Smarter Balanced Assessment and Other U.S. Standardized Tests

[PolarEventide]

I'm a high school junior and today took the first (math) portion of the "Smarter Balanced Assessment." The section covered algebra II and pre-calculus concepts. Conceptually, it was not a very difficult test, although it was cumbersome.

[b]But[/b] the administration of the test was horrific. We were not allowed physical scratch paper or physical calculators, and we were informed that this was apparently "standard procedure." Instead, we had to use an impossible on-screen notepad and a rather inconvenient on-screen calculator that functioned weirdly. Worse, the on-screen notepad and calculator could not be on the screen at the same time, so it became pretty difficult to do any calculations. Not being allowed these materials may be okay for a test on rudimentary algebra, but we were essentially forced to do mental math on more advanced math concepts that should not have to be done mentally. Personally, I feel that my performance was negatively impacted by this.

I was curious if anyone else has had negative experiences with the SBA or with other standardized tests or had opinions about this.

[source]

I go to a high school in the seatac area of Washington, and it feels like they're just trying to shoehorn more tests in for the hell of it. School districts throw out money to the government like candy for these stupid tests, not realizing that they are fucking pointless. I already completed my state testing, and it's not like i want to take another test, a badly made one at that

I chose to opt out of it as soon as i had the chance

[Aircraft]

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