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The high school I attended had very low TAAS scores for a long period of time, and when I was in eighth grade they decided to do something about it. The passing percentage was at 35% or so. Within one year of working with the students they raised the scores to 75%. Then when I became a freshman I was required to take the Pre-TAAS test, and if I didn’t pass it I would have to take TAAS review classes. These classes were only for local credit and did not effect your GPA. Many students became angry because they were forced to substitute classes they needed inorder to pass to the next grade with these classes. Parents were furious when they found out all their children were being taught was TAAS, and teachers were tired of teaching it because it took time away from their curriculum. I became very confused at this time because it was hard for me to concentrate on TAAS tactics then switch back to the regular curriculum. I did not understand why everyone had to suffer through this if most of us passed the pre-test. The teachers had to spend half an hour every day working on TAAS methods and so on, and by the time it came to teaching they were bored and so were we. My class did raise the scores to 85% making my school a state recognized school.
I think it is important to prepare for the TAAS, but they should start at the junior high level since the test is based on an eighth grade level. I do not understand if someone passed the eighth grade and can still fail the TAAS. I think teachers should be teaching more important things to freshmen and sophomores than TAAS tactics. They should be preparing for the SATs instead. I would have understood the SATs if my teachers did not have to go over methods I already knew.
The most vivid memory I can conjure from TAAS testing is the fact that we prepared for it the entire years before that. There was no room for other learning activities because their primary aim was on that one state-wide test. Teacher’s that I’ve spoken to believe that there should have been room to experience other things in school besides preparing for that test. I must admit, I agree. I remember the nervousness of feeling a wide load of pressure put on my back the day of the test. I wanted to live up to their expectations. The more time we spent preparing, the more important it seemed. It was a little hard for me to concentrate on test day, but I was well prepared. Hopefully there will be a little more room made for other fun and learning activities in the future.
The room is utterly silent except for the irritating sound of pencils scratching the rough, test-provided paper. The questions up to this point have been a strict regurgitation of the past 2 months of instruction. Now we face our most difficult challenge; we have to think on our own! Sweat beads on my forhead as I stare at the question printed in neat text at the top of my page. My anxiety grows as I hear the high heels of the test supervisor clacking on the slick tiles of the floor. I read the question again slowly. “Write an essay speaking either for or against year-round schooling. Make sure to use details to support your opinion.” I suddenly flashback to my 8th grade english teacher standing over me. “Elaboration, Patrick; you need more elaboration!” As I come back to the present, I realized I have written an introduction supporting year round schooling. The ideas began to flow through my hand without much thought. The only thing I paid attention to was that I had three supporting paragraphs and a closing statement. As I took my finished paper to the front of the class, I realized that my entire school career was hinging on this test. I was either going to be praised for my good work or cast to the botom of society as a loser, never to climb out of the muck again.
The SAT was a test that I knew I needed to make a good score on. In our English class we studied a variety of words that were put together from past SAT tests, and learned their definition and how to use them in a sentence. Along with these booklets of words we also had a vocabulary book that turned out to be very useful in my SAT taking.
Besides the preparation for the verbal part of the test, I also had math training. Like the vocabulary, there were many samples of math problems that were used on past SATs that we could practice on and use to prepare for the real thing. In my math class we didn’t focus too much on the SATs but enough to help me understand what problems on the test would be like.
Besides the preparation in classes, I didn’t do any other outside studying for the test. Now that I have taken the test, the things that I thought about studying for would not have helped me anyway, so I am glad I saved myself the time. The night before the test, I did as most people do, I went out late with my friends and had a good time. As I arrived at home at 12 AM I quickly got myself into bed. As I woke up I felt ready to take the test. Once I arrived at the testing center however, my exhaustion took over, and I felt like driving back home to my nice warm bed. Throughout the whole test, I was sleepy and not as attentive as I could have been while answering the questions.
After the test was over, I sat there in my seat wishing that I had gone to sleep early the night before so I could have done better on the test than I did. As I walked out I to my truck, I knew I had done good, but not the best that I could have done. I was disappointed, mostly in myself for staying out late, but also because I knew better than that. I had been warned by so many people to get a good nights rest, but no, I didn’t heed their warnings and I paid the price.
Weeks later my curiosity was killing me. I had to know what I scored on this test. I got my dad’s credit card, got on the phone and got my scores. As the computer read me my scores, my hands scribbled down the numbers, and I quickly did the addition and sat there staring at the paper. Looking down at a total of 1090 I couldn’t help but wander what I could have gotten if only I had gotten more sleep. My score was enough to get me into A&M Corpus Christi where I wanted to go, and enough to get me out of the TASP test so I was happy. Even though was and am happy, I still wonder to this day what I might have gotten, if I would have just gone to bed early.
