|
The TAAS experience for me was one that was not fun. I never really liked taking the TAAS and I found that it caused more heartache then solving the problem it was supposed to. The TAAS test and scores once I received them only made me feel like I wasn’t smart and that every one else was.
Preparing for the exam was only during school during English class, which I think took away from the things that we should have learned. When I got my results back and saw how low they were and how all my other friend’s scores were higher, and of course it only made me feel dumb.
I had to take the Math and the English part over because my scores were to low. The hardest thing for me was how In High School I was making A’s and B’s in both of those classes. How could I fail them when I was doing so well in them in class? This was something I still have yet to find out.
I feel that the TAAS and all the standardized test make students feel things that are not always true. For me I felt like I was dumb. For others they think they are so smart. The test to me doesn’t test you on what you know in that subject just how you can read the question and pick the best answer for it.
The TAAS experience for me was overwhelming. I get nervous and go blank on serious tests like the TAAS, SAT, and ACT. I’m better at writing and reading rather than math so the activities for English were tedious and annoying. However, they probably were good for me, I didn’t like them. They prepared me for what we should expect on the test. Some points were a waste of time and insulting to me personally and other material was good review. I particularly didn’t like any of it--but what student loves to study for TAAS? I’m sure they’re out there. I just wish I had been one of them. I’ve got mixed feelings about the test. Ultimately, I think it’s not necessary.
The TAAS experience for me was pretty much a nightmare. There’s no other word for it. I hated it. See, I was in honors classes, and at my school, whenever we did TAAS preparation, everybody had it together. I hated it because some people would ask the same questions and still never understand how to do what I thought was fairly simple. Also, the guys in my sophomore class were extremely immature. The girls would be trying to pay attention to get the TAAS over with, and the guys would be throwing stuff and laughing. It was taken as a total joke. In fact, I don’t know why I even took TAAS. It was boring and pretty much meaningless. People who are in charge of TAAS act like it really gets you ready for college. Yeah, right. The thing that really prepared me for college were my honors courses. I learned lots of valuable information. We just basically sat in class, went over the same 3 math problems for 45 minutes, and the teacher talked about how “valuable” TAAS was, especially since we’d be needing it in order to graduate. We tried to always ask questions to pass the time. Also, every single day, we had TAAS “prep” classes. Every day, during activity period, we would have to go to designated classes for an hour and twenty minutes. It was also horrible after taking the TAAS because the next year, we had to waste and hour and twenty minutes while the lower classmen prepared for TAAS. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we could have left campus. Anyways, our school took each class to Fiesta Texas on a school day (we didn’t have to pay) if we all passed our TAAS test. Ever since they started that “rule,” each class has passed. It was fun, but I personally thought it was a bad choice because people were only learning “enough to get by” so they could go to Fiesta Texas. Most people really weren’t learning.
As I took the TAAS test, I thought it was extremely easy. I felt numb because it took so much time, and I hated how even after I finished taking the stupid test, I still couldn’t leave. Everything was so orderly, it made me feel like I was in some prison or something. I extremely hated it. It made the school days last longer.
Overall, I’d say my TAAS experience was dreadful. I dreaded every day of it, and I couldn’t wait to get finished with it. Also, I don’t realy think it helped me too much. I did better off in my honors classes.
The TAAS experience for me was pretty pointless. Ever since I was in the fourth grade they had been giving us the practice TAAS test, and I saw no point in this because they would give it to us every single year. I think that they should have started giving us the practice test when we were in the eighth and ninth grade, and then the real test when were sophomores. this way we would not have been so sick of taking the practice so many times in years before this. I had been well prepared for the TAAS test because I had been given it so many times before. This may sound a little weird but when it was finally time to take the actual test I was kind of nervous, why? I have no idea. I do remember taking the test as a sophomore, and I also remember when I got my scores back. I was in English class and the teacher handed back our scores to us. When I got mine I was very eager to see what I had gotten. I passed all the sections of the test, so I was very relieved to see that. I’m really not trying to be negative about the TAAS test, but overall I really didn’t see the point in it. I saw it as more of a slap in the face to teachers because the TAAP test was basically saying that teachers didn’t teach us well enough for us to go to the next grade, so they had to give us a test. I feel that if we make the grade to pass and the teacher sees that we know what we are doing, then the teacher has the right to say if we can go ahead or stay back, not some silly test.
