college writing and higher standards of writing than what the TAAS calls for? Should students be deprived of higher learning just so that teachers can make sure their students know the information they should already of accomplished?
Students in Texas spend over half of their junior high through sophomore year bombarded by the ill concept of TAAS testing. For instance, every bit of my math done in junior high and parts of my high school years consisted of learning about TAAS and not the higher academic skills needed to further assist me in my college studies. The math and writing on TAAS is so elementary that if as students we were properly taught in the first place, we should not need to be consistently refreshed on what we already should have acquired. I thank God everyday for guiding me to Advanced English because if it was not for Advanced English, I feel I would not even be able to pass college English nor be satisfied with the knowledge I possess.
If the state of Texas wants to test high school students in order to make sure we know what we need to to get out of high school, then the testing should be at least a little more advanced so that if as students we do have to consistently be taught nothing more then the ill concepts of TAAS, then maybe we would graduate high school with a little more intelligence than what we hold today. For example, when I discuss what I have learned in high school with someone who lives in a more northern state, I find myself to be gaining the same level of education as of someone two grades below me if not more. How do you think that makes me feel about Texas and its decision on the combination of education and TAAS testing? Well, let me tell you it is not of very high-quality.
If we as Texans are so based on the future of our country, then why does the state hold their expectations of our math, reading, and writing skills so low? Does the state not realize that with placing so much focus on TAAS testing, we as students are basically going to be taught exactly to the level the TAAS expects out of us. With all do respect that level is not very high or up to college standards even if we are only sophomores when we take it. The blame is not to be placed on teachers either for they teach what they are told to. The blame goes to the state and its choice to make TAAS testing so important to a high school diploma.
One might believe my opinion to be irrational or over exaggerating, but in my eyes I believe education is a major factor in our lives and needs to be valued a little more than what it is in Texas. When I say valued, I mean our schools should focus more on teaching students a higher level of education as possible and not what is believed to be average or accepted. Because if students are taught what is average or what the state only expects that students should know then students who only graduate from high school in Texas and can not get a well-rounded college education will live in ignorance for the rest of their lives or for at least until they become one of the lucky few to acquire a good career by chance. As residents of Texas, we as citizens need to want to gain as much knowledge as possible to become successful human beings rather than remaining the average possibility. As Texans, we should be able to have pride in our educational systems and grow old knowing we are of the up most in our schools and thereafter not what we simply just settle for.
In Elementary I can remember getting ready to take the TAAS test, and it was a big deal. We would spend lots of time preparing for the exam. At the time I did not understand why it was so important to take this test. I was very nervous the first time I took the test because my older cousins would tell me that whatever student did not do well would end up in the “dumb classes”, whatever that was. I was scared of getting in trouble with my mom so I took it very seriously. When I was in high school and I found out we still had to take the TAAS test I upset. Too me, that was kid’s stuff and I didn’t understand why we had to keep taking it. Once again, all we did was prepare for it. We would have exercises in all of my classes. It was a total overload of work. By the time the test date came all I wanted to do was get it over with. It was a total waste of time for me. I felt like everything on that test was a wasted of time. It does not measure how smart you are. It’s just an exam that totally stresses out all students because it determines what kind of courses they will be able to take in the future. Overall, I really do not agree that it is a good educational experience.
In high school everyone puts the pressure on about the SATs. My parents wanted me to get a good score, my teachers would say it was very important, and my counselors would tell me that the SAT would be one of the most important tests I’ll ever take. In our math classes we would have practice questions everyday, and occasional practice tests. In English class we did not do much preparing for the SATs. Occasionally we would have practice vocabulary questions or stories that we had to read and answer questions. Overall my classes never really focused on the SATs. There were specific classes we could take called SAT-prep. In school they were free but outside of school if we wanted to take the class it would be close to $800. Taking the SATs was one of the most stressful times of my life. I was so stressed and focused on the fact that I had to get a good score in order to go to a decent college and maybe get scholarship. I was also stressed out because I’ve never been good at testing, I always get so nervous and anxiety sets in the night before the test. I didn’t feel prepared enough for the test. My feelings of being unprepared just made me even more stressed about the test. After taking the SATs the first time I felt relieved that it was over, the long tedious test was finally over for the day. After I got my scores back I saw that I would have to take them again and go through the same uncertainty and anxiety. Overall I feel my experiences with having to take the SATs were good learning experiences. They made me see that tests are nothing to get all worked up about because in the end I can do half way decent because I’m more prepared then I think.
