I entered Enloe High School as a freshman enrolled in AP calculus. No more than twenty freshmen would be taking this course, leading me to believe I was one of the smartest in my class.
Two sophomores in my summer health class that I knew from middle school informed me that there would be a quiz on the first day of class, and Mr. Potter doesn’t tell the parents that during the open house. I relayed the information to my fellow freshmen in AP Calculus. I figured, however, since I breezed through Pre-Calc last year with little effort, I’d be fine. Hey, I didn’t need to study Precalculus at all, so why should I study now?
My calmness began to fade on the first day of school. Several of my friends told me that they reviewed Precalc cheat sheets
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Never in my life had I struggled so much on a quiz. As I walked into AP Calculus the next day, I saw Mr. Potter handing the previous day’s quiz back to students. I knew I did horribly, but maybe I got partial credit for at least attempting some of the questions? He handed me mine, turned over. Please be above a 50, please be above a 50. I turned it over and saw the grade. A 29. Twenty nine percent correct. I’ve never even had nightmares of grades this low. Some of my friends appeared desolate, so I inquired to see if we shared this nightmare. “55, 67, 78”. When asked how I did, I didn’t reply so as to not reveal my embarrassing score and lead my friends to believe I didn’t deserve to be in this class. If I had just studied the night before, I would have had a score twice mine. Even a few minutes of review could have gotten me a passing grade.
I kept that quiz in the front of my calculus folder for the entire year as a reminder that I cannot think that I know it all. That quiz humbled me and taught me the importance of studying and preparing. Each time I reviewed for a quiz that school year, I looked over at the sheet of paper and thought to myself, “Am I really ready?” Since then, I have pushed myself to put more effort into studying as well as teaching and helping others whenever I
I was taking AP World History, my first AP class. Keeping up my grades in the class was one of my biggest concerns, but surprisingly, it turned out to be a relatively laid-back class without much homework. Throughout the year, the class was mainly notes and document analysis. The only difficult part of the class was the tests. They were long and arduous with several vague questions based on specific parts of the curriculum that we had only gone over lightly. The course became more vigorous as the exam date drew closer; we began writing more essays, the tests we took grew longer, there were after school study sessions, and even a mock
Since this test has been devised, the number one question everybody is asking is, “ isn’t it unfair to base a student’s entire future on one test, when he or she simply could have had a bad day when taking the test”? The president Kirk T. Schroder of the Virginia Board of Education, answer this question by saying, “First of all, these tests are untimed, so no student is under arbitrary time pressure in taking the test.
In other words, two teachers may give the same assignment two completely different grades based on their own grading style. This puts an incredible amount of stress on a student because they need to complete assignments that will satisfy their current teacher, whose expectations and grading style could be very similar or very different from the student’s previous teacher. Alfie Kohn believes that the influence grades have on a student’s life doesn’t help this situation, and may even make it worse by providing students with a false sense of security about their knowledge. In her article “From Degrading to De-grading”, she states that scores on tests can be largely based on how the test was written and what skills were tested (Kohn 240). Therefore, it is up to teachers to identify what topics students must master in order to be proficient and score well on standardized tests. But when the class is not structured with a consideration for the material used on such tests, students enter the test blind to the skills that they will be expected to know and use. Anyone can memorize a list of facts off a study guide and score well on a multiple choice test the next day, but skills such as analyzing literature and interpreting a handful of graphs containing data from a scientific experiment are skills that require time and hours of instruction to master.
Prompt: In 500 words or more, describe your collegiate experience thus far. How has this experience and the knowledge you've gained influenced what you plan to study? How have they influenced your decision to apply to St. Edward's?
We see a constant struggle between students and professors when it comes to the grading scale. These differences make learning a hassle. “I am placed in the position of having to figure out new ways to trick them into learning by designing ingenious new ways to grade,” says Vogel (339). The present grading system pushes students to take easy classes. Students on scholarships are afraid of taking hard classes because they run the risk of loosing financial aid if their grades don’t meet the average (Vogel 339). Farber agrees, “Getting graded turns people away from hard subjects,” (334). He offers his readers a utopia free of grades. This new...