The TAAS experience for me was really nerve racking. The preparation students had to do was tons of practice writing. As I prepared for the TAAS I always felt pressured. I had to make a passing grade on the TAAS or else I would feel incredibly hopeless. When taking the test I was always nervous I could feel myself shaking while bubbling in what I was hoping were correct answers. Then getting to the writing part of the test was always the icky part. How can you decide what to write, how to start the essay, and make it make sense in only a couple of hours? It’s really hard to do this. Even with practice writings and tips given by the teachers. Whenever I received the results from the TAAS I’m glad to say that I was always satisfied. I made passing grades and that was all that mattered most to me.
The TAAS was a good experience for me. Although I really did despise it, I’m glad we are required to take it before graduating. Because not only do you realize what you need help in at the end, you also find out the things you didn’t know you were good at. The feeling of passing the TAAS was great. It was so relieving to know that I never had to take it again. I was also very pleased with my final grades. I can honestly say that I did better than I thought I would.
The TAAS experience for me was something that I thought was a waste of time. Texas has put too much enfaces on this particular test. I believe it took up too much of our class time where we could be learning something new. We would always be doing something related to TAAS, trying to help us prepare for this big exam. It seemed like everyday we did something TAAS related, ever since six grade. I don’t believe they should make it a requirement to pass the TAAS test in order to graduate highschool. The TAAS test and preparation for the TAAS test puts too much stress on students that they don’t need. The only thing that did help from the TAAS test experience was all of the timed writings we had to do. They helped us prepare a little bit for higher level writing in English.
The TAAS experience for me was somewhat helpful. In English class, our teachers would preach to us about how important it was to do good on the TAAS and try our best. Some of our assignments were TAAS prompts so that we could practice writing. It was all pretty uniform, I mean we were all taught to write the same five paragraph paper. It turned out to be pretty boring writing the same way all the time. I remember going over past TAAS writings of people who had done really well and really bad. I also remember doing hundreds of reading passages and answering questions. I think this helped because I got practice and learned how to look for certain things and read more attentively.
In my academic life, TAAS testing has not been the best experience. The first year that we tested was in third grade. Almost every year the people who decided which grade the test would be administered switched the grade to the grade that I was currently in. We spent a great deal of class time teaching to the TAAS test rather than teach to the curriculum. Many of our regular tests were modeled after the TAAS test and a few times they were old TAAS tests. Especially in preparation for the exit test, a lot of class time was lost. The teachers made a huge deal about the test and its results not for our personal success but mainly for the credit of the school. I never felt unprepared or stressed for the tests, but that’s what we did the whole two weeks previous to the test. I did well on the tests and was always pleased with my scores.
The TAAS experience for me went fine. The test overall seemed very basic, but I can remeber my teachers dwelling over it all my freshmen year. I feel that the whole test would have been less stressful if teachers would not have taught my classes around TAAS. I understand that the teachers are in charge of getting students ready for the TAAS, but I think that they emphasize on the TAAS way too much. I can remember being nervous for the test just because that is all we ever talked about, but when I took the test I felt fine. I believe that every student should have to take these types of tests, but the schools should regulate how much is being taught around the actual test. I sometimes felt that I was just going to school to learn how to take the TAAS. Overall, I feel that these tests are important, but they just don’t need so much preparation to take them.
The TAAS experience for me, as an English student, was not very challenging. It does not really stand out in my mind as a test that I even bothered to prepare for. TAAS testing was just a day to get out of doing class work, and I do not think anyone really took it seriously. The testing was overall not an educational experience for me. Teachers did not really prepare us for the tests, except to go over a few exercises on grammar and punctuation. I think that the TAAS tests would be more beneficial to students if teachers were required to really prepare students for the exam, and if other material was presented on it. College academics are very different from high school classes, and I think that high schools and testing such as TAAS should prepare students better for learning on a college level. I remember that my results on the exam were very good, and that was taking the test with hardly any preparation.