In high school I was already used to the whole thing about TAAS since I had been practicing for it since the fifth grade. In my English classes in high school, I found that the TAAS prompts we were given were explained very well and we were helped if we ever did not understand things, which was not too common. I think that the TAAS tests were a good educational experience because it felt like the scores we would receive were somewhat of good use in the placement of the college we would go to. I mean that is what I was told. It actually felt like I was striving for something.
In high school the TAAS test was always a thing of major importance. My teachers would spend hours upon hours teaching us to prepare to take the TAAS test. I feel that all that was done during class time to prepare for the TAAS was a waste of time. The test was all common sense questions. I feel that the TAAS should not be prepared for that it should be a test to see where everyone stands in there learning abilities. The only way to accurately do that is to give the test without prep for it. This is the easiest test that is given in school. I took the test without even a second thought about not passing. I was excited to see the results cause I know that they were going to be very high considering how easy the test really is. I got a perfect score on everything except for the math section in which I only missed one. In my opinion the school system spends way too much time and money on unnecessary studying for the easiest test that could ever be given the Texas school
In high school to prepare, we did little worksheet about 2 or 3 times a week. They were old TAAS questions, so the related to the test pretty well. They we extremely boring, cause we did them, and then went over them. Mostly it was just a time for people to do homework for other classes. My teacher didn’t really help at all for the test, but it was still easy for me. If the test would have been a little more interesting then I think we probably would have spent some more time at it. I think the only people that got stuff out of it were the ones who were complete idiots and didn’t actually know the stuff.
In high school we concentrated a lot on the TAAS writing section. I believe in ninth grade english class was based on the TAAS exam. It seemed like we were always prepareing for the test. The funny thing was in 10th grade when we got the test and started taking it, I really wasn’t prepared. I believe that you shouldn’t prepare for something like this. I believe that the TAAS is a test to test your knowledge. If you prepare you aren’t testing your knowledge, you are testing if you can prepare good or not. Anyways I thought that the TAAS test was a horrible experience and I wish I would have never had to take it because it is a waist of time.
In junior and high school, TAAS was the main focus for most of my curriculum. After a while it was sickening because the kept shoving it down our throats with writing, readings, and math problems. My sophmore year, I couldn’t wait to get it overwith. I passed, needless to say, with “academic recognition” in a few categories, so finally I was done. Then after I had completed the dumb exam, I found out that form of writing and methods of reading comprehension weren’t even used in college or even in some upper level high school classes. All those years seemed like a waste, because now it seems that all the stuff we learned was for nothing. I believe standardized tests like that are ridiculous. We learn most of our lives to focus and pass this one test that takes three days, then we’re suppose to forget it and learn something new. There are also some people who are very intelligent, but are not good test takers.
In my days as a high school student I can honestly say that there were many activities that I will never use again in my life. For example P.E., I don’t even know why we got a grade in that class. When will I ever go to a job interview and throw a big red ball at my boss? Art class, if I wanted to make ashtrays out of clay I would make it my major in college. What a waste of time. TAAS was another experience that I am still having trouble trying to figure out, why I wasted so many countless hours going over the same material over and over again. My teacher would literally spend four weeks on TAAS. It is not her fault; she is just following orders from the of high and mighty principle above. And those practice TAAS test we took, oh my, if I had to take one more of those I could not be held responsible for my actions. In addition, if I did score well on the practice TAAS I had to take another one! Was there really a point for TAAS? If so nobody told me. Does this nightmare ever end?
Finally, when the big day came and you took the test and went home you thought it was all over with right? Wrong! When you got back your results you had to go over the problems you missed. Can we please learn something else? I don’t know when the war of 1812 was fought, or who is buried in Napoleon’s tome. But, I sure know how to write an essay for the TAAS committee, who held the future of my high school education in their god-like hands. They knew how smart I was with the one essay I wrote for them. And if I was college material. They know what is best for me. Overall I would have to say TAAS was just another experience in high school I would like to forget. I am just glad it is all over and I can get on with my college career. I am just looking forward to learning when the war of 1812 was fought and who is buried in Napoleon’s tome.
