Okay kids...here it is...THE questions from THE test!

*whew* After many a mouse click, I've finally found the "release questions" for the California High School Exit Exam! This link quides you to the site. (and relax, it's a CA Dept of Education website.) This site also includes "release questions" found on the revised 2006 test. The first link is the front page. The second link takes you straight to the Sixty page test in it's entirety, including a bonus Answers page.

www.cde.ca.gov...

www.cde.ca.gov...

Yes, you need Adobe Acrobat. Sorry.

[edit on 15-3-2006 by Toelint]

3. The five members of a band are getting new outfits. Shirts cost $12 each, pants cost $29 each, and boots cost $49 a pair. What is the total cost of the new outfits for all of the members? A $90 B $95 C $450 D $500

You have got to be kidding me.

I have 3 kids in public school under grade 5 that would consider this 1st grade stuff.

Amazing.

6. One hundred is multiplied by a number between 0 and 1. The answer has to be
A less than 0.
B between 0 and 50 but not 25.
C between 0 and 100 but not 50.
D between 0 and 100.

Please, do not hurt yourself coming up with the answer. Take your time.

At page 26 we get to things I learned in 8