The TAAS experience has been one of great preparation for the skills that are needed to further ones education. In my English classes the TAAS experience has had a major impact on my English skills. The skills that I learned on how to prepare for the test, has enhanced my vocabulary and sentencing structure towards learning how to organize and write a paragraph. For the preparation of the exam, teachers would focus on the study guides that were provided for the specific structure and would stress the main points on the test. Before tests I would try and go over the sections that I wasn’t that familiar with and skim through the subjects that I did know. Everyone has to feel some what nervous before taking a major exam. Once I learned of my results I was glad that all of my hard work had paid off. Having the TAAS is a great learning experience for anyone; it challenges your skills in certain subjects.
The TAAS experience in English was always the same. We were always taught the same format and ways to go about to come up with ideas to write about. In the end, the format we were taught for TAAS and what we have to do now are completely different. It’s now kind of difficult to get away from the ways we were taught all our lives to what is expected of us in college. Because I am not that great of a write I always felt I did an “okay” job. In the end that’s the kind of grade I got. Never good, but never bad. I guess it was an all right educational experience because it got me to write something, and it showed me way to get it done.
The TAAS experience in high school was a rather interesting one. I found TAAS to be laborious, yet it did have it good points. Although, I feel that it needed a tremendous amount of polishing. The TAAS test is used to measure ones knowledge, but it only measured basic skills that could barely help someone survive life. Statistics show that many other things are necessary in order to survive in life, besides basic materials like reading, writing, and math. In my high school, we began to prepare for TAAS as freshmen. We had what they called a practice TAAS. This was simulated just like the TAAS test, except that it did not count for the real scores. It was graded by teachers, and was later returned to us. Throughout the remainder of the year we practiced and practiced different things for the TAAS until it was drilled in our heads. It took up too much time, that often we put off the daily lesson s to practice, but I guess this paid off because in a graduating class of about 700 students, each and every single graduate had passed the TAAS test (all parts). During my sophomore year, we continued to prepare for the test, and the week before the test, we had after-school study sessions that were optional. I went to these sessions, and they basically just went over samples, and gave us test-taking tips that I had been hearing since I was in 5th grade when I first began to take the TAAS test! Taking the exams was boring to be honest with you. These tests were very easy, and like I said before, they just measured a limited amount of one’s knowledge. I almost never took the whole four hours we had for the test. Fortunately, I have always gotten a four for the writing part, and for the other parts, I have always received Academic Recognition. Learning what my results were not a big deal, since I knew the material and I knew I had probably done well, so it wasn’t a surprise for me. Overall, taking the TAAS test was pretty worthless to me. I feel that teachers and schools take too much time out of learning other things, to try and teach kids how to ace the test. I do understand that these scores mean a lot, and learning this material is vital to learning, but I feel that too much time is spent on this test. Its not like Texas doesn’t have other tests to measure our learning ability. Living in a test-taking happy state, I feel that we need to spend more time teaching other skills that are necessary to be productive in the real world. Thank you.
The TAAS experience just annoyed me. I took the test almost every year since fourth grade, maybe even earlier, up to my sophmore year in high school. I kept on hearing “this will be the last year until your sophmore year”, but that was obviously a lie. I didn’t get anything out of taking it. I just took it to get it over with. One of the main reasons I looked forward to it was we would get out of the first three or four classes. Since students missed the classes, the other periods didn’t have to do a lot of work. So basicly when the test came so did a blow off week. I think what I learned in school helped a lot with it but as far as the test itself, it didn’t help me. It was just stuff I already knew. Almost like a big review
The TAAS experience really had no effect for me as an English student. I did not have to prepare for it. I actually transferred in from an out of state school in Virginia a year and a half into college. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t so bad for me. I just took it one Saturday morning and that was it. I passed just fine. I would say that it was just another test to see whether I could write or not and, for me, it was really no big deal. I’m kind of indifferent to the experience as a whole. Actually, it was almost like an extra chore and seemed tedious.