The steps taken to prepare our school for TAAS was outstanding. The whole school came together to prepare students such as myself to do remarkably well. In each class I had; mainly english and math we had fun activities to do to help us learn more vocabulary words, fill in the blanks with the right words and in math we had a number of continues problems one right after the other. I for one enjoyed the activities we did because it allowed the class to bond but to me looking back on all the kind of tests we took is kind of a waste of time. These tests I feel seperate us in a way to judge us well like for example if you don’t pass a standardized tests you can’t graduate and then you can not enter college. Whose to say that a certain person passed all their classes with a passing grade and when it comes to the test they can’t seem to pass it, so what does that label them, dumb? Some of the studies we learn in class our not on the test, because when we are in high school we are getting college material thrown at us as if we are supposed to know it but the main point I am trying to get across is that these test are not necessary to figure out if we can handle college or knowledgable to finish college.
The TAAS experiece for me in highschool was somewhat easy, but it required a lot of work and practice. I can remember my sophomore year we would practice for the TAAS every day. We would spend about 30 minutes going over different material. In my english class, my teacher would give us either different prompts to write about or we would go over the grammer usage. English was pretty easy to me and I enjoyed doing the work, although sometimes it got boring. In my math class we would do the same, we had a workbook that we would work through, and we would go over a section each day. Math was a lot harder for me. It took a lot of practice, but I had a good teacher so he really helped me out. I learned so much when we would review and it most definitly helped me out on the TAAS. Reading also was something that came easy to me. I really didn’t have to practice much, because it just came to me. Throughout all of this, I would have to say that the reviewing of everything helped me when it came to taking the test. I went in taking the test with a lot of confidence and I was determined to do well. It was a good experience for me and TAAS is very benefitial.
The TAAS experience for me as a student in English class was quite stressful. All we did is go over the five paragraph essay everyday. We wrote a take home essay almost every two days, and most of the time they didn’t even give us a grade on it. It was mostly just busy work. Our school prepared for the test by making us learn how to prewrite, organize our thoughts, and put a paper together that was clean, concise, and exactly what the grader of the test was looking for, and wanted to hear. I feel that it was a good and bad experience. A good experience in that now I know how to write and what to write if I want to please a certain group of people, and a bad experience in that I had to learn how to really express myself all over again in my writing. I feel that it was a decent way to show a person how to write to please a certain audience, but they should really stress that there are other forms of writing in which you can express yourself.
The TAAS experience for me as a student in my English classes was a good one. My English teachers went to a lot of trouble during my freshman and sophomore years to make sure that our writing would be up to par for the TAAS test. We were assigned several different prompts for preparation for the test, and were allowed sufficient time to write on them. The prompts varied, since the type of promt on the actual test was unknown. After writing on all these prompts, we would exchange papers with at least three other people and have them edit it and make suggestions for improvement. Also, upperclassmen who had already passed the TAAS would come in and offer their suggestions also. And finally, the teachers would look them over. I was pleased with the results; I received a 3 I think. This was good considering that writing was not a strong subject for me.
The TAAS experience for me as an English student was extremely boring. It’s like in every grade I went through in school, the English class’s only emphasis was TAAS, and that’s all the class was about. All of the writing assignments were dull and had something to do with previous TAAS prompts. The one’s I always hated were the persuasive papers that we had to write, like this one about how the President was going to change the driver’s liscense age to 18. You had to state wether you were for or against the proposed plan, why you felt that way, and the different restrictions that could be put on this law. I felt that this was the most awful topics that anyone could write about. These papers had to be in that five paragraph format, which I’ve always thought was stupid any way, and if you didn’t do it that way, then it wasn’t a good paper. All of these things were emphasized in English, so that we could make a four on our writing portions and make the school look good when really these Secondary and Primary school teachers are, in my opinion hurting these students by teaching them these things. If they get taught this way all through school, then they may have trouble when they get to college English classes.
The TAAS experience for me at [my high school] was long and repetitive. Teachers like Mrs. [X] and Mrs. [Y] express the same. material over and over till it was learned it. We would work hard on grammar, punctuation, and other English material exactly six weeks before the TAAS date. Two page practice writing and reading worksheets were done everyday. On Fridays we would go over the problems on the worksheets and then work on the ones we answered incorrectly. I was always bored and ended up drawing all over my worksheets to waste the fifty minutes were in class. But overall the worksheets prepare me for what I was about to take and my scores were in the top ten percent of a class of two hundred and sixty two students.
The TAAS experience for me in English class was not that difficult for me. We used to always do some questions everyday, and just review on what we could expect from it. Before class would start we would take quick quizzes to see if we had comprehended what we went over the day before. Personally, I did not like it because they kept pounding it in your head even after we all knew what we were doing. It was more for the school. My school wanted to have a good name, so they figured that we should just review it even after the test was already over with. Overall, the experience was alright, but I think that those reviews took a lot of time out of the regular class work.
The TAAS experience for me in my English class was grueling, at times but it was also very helpful. Throughout the year we worked until the final day that we took the test. Practice tests for the TAAS and a worksheet of questions were common in my classes. Especially in English where it seems more people need help with their writing and reading skills. While doing these practices I often thought that it was a waste of time. Doing worksheet after worksheet got very boring and repetitious. But I think that suffering through all of that made my TAAS scores better. All of my English teachers were very helpful and gave us good test taking skills. This was very beneficial for me because the writing part of the TAAS has always been my weakest link,. Had it not been for the relentless practice I would have done much worse on the test. Looking back on it, I am glad that our English class put us through the pain.