Students spend most of the year preparing to take one or two big tests at the end. The amount of pressure put on students to succeed on these tests is astronomical, making it impossible to focus on the actual goal of assessing their knowledge. A student in Florida spoke to her school board about the absurd expectations from these tests, “Every year I do well in school, but I get low test scores on the FCAP and it feels like a punch in the stomach. This is unfair and I don't want to lose my opportunity to take my advanced classes or get a better education because of this one test.” (Locker)
A week before the test our teacher gave us a heads up on when the test was going to be. In my mind, I thought the test would be a multiple choice test and that the questions would be similar to the ones went in class. So, as the weekend approached, believing I had the test covered, I went on with being reckless on the weekend. However, it turns out that what I thought was the time of my life ended up biting me in the rear end.
Many studies show that older high school students tend to not take the mandated standardized test but rather “have fun” with the test by filling in the answer bubbles with pictures (Tests 3). The only time that students care about the results of a test are if they affect their grades or future goals. From th...
During my eighth grade year, I thought I was failing math and that I was learning nothing from it. Everyone was good at one particular subject in math and I was the worst at it. Then there was one subject I happened to be particularly good at and most other people had struggled with. I failed most of the tests and I had a chance to retake them. Math was the only class I was making a “B” in. When it came time to take the math EOG, I expected failure. Instead, I made a four on the
Exam number one. The test to start off the semester. Bombed it. What seemed to be so easy, all of a sudden, got extremely difficult. I went blank. Scientifically speaking, I had test anxiety. Next thing I know, I’m sitting with a F in the class. A pretty low F at that. But how? All of this “low grade clerical work” was such a breeze. It was like I forgot everything I did for the past two weeks. So of course I panic. I can’t go into college next fall with an unacceptable grade like that on my transcript! I make it a point to study hard for the next
The SAT and ACT’s have made many high school students nervous and scared about the aptitude tests they have to take and their results. More people spend more time worrying about the test than taking it. If...
This deep dive into self-knowledge occurred when I received my first progress report for second semester Ninth Grade Algebra. To say that I was put into a space of shock and awe is an understatement; I was outraged. I was completing all my assignments and turning in homework, but my poor test grades were obliterating my grade.
The test was early on a Saturday morning. I remember eating an early breakfast and then packing my bag for the test. Everything about the day was going to be unfamiliar, from the location to the fact that the test was timed. I didn’t even own a school backpack yet, having never needed one before, so I packed my number 2 pencils, erasers, calculator and water bottle in an another bag instead. I walked into an unfamiliar high school and having no experience finding my way through the maze of hallways, followed signs until I found my way to the classroom in which the testing would take place. Before this moment I had never had to sit at a desk before. The straight lines of desks were so orderly and there was a proper classroom feeling that I had never experienced before in my home. I remember sitting there with my stomach in knots; standardized testing is anxiety inducing for almost any student, and I had the usual test-taking nerves combined with the unfamiliarity of a new
That night my sister revealed to me that she also suffered from test anxiety at my age, she gave some helpful tips to help relieve my stress. After listening to my sister, I realized that she was right. I needed to take charge and not listen to the voice in my head. That night I got out all my study guides and reviewed went to sleep early, woke up and ate a good breakfast. I felt good that I was ready to get over my fear of taking a test.
In classrooms all across America, students sit perched over their desks in the process of taking standardized tests. As the students take the tests, teachers pace nervously up and down the rows of their classroom, hoping and praying that their students can recall the information which they have presented. Some children sit relaxed at their desks, calmly filling in the bubbles and answering essay questions. These children are well prepared and equipped to handle their tests. Other children, however, sit hunched over their desks, pondering over questions, trying to guess an answer. They struggle to recall information that has been covered many times in class, but they can’t.