The TAAS Experience should have been called, the boring, nerve racking, and nonlife changing experience. My sophmore year all we practiced were TAAS prompts, every day the same type of exercises. It made English my favorite class, the class that I tried to miss. Everyday we would also hear about how the TAAS would determine the rest of our academic career. Even if you were the validvictorian, you couldn’t pass high school, without passing TAAS. So much pressure was put on our backs that going in for the test was like walking on death row. As I started taking the test, I realized that it was pretty easy, I was flying through the test! Then I started second guessing myself, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be this easy? Maybe I was going to fast? When it was all over it wasn’t as if the wheight was off my shoulders, because then you have to wait for your scores. The teachers would tell us, that you have to be patient, the entire state of texas was waiting for scores. When it was all said and done I realized the pointlessness of the entire experience.
I think that the TAAS is nonsense. I only took the TAAS once, and I pass every section, and got academic recognition on the math portion. Every class that dealt with the TAAS for example, english algebra and every other class was integrated with the classes. I got tired of going over the same information over and over.
The TAAS experience to me in my English class in high school was a long a tedious process that drained the hell out of me. All of my classmates perspective of this test, including mine, was, “this is going to be a semester full of little useless prompts that need to follow three easy steps: an introduction, three main points, and a conclusion.” I knew from the beginning that the prompts were going to be of no interest to us because more than likely, we had never heard of them before. The idea of writing about things that doesn’t interest me is just flat out boring. Why will I be writing about things that I could care less about? The assignments we did in class were usually writing about a prompt, analogy worksheets, and grammar practices. Since these were the only things in the test, we did this week after week until the test finally arrived. In my opinion, I felt that there was no way to prepare for the test. Once I received the test, I reached the conclusion that it is your basic knowledge and not the practice that determines whether you do good or bad on the test. I felt that I didn’t have to go through all of those assignments to get the grade I got. In other words, I could have done the same without any practice. The results came of no surprise to me. I knew all along that I had done fairly well in the test. The only good thing that came out from this test was my exemption of the TASP test. Good thing I didn’t blow off the TAAS or else I would’ve had to spend twenty bucks and a Saturday morning taking the TASP. Overall, I guess it was a fairly good experience. Though I complained throughout this whole essay, I feel that it was a good experience. I took it in a good way. I realized that you wouldn’t always be doing what you want to be doing. Rather, in many occasions you will have to do things you don’t want to do because it is just part of life.
The taas experience was a very boring and dull test for me. I had no preperation for the test, preparation was not necessary. I feel that I learned nothing from the test, it was very easy. But I would have to say that I was happy with my scores which were above average and almost perfect. The test in itself is a good test, it shows who has actually been participating in the daily school environment.
The TAAS experience was actually pretty bad. All that was accomplished was a lot of busy work that was boring and useless everywhere except for the test. For example the writing style, which our teachers flat out told us that they didn’t like it and that we wouldn’t use it anywhere else, likewise you told us the same. The activities were extremely boring, there was fill in the blank that was on probably a seventh or maybe eighth grade level, and multiple choice that was also around the same level. How some people don’t pass is beyond me unless they just don’t try. This experience was also bad because it really didn’t push us to learn. It was so simple and we concentrated on it so much that we didn’t learn half the literature that we should have. So overall it was a bad educational experience because it held us back from the level we should have been on, and took up way to much class time. I personally think that there would be more benefit to eliminate the test and spend more time on class work, and especially writing styles that are useful.
The TAAS experience was chaos. I was a sophomore in high school when I took the test. The reason it was such chaos was because each English teacher taught differently. Freshman teachers didn’t care much about preparing their students for the test; they seemed to have other things to worry about. Yet if you were in 1 honors or advanced freshman English, you got all the help in class on it, that being an unfair advantage. Come time for sophomore year, the teachers waited until the last minute to cram EVERYTHING in. It became a stressful time for the students as well as the teachers. A month before the test, teachers would assign papers to writ and essays to “help” us on the test. By this time students are sick of writing and the test is near.
There is NO organization for preparing the students for the test. Each teacher does his or her own thing. I think the best thing would be to begin early and ease into practices. This would relieve tensions.
One thing that should change is the regular English classes versus the advance English classes. Both classes should get EQUAL test taking skills. Schools and teachers tend to favor their advance classes and not give help for the regular classes. This is one thing that bothered me all throughout high school. I was in regular classes and never got the attention that my friends did in advance classes. This has got to change.