The TAAS experience for me in my english classes was kind of a pain. I was always in honors english and we had to do stupid taas reviews becasue they were required. I always liked taking the TAAS test because I knew I would finish early and get to go hang out with my friends. Also once you took it and passed it there were three days each year you didn’t have to be at school until after noon. Overall I would say it was an easy educational experience for me. I feel it was kind of a waste of time.
The TAAS experience for me was a long and boring one. Probably two months before we even took the test, our English teachers start reviewing us for the TAAS test. We had to work on persuasive letters almost everyday in class in the months leading up to the test. Each day in English our teacher gave us a prompt and we were forced to pick a side of the issue and write a persuasive essay that supported our view. My teachers taught us which words to use and which not to use. They showed us all sorts of ways to set up our five paragraph papers and they showed us how to argue strongly and persuasively even if we didn’t really believe in what we were typing. They also told us it was fine to lie in our writings to make them more interesting; the graders would never even know. One good thing about this preparation was its payoff. When I went in to take the TAAS, I knew I was well prepared and I ended up scoring excellent on the exam. I wanted to make sure I scored well on the TAAS so I wouldn’t have to take the TASP exam. A high enough score on TAAS makes a person TASP exempt. While we were doing all the writing to prepare us, I could only think about was how stupid it was that we practiced everyday for the TAAS. Looking back on it I think it is a good way to prepare because each person knows what he or she will be writing and how to write it.
The TAAS experience for me was boring. At first it was a good review over how badly I hated writing. I would do my work and get the grades I wanted. It seemed so moronic and tedious. I don’t see why we had to do the same thing over and over again. We end up losing class time preparing for it. The TAAS does not allow the students to expand their knowledge in English, it only inhibits the higher education of the class. It sets the standards too low. If there is to be a standardized test, why not raise the standards to a new level, forcing all students to learn more instead of putting a block in their way. For me TAAS was a waste of time.
The TAAS experience for me was frustrating...My school is small and is/was striving to be an exemplary school, if a certain percentage of students pass, etc. the school gets recognized. SO therefore TAAS is priority #1, and that bothers me. TAAS standards are the minimum expectations that the state requires of their students. When I was a sophomore, TAAS was everything. anything and everything dealing with school was linked to TAAS. We had TAAS classes every weekend and everyday after school. What really upset me was that it cut into my English Class time, we had to spend less time reading.
The TAAS experience for me was helpful. It showed me what I should be prepared for, for future tests. At first, I was really scared and nervouse to take them but after practice and actually looking at the test it wasn’t relly that bad. Now that I think about it the TAAS test was simple compare to the college entrance exams. The TAAS was a review of what future tests held. The activities that I did to prepare for the test were pretty much just alot of studying in class with students. It was a good educational experience for me.
The TAAS experience for me was no big deal. Teachers have been preparing us for standardized tests since kids were in Junior High. Overall, my sophomore AP English teacher taught me how to write a good paper for the taas. Like what subjects to bring up, and how to get readers attention. TAAS can be summed up in one word: painful.
The TAAS experience for me was not very good. I thought the TAAS was way too easy and pointless, cause in my highschool we had to pass it to be able to graduate. In preparation for the TAAS my highschool was not very good. We did these exercises that when you got the test they were nothing like it. We had these books that we did our freshmen and sophmore a book about TAAS that gave us practice questions. These questions were so easy that nobody ever did them, and the teachers didn’t care if we did them or not. So not only did we as the students think TAAS was a waste of time, so did our teachers. Overall I think that these activities for the preparation for the TAAS was not a good educational experience for me.
The TAAS experience for me was OK because I survived and it did not really bother me much. I believe TAAS was something in grade school where we always did a little practicing for it but teachers never took whole class periods for it. The actual test I was easy except for the math for me which I failed and had to take a remedial class for it. After I took the remedial class and took the test over again I did so well that I made I academic recognition for the math section. I made a 3 on the paper we had to write which I guess was OK. I always have done well in English throughout the years so that is probably why my TAAS experience was not a nightmare. I tell you that SAT was a nightmare for me and I am so embarrassed by what I made. It took me so long to get I accepted for TAMUCC and they even had a meeting on myself to see if I was worthy enough. I regret not taking honor classes in high school because those are the classes that really prepare you for college. My high school experience was a joke. I did not learn a thing and that is why I did so horrible on the SAT and I’m here because I really did took it twice. I wish I would of not given up on honor classes and I should of taken the practice SAT’s that they always gave. It was my own fault. When I look back on TAAS, I see it was no big deal and it is just trying to see if students are on the right track and if they need help and can get the help. TAAS was always based on things but the SAT I never remembered doing any of it in school. That why it’s so important for kids to be involved advancement classes because regular classes consists of book work and teachers who hate their jobs and kids.