It’s Spring Break now but in two weeks comes the start of standardized testing in California—we call it the CST.
Here are my pop-culture suggestions for doing well on the CST:
1. Don’t work too fast and furious.
Have a good attitude and don’t expect to work quickly. The test requires you to stop and think about every question. Even if your neighbor is working faster than you, take a deep breath and know that you’ll do better if you take your time.
2. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Watch what you’re doing. You need to read and reread every direction. It’s easy to miss a word or two in the directions that change the entire meaning of instructions.
3. Don’t get punk’d.
The test is trying to trick you. Yes, every question is a trick. Will you choose the easy but misleading answer choice or will you think carefully and read all of the answer choices to ensure you’re choosing the very best one?
Bonus Movie: Attack of the CST Zombies by Rudy Alfonso:
Add your own tips below.
Navigate them like a video game. Consider the questions for tricks and traps. Work your way through the levels of questions.
It is not cheating to use your knowledge of how video games work to do better. It is also not cheating to understand how tests work. Reading the questions before reading the passage is a great previewing technique that helps focus your mind on the important details. Not a great way to enjoy a novel, but a good way to pass a test.
Thank you so much for featuring our movie on your blog. It means so much to me, being that I’m the star, that people learn from and enjoy our movie. I’m very glad you liked it. Thanks again.
Nicole
@Nicole,
Thank you for visiting. Great work on the movie and good luck on the CST.
Hey there! I love your 3 simple rules to surviving standardized test. I especially like # 3. I can remember doing these test in school and thinking, why in the world would these guys want to trick me like this? As long as you slow down and read carefully, then hopefully the students will not have any problems. Good Luck to you and your students! Just look at it this way, you will be one step closer to the SUMMER! 🙂
I have been posting tips for standardized tests, too. First tip: cross off the wrong answers. It’s important to review the answers before you solve the problem — you can cross off answers taht obviously are wrong before you start. Second tip: use the given/find method. Analyze the facts and identify what you are trying to find — and the unit of measure that is required. Good luck with tests, kids!
Corey Green, ClassAntics.com
The don’t get punked idea will resonate with my grade 9 students. Thanks for sharing the video.
My grade 9 students have to write a provincial math test, and my grade 10 students have to write a provincial literacy test so your tips are certainly timely.
We give our students a breakfast bar, fruit and juice or water before they write their provincial exams.
I’ve always been a firm believer that questions which attempt to “trick” someone aren’t measuring knowledge – they measure the ability to follow instructions or decipher the question’s meaning.
My advice to the list? Get a good night’s sleep!
Thanks, Richard. There are a few trick questions on the test. However, there are many questions that are not tricks that nevertheless manage to “trick” students who are not careful. For example, questions that ask students to look for antonyms can trick a student into looking for synonyms if they’re not careful. I see it happen all the time.
Unfortunately, we have no control over what is on the test.