Each year my children take some sort of standardize test just for the heck of it. I admit I love the little printouts we get. You know the ones that show percentiles and grade equivalence. I figure that the tests can show me if we have missed something important (like spelling).
Test taking is a skill and testing well can make getting into college much easier. So, each year we take the tests in hopes that it will help my children do better on the ACT or SAT when the time comes.
For the most part, I don't prep or teach to the test. However, I do have the kids practice with a "Preparing students for Standardize Testing" book so they know what to expect. They take the practice tests and we go over the answers they missed. A couple times, I run into questions where I can't figure out why a particle answer is right.
Here's two for example:
From Preparing Students for Standardize Testing, Grade 3
Choose the best ending for each story.
46. DeWayne and Aisha built a fort in their backyard. Their mother helped them. DeWayne found directions in one of the magazines he got from the library.
A. The End
B. It was hard work, but they really enjoyed it.
C. They were happy when it was done.
D. When they finished the fort, they celebrated.
Personally, I can't see how any answer is tangibly superior to another. None of the answers seem that good to me. I picked B. The answer key says D.
Does anyone have an explanation why D would be the right answer?
Here's another:
Choose the sentence that bests combines the two sentences.
32. Holly said farewell to her old neighbors. She said hello to her new neighbors.
A. After saying farewell to her old neighbors, Holley said hello to her new neighbors.
B. Holly said hello to her new neighbors after she said farewell to her old neighbors.
C. Holly said farewell to her old neighbors and then said hello to her new neighbors.
D. After saying hello to her new neighbors, Holly said farewell to her old neighbors.
Again, I wasn't thrilled with the options. "A" was my first choice. The answer key says "B". I can't see why B is any better than A or how it would even matter.
I notice that the original sentences don't use present participles, but only past tense. Incorporating an introductory clause with a present particle makes the text more interesting, but apparently that isn't the right answer because it doesn't identically copy the sentence form. I thought the point of sentence combining was to make the sentence more interesting to read.
Do I even want to teach my daughter how to get the right answer on this question? I think it could negatively impact her writing style.
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6 comments:
My only guess on the first one is that the "correct" answer has the most "zing" -- they weren't just happy, or just enjoyed, but they "celebrated."
I think that's really, really lame, and too abstract for a grade 3 student to figure out, but that's my guess to what they're looking for.
For the second, I think you're right that it maintains the original sentences as closely as possible. So in that sense, it's the "best", even if 'A' is also very good. But again, I think that's too fine a detail for a grade 3 student.
Sentence combining isn't technically about making things more "interesting" -- it's about making the writing less choppy due to too many short sentences. I would agree that 'A' is the most interesting sentence. 'B' is the most technically accurate in terms of simply combining the two given phrases. It depends on what you mean when you think of "best".
Is there a different standardized test you can do? We do the same thing, tests each year just for the fun of it (he does actually enjoy them), to check for unintended holes and to track progress to keep his dad (my ex) happy. We've never come across any questions nearly as ambiguous as that, I've always been quite happy with them.
This is why I hated standardized tests growing up- often I could see more than one answer that could be correct and I had to guess which one the designer wanted. If it was a test designed by one om my teachers, I could always respectfully challenge him/her on it (often successfully). But that's not an option on a standardized test :-(
I used to work for a school system. The first question deals with sequencing...He found the plan, blah blah blah...the last step would be to build it and then celebrate.
The other one simply is choosing the best grammatical sentence.
Alot of those things make no sense to me, but we still use them nonetheless!
Hope this helps!
The two test questions you gave made me feel so happy that my daughter does not take standardized tests. As an English major who has worked as a writer/editor/proofreader all of my professional life, I see no difference between many of the answers. I feel very sad that children have to endure these tests. I am very upset right now! I need to A) take a deep breath B) sit down and close my eyes C) think about something else. Gee, which one of those is correct??!!
If I had a dollar for every time I ranted about standardized testing I could have played the stock market and lost all my money by now. :o)
I will hold my ranting now and just sympathize with you. At least our children don't need to test as much as the children in school. Once or twice a year test stress is preferable to weekly test stress. :o)
Looks clear to me--hard work isn't enjoyable. Ever. Don't even try it kids, you might hurt yourselves. Go out and celebrate.
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