[King Tutankhamun]

It's the weak of Standarized Testing with week. You know, the ones where you do a zillion questions that are all opinionated.

So far at school we've done the Language Arts section, the Math section, and the sciences and the NCLB sciences (no child left behind). Tomorrow will be the social sciences and that will be it!

As a little idea the school had, they will be giving away 3 ipods to students that get a raffle ticket for doing "hard, good work" on the tests. Basically that means not drawing little designs with the bubbles.

Anyone else had the pleasure to partake in these?

[EKen132]

Yes, a few weeks back we had our school sponsored ACT day and "Prarie State" (-Illinois, btw) achievement tests. I scored well on the school-sponsored ACT, and as for the Prarie State tests (which are somehow integrated into NCLB, I don't know if we will ever see grades for those.

So yes, I have also shared the pleasure

[Lorian]

What am I supposed to vote for if I don't have standardised tests? (Ie. I live outside of the US)

[Argalius]

Yeah, same for me. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I remember I used to score all 99 percentiles on those things... except in some of the math categories.

[King Tutankhamun]

Wow, that's very impressive Michael.

I guess then that the tests are a states kind of thing. Basically it is a bunch of multiple choice tests on different subjects that the state gives you, and it ranks you, it can determine your classes for next year, lets the school know how well or bad you did, compare schools, earn extra money for schools, ect. It's a test to see what you've learned.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Well... and this is weird how these things happen, but one year I remember I got the #1 score on 8 out of 10 categories. Two other students got #1 in the other 2 categories, and I ended up something like 3rd or 4th in my grade. LOL... But as the years wore on I started to do worse and worse on tests. I am an aural-learner in the sense that I can soak up information through lecture and especially through discussion and then spit it all back out on tests. That method of learning becomes less and less viable as one's education career goes on. School tends to favor one form of learning over another as the years go on.

[Dnas]

We usually take them in the beginning of the year here.

[EKen132]

Ah Michael I'm totally a visual learner, and I've managed to keep the same scores, more or less, since I first started these sort of tests.

[Quacker]

SAT's are Saturday the 4th for me. I'm not so sure i'm going to score good on the math section, however.

[Lorian]

Well I just took my "domestic" year 10 exams last week so I guess that would constitute as a yes vote. I am going to say one of my results I got in one of my most hated subjects, RPSE (Religious Personal and Social Education). F.

[Mythos_Ruler]

SATs are funny, Quaker. I thought I kicked all sorts of @#$% in the Math section, but it ended up I nearly maxed out the English section instead of the Math section. I got nearly an 800/800 in the English section, coming up with only something like 400/800 in the Math section. LOL! Now, these were the days of the 1600 exam (I think the scale has been changed or soon will be) and NO pre-written math formula cheat sheets.

[Quacker]

Yeah, they dumbed it down just for me 2400 possible points instead of 1600.

[EKen132]

Michael... funny, again I'm the opposite.

I did great on the math section, but about 80% of the points I missed on the entire SAT were from just one section- reading!

Worth a retake for my critical reading grade alone.

[Paal_101]

I'm lucky, I live in a country were SATs do not exist We do take standardized tests, Provincial Exams which make up 40% of your final grade, but that is the closest it comes.

Plus your provincial exam mark plays no major role in your university acceptance process, unless of course you badly bombed and lowered your overall grade.

[EKen132]

Yeah, in the US, the SAT and ACT play probably too great of a role when it comes to getting into college... but I can't complain too much, I usually do great on them.

[Fire Giant]

No such tests in Germany, either. I don't think that they are a particulary bad idea, though - many people over here get through the education system by not doing anything for school and just getting their low-average marks until they finally reach the last two years, where everything counts for the graduation. Then, they realize that they need to know the old stuff and have lots and lots to learn - and might get a worse final exam result than they could have had. If they were "forced" to work harder all the time by such tests - where performing well gives them advantages, probably more students would care more about their study results. Those are just some random thoughts, though, since I don't know the exact role and procedure of those tests.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Actually, the only reason I got into college was BECAUSE of my SAT score. My school grades were horrible.

[Sam]

Standardized tests suckkkkkkkk.

I was one of the kids who just made designs in the bubbles then slept :-P
I actually got an entire canoe right!

[ProgramZeta]

State standardized testing has always been a big waste of time for students; it is only for grading the school after all. As for the SAT I consider it one of the neccessary boredoms to get into college.

My marks on standarized tests have been very strong all around, usually 90th+ percentile. I got 760 on (new)SAT math, but my writing score left a lot to be desired. Luckily many colleges are not taking into account or lessening the effect that a bad SAT I writing section will have your overall admittance