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My experiences with TAAS testing and the preparation involved were good. I remember thinking how stupid it was to begin taking it in (what was it?) fourth or fifth grade, but I realize now it all paid off when the real test came my sophomore year. I did well and because of that was exempt from TASP which I found to be very convenient. I also think it is necessary to have a “floor” of basic knowledge. The TAAS consists of questions and problem solving skills I believe anyone who is going to be presented with a high school diploma should be able to do. I do see how I would probably feel much different if I hadn’t done well. Thank God that’s not the case. In all, I think the TAAS test is beneficial and school districts should continue to use it to prepare students for not only college, but the real world.
My expirences with TAAS and English for most part were not good expiriences. I think that my teacher focused too much on the TAAS test, and not enough on English ciriculim (spelling??). That’s basically how I feel about it. I’m not a fan of the standordized tests, and the TAAS to me is just another waste of time. I think that students should be evaluated by their grades.
My past experience of the TAAS test has been a boring one. Teachers always put too much pressure on the test itself. We did tons of practice questions, and learned only a few small things we didn’t already know. The only part of the review I found helpful was the practice writing. That was always where I struggled and had a hard time. Ever since I was in elementary I was never taught good writing form. Overall, the only thing†I found educational was the writing practice.
My past experiences of taking the TAAS test were negative. We spent all year preparing for a test that only tests the minimum amount of knowledge. The extensive preparation wasted class time that could have been used for learning new and exciting information. However, I do believe that a student’s skills should be tested at the end of the year, but isn’t this done through taking finals?
My personal experience involving the TAAS test is one that has grown over many years. Throughout high school, a large majority of our time was taken away from learning our required subjects to prepare and study for the TAAS test. The main reason that we had to spend so much time on the TAAS test, I believe, is primarily due to the competition between school districts for higher sores, which also meant grant money.
My opinion of this is that we spent entirely too much time preparing for a way too easy test. To me, it proved nothing of what I had learned. It did not test on subject material at our grade level and it was slightly biased in nature. There have been many controversies over whether the TAAS test should be used or not. I I believe the idea of a standardized test is okay in some situations but, not to decide whether a student should pass to the next grade level, or enter college. There are so many other factors that should be taken into account when deciding the intelligence of a student, not just one chance on one test. And realistically, the preparation for the TAAS test during high school is so emphasized that it restricts students from learning the things that the TAAS is testing them over.
Students in grade school are so drilled by TAAS test, that they probably no longer know what “normal” school is like. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that the TAAS test is totally wrong, but I believe that it has its faults and the way it is taught I and administered is faulty as well. I believe that there should be a state standardized test, but it should be revised, rethought, and the emphasis put upon it should be downsized. The original purpose of the TAAS was well thought, but the “hype” and over-emphasis has taken over.
My response for my view of the Taas is, its a load of crap. When Taas first came out I was in elementary. They kept telling me it wasn’t an important test so I shouldn’t stress myself. They also told me that I would only take it once every other year, that I would get one year gap, instead they started changing the times I would test every year, so I would take it every year. In high school we had actuall Taas classes that we would spend an hour in to better prepare ourselves for it. Now I was told that the test was being used to see where my fellow students and I were having troubles with. I’m guessing that the people who thought of the test never actually looked at the results, because I never recieved any actuall help with what I was lacking in. The first time Taas actually was being used for something I passed it, then they told me I had to take the Sat’s, Act’s, and then the Tasp tests. Well I looked into it and found I only needed to take either the SAT or ACT, and depending on my scores I might have to take the TASP. Well I didn’t study for the ACT the night before the test I stayed out all night drinking at a party. Well I scored two from perfect on my test, so I don’t think it was fair for those who busted ass to prepare for the test.
My sophomore year was my “taas’ year. All I did was prepare for the test. I feel like my teachers made the test more scarier than it actually was. But thinking back I feel like it is better to be over prepared then under prepared. My teachers would have us write every day then we would get the paper back with additional comments on where I needed more work, i think that is what helped me the best. I think the experience helped me beacuse i ended up doing really good and passing.
My TAAS experience was basically pointless and I thought it was way too under advanced for high school level students. They gave me a test that I could have passed in like 7th grade and were proud whenever I got academic recognition. I don’t think the TAAS test really measures your knowledge at the level you are taking it. It is more like, “What is the minimum we can let these students do to make sure they are leaning SOMETHING?” The writing part was even more ridiculous. Our sophomore teacher had been teaching us all year about a more sophisticated writing style, involving chunking and embedded quotations, and then we get this test that asks us to write a persuasive letter, which I learned how to write in 4th or 5th grade. Basically, I felt the whole TAAS was a waste of valuable learning time and that it being called “Exit Level” was even more ridiculous. It was just kind of a “why are we doing this sort of thing”, I mean there is no way that the TAAS could have possibly been designed for the students who do actually learn in high school.
My TAAS experience was dumb. The TAAS test was easy and so drawn out. This test did nothing but drive me nuts. It was an easy test that just wasted our time. If it was up to me I would have rather just taken the TASP, ACT, SAT test during school. Because all the TAAS test did novels and more time ‘learning’ how to take tests. It was all very boring to me as well as stressful on everyone. It taught me NOTHING and cheated me out of worthwhile classtime. I had wonderful, creative English teachers, and they expressed being annoyed with the burden of teaching TAAS. If they were annoyed, just IMAGINE how I felt?
