**Whit** How'd it go?

anna.oskar

Did you survive?

whitsy

Hey! Yep! I feel like it went fairly well. There were a lot of questions where I just put myself into that situation and answered it with what I would do, so hopefully I will be doing the right thing :)And then there were dumb questions like: Which of these colors is a secondary color, which means mixing two primary colors to make it? Easy stuff, which seemed kinda random.Thanks for asking!

Brie2010

Yay, glad it went well!

MissSarah786

When I took the RICA, there were questions like, If you wanted to do a community reading, what would you need?a. a goatb. crayonsc. a big bookd. a bricke. an empty classroomAnd on the CBSET, there was the question, "Which is bigger?"a. 0.9b. 0.99c. 0.09d. 0.0099I'm not even kidding. Yay for teacher tests!

anna.oskar

Glad it went well!Hey Whit, I'm an AW today.  Did you check out my yard sale centerpieces?  PIB under reception

MissSarah786

Yay for doing well and for not having to pay for yet another test!Go Whit!

Brie2010

Wow, I am super jealous of those questions.  I would die of happiness if I saw those on the bar!

MissSarah786

Teacher questions easy if you've been in the classroom. Anything that your tested on is stuff you'll encounter daily in a classroom. Most of it has to do with phonics and language development, which most people don't know unless they're pathologists or teachers. But some of the stuff is totally random.

MissSarah786

I used the wrong "you're"... such a pet peeve of mine.

Brie2010

The disconcerting thing about the bar is that in most states, it's basically a minimum competence test (94% pass rate in MO).  But you get these practice essays with sample answers written by people who have been attorneys for 25 years, so you read them, and you're like, 'holy shiit, this is insane' and freak out.We are bad, we're going to church for the first time in two months tomorrow exclusively because we're worried about the bar.  Sorry, God.

whitsy

MissSarah, totally right on all posts There was quite a bit about phonemic awareness and root words, and there were some things that I'd never heard of like sensory boards and authentic testing, but I think with process of elimination I'm cool.Brie, I know when you get to your test there will be questions like ours, except lawyer related ;)No, Anna, I haven't, but I will look now!

MissSarah786

Yeah, standardized tests are odd. In terms of teaching the CSET is probably the most difficult in CA because it coversEnglishlanguage developmentgrammarliteraturegeometryalgebrapre-calphysical sciencechemistrygeologybiology child developmentCA historyUS historyworld historyartmusicphysical educationhealth and nutritionI hated that test, not because it was difficult, but because it took forever! I still remember my world history essay question, "Describe three major aspects of both the Aztec and Mayan cultures, their links, and their effect on outside cultures." I nailed that question!

Brie2010

I hope so, whits!

whitsy

Looks great Anna! I think a few more ornaments would add some more color to it.

Brie2010

I am also really annoyed because I realized the drive to the test is going to be 2 and a half freaking hours.  Seriously?  I find it hard to believe with the interwebs and everything there isn't a more efficient way to administer the test than to force hundreds of stressed, sleep-deprived lawyers-to-be halfway across the state and get hotel rooms for two nights.  Especialy since my friend just took the boards and she's like, "oh, yeah, all on the computer, no problem."  Argh.

whitsy

Sarah, it sounds like y'all's tests are like ours, just rolled into one. That test for me is broken up into two tests, elementary content knowledge and middle school content knowledge. They just want to steal more of my money!

MissSarah786

Brie, You have to drive 2.5 hours? That's nuts! How long is the test? Can you take a break during the test (even if it takes away from your time)? And how much did it cost, if I can ask?

Brie2010

Yup, it's in the state capital, so we have to drive there, 2.5 hours each way.  Then it's a two day test, so we have to get a hotel room for two nights.Tuesday is all essays.  We have 4 essays in 2 hours, a 15 minute break.  Then 1 essay in 1.5 hours and a 1 hour lunch break.  Then we have 6 essays in 3 hours.  So, basically we'll be going from 8:15-4:45ish, I think.Wednesday is all multiple choice: 100 questions in 3 hours in the morning, lunch break, 100 questions in 3 hours in the afternoon.  Then done!The test itself was about $850 to register for (w/o late fees), plus a $55 background check/fingerprinting.  Then, the hotel rooms are about $240, and the prep class that everyone takes is like $3,000.  It's definitely not cheap, and we're getting double hit because we're both taking it.  And I'm annoyed because the likelihood of me getting a job as an attorney is basically nil in this economy anyway, which makes this all a colossal waste of time, money, and energy.Down with standardized testing! 

MissSarah786

I've also heard that you can get pigeon holed as a lawyer, if you get on with a low/bad firm to start, it's difficult to move on to a better firm. I have no idea if this is true and def. the opposite of teaching.