In my English class we had very good preparation for the TAAS test. We were given a topic from an old TAAS test, and were told to write a response to it like we were actually taking the test. After we wrote it, English teachers graded it like they would a TAAS test and told what we should do differently. After doing that practice writing, I was very confident when the actual test came around. On the practice I got a 4, but on the actual test I got a 3, partly because I did not like the subject I was writing about and also because the feelings change when you are actually taking the test. I do wish that maybe they could have given us like 2 choices that we could choose from. I think it would be easier to have 2 topics and let the students pick which one they want to write about, because it is much easier to write about something that interests you. Overall it was a good educational experience and it did help me with my future writings and what other people may expect from them.
In my English classes, we had set days that we did TAAS practice. I really don’t think that having the practice days helped anybody score better on the test. I thought that the normal activities of class were way more helpful in getting ready for the TAAS test. There were some pluses in the practice sessions for the TAAS. Because it showed you the type of questions that were actually on the test, I was able to know exactly what to expect. There were no suprises. Overall, I do not believe that standardized testing shows the persons actually abilities. Some people are not good test takers and are not able to score good on them. I don’t think that they should be a factor in whether or not you get into a school. I think that the colleges should look at the persons overall grade point average and then decide if they are going to accept them.
To get back on the subject, I don’t think that having assigned TAAS practice days is really necessary. I believe that when you do the day to day studies in all your classes, you acquire the right amount of knowledge you need. To me, the days were a waste of time. I mean, we would take up about ten minutes of class time going over three questions that basically just showed us the type of questions that were going to be on the test. And at the end, the teacher just told us the answer, so the students, who didn’t really know the answer, didn’t get the help they needed.
The TAAS practice days, for me, just prepared me for the type if questions that were going to be on the test. I really feel that the practice days served no purpose and we would have been better off using the time to study more of the lessons that were going on in class.
In my opinion I think that the TAAS should be aproached in a more adult manner. I mean we were all at least sixteen years old when we took it. And I think that my teachers should have help us out a lot more than what they did. But I at least passed and I didn’t have to re take it time after time. I don’t really recall if it was hard or not so I will lie and say it was.
In my opinion I think that the TAAS was a waste of time as far as English class. For the entire 4 years of high school English I was only taught how to write one way. The way that the TAAS standardized writing was not the way college wanted papers to be. English class revolved around teaching for the TAAS and wasted a lot of class time just reviewing for it even if you had already taken it. Not only did it waste time in English class but it also wasted time in other classes because it was required once a week to go over practice problems in class that had nothing to do with the subject of the class that I was in. Also the TAAS tested on a lower level of what was currently taught. I felt as if there was no challenge put in front of me. I did not use the education that high school was teaching me. Personally, I think that the TAAS should be given in the junior year of high school and made of what high schools have taught since freshman year. If students fail, they take classes on what they failed at and take it again the next year. If they fail again then they don’t graduate because obviously they did not grasp the education that was taught to them. They should repeat the grade or take summer school for areas failed and then test till it is passed.
In my opinion I think the TAAS is completely worthless I never paid attention to it when we went over it during class and I still passed, it was cake. I sure did get caught up on my sleep during the preparation of TAAS.
In my opinion the taas test is a wast of time. We spend our entire year on taas work so everyone will get higher scores and the school will get more money. I took mostly ap classes in high school, and for us it was stuff we already new. Its the equivalent of a eight-grade test given at high school level.
In my opinion the TAAS test is not a bad thing unless it gets in the way of actually learning. I felt that I was being trained in my early years of highschool to just take the TAAS test and make [X] school look good. It was mandatory that we studied TAAS problems at the begining of each class. We were doing math and reading problems in Ag and History just to get prepared. I am not very good at test like this because I get side tracked very easily. I did not care that much about the test so I as well as alot of people that took it only did what we had to and not get put in remedial classes. That was what I was worried about. I also think that if I was aware more about the TASP test and how it would give me trouble when I enrolled in College that I would have tried alot harder on the TAAS. Our principle would came on the intercom and tell us how good the school did and what our weak points were but they would not mention anything else about helping us after that. They would just start training the new freshmans to score high an the test for our schools.