My TAAS experience was fun and exciting like everyone else, just kidding. TAAS always seemed to me like a wasted of time. In school we did those stupid prompts and questions and it was just drilled in our heads, but we never went over it to actually learn. The entire thing about TAAS was that it looked good for the school. It didn’t actually reflect what the school was doing though, because the teachers pretty much taught us how to cheat the test. Anyone who failed the test was just too lazy to actually care about doing anything. Overall, the experience not only was a waste of time but hindered me with the rest of my education, because the teachers were so worried about how the school was going to look.
My TAAS experience was great. I feel that because my school stressed it so much that I knew it so well. Because I knew it so well I passed and only missed two questions on the whole test. I was excepted from the TASP test. But I don’t think that its that important.
My TAAS experience was nonproductive. The form of writing that is used is useless when you become an upperclassmen and begin taking more advanced writing class. In freshman and sophomore year we learned the standard 5 paragraph form of writing used in TAAS. When junior year rolled around we were hit with a new form of writing. It is ridiculous to teach a format of writing that is only useful on one test. I took AP writing courses my junior and senior year and the writing required in the course had almost none of the same elements as the TAAS writing. As you can see I am very passionate about this subject because I feel cheated because of my English classes. When I could of been preparing for my high school english courses I was stuck doing persuasive and descriptive writing. Not to mention the fact that a third grader could write a 4 paper on some of the prompts they have in the tests.
My TAAS experience was not all that bad. Sure the teachers offer worked us with several different writing prompts each day, but it only helped us become better. Everyday we would come into class and discuss what we were to write on that day. Our teacher would then go back over the procedures, which we had gone over numerous times, and after that she would finally let us start writing. If we looked like we were stuck or had writers block she would come to you and ask what was going on. That really bugged me! I just wanted to be left alone that way I could concentrate on my thoughts and the paper I was trying to produce.
Teachers really drill all those damn procedures into you. For some people it was good that they did that, but for others it just got plain annoying. At my school they finally realized just that. So they began making all the students who seemed to have writing or reading problems go to a mandatory tutorial after school. This helped out a lot I think. We were able to get a lot more accomplished in class, and the students who needed help the most were given some much needed one-on-one attention.
My TAAS experience was not very enjoyable. I felt as if my teachers put way too much emphasis on TAAS practice tests and activities. Every day we were doing something different, writing prompts, multiple choice questions, and those paragraphs with a few grammatical errors that we had to point out. Which left little time for anything else to be learned in the classroom. By doing millions of TAAS prompt essays I feel that most students learn how to write an essay so that the graders will like it and give you a good grade. We got really good at writing how others wanted us to in hopes that a high score would be the result.
TAAS activities are a “hand holding” program--everyone is tested enough before the test to leave no chance for anyone to fail--although some students still do. I feel as though every other week we were taking a different TAAS test--ones from previous years.
I passed the TAAS test the first time--no problem. It’s just that by the time I actually took the real test, I was completely tired of looking at and answering TAAS like questions and prompts.
We had TAAS starts ups for every subject--so it could not be avoided. Overall I believe in standardized testing, but it shouldn’t be a hand holding experience. Teach students what they need to know and in the end if they don’t know it (don’t pass the test) then maybe they are not ready to get out of high school.
I believe we should be focusing on different things in high school rather than one test.
My TAAS experience was ok I guess. I did not have to study or prepare much to take it. We had TAAS exercises in my classes but I would actually skip them sometimes because they were a piece of cake to me. I could go in and take the TAAS without studying or anything and still make a pretty good grade. I found that the TAAS was an easy test that did not challenge me very much. It is supposed to test you on what you have learned throughout school, but I actually learned way more than they tested me on.
My TAAS experience was really, more or less, non-beneficial in terms of personal gain of knowledge. I really feel that I did not accomplish much of anything while practicing for this standardized test. The test was too easy and it should be more challenging. The only good thing that I pulled out of the TAAS is that I was able to exempt the TASP test through my results.
My TAAS experience was very long ago. I don’t really remember everything that went on but I know that a lot of teachers made a big fuss about it. I had taken all the previous ones and they weren’t really too hard so I never really had any of the teachers enthusiasm about the TAAS. I couldn’t really study for them because I didn’t know what was going to be on them. My English teachers gave a lot of writing prompts to help prepare us for the TAAS. I don’t know if they did or not. I wasn’t always the best writer I but I did alright. When we got our scores back, the teachers didn’t really focus on the writing prompt part of the test. They were more worried about the English score on the test. I think it was a good educational experience because you had to pass it in order to graduate. That was motivation enough for me.
My TAAS experience was very stressful. Our teachers seemed to be putting all this pressure on us. They kept telling us we had to pass; like it was going to “make” or “break” us. A few months before we were supposed to take the test, we started doing little activities in our english class. For the first 5 minutes of the class our teacher put 3 or 4 practice problems on the overhead. After we all had time to answer the questions, we all went over them together. Doing these questions just a little bit everyday really helped me feel prepared when I went to go take the exam. After it was all over, I had no worries about how I had done. One thing that the teachers did to make us want to do well was that they gave us an incentive. If 90% or more passed we got to go spend the day at Six Flags; if 80% passed we got to go have a water fight, and finally if 70% passed we got a long lunch.
My TAAS experience went pretty well because I did pass my final TAAS easily. The only thing that I did not get recognition on was the writing. I felt that the test was a little easy but that’s what they gave to us. I was given the test when I was a sophomore, but I think that they should have given the test at a later date in our lives. Another thing is my school did not prepare you for harder tests such as the SAT and ACT. It seemed once we were finished with TAAS their goals were met but truly ours were not. I felt that I could have been better prepared for these more upper level tests.
My taas exsperience was ok I guess. The test its self was boring and elementary. The test preperation was long and boring also. I think the taas test should be upgraded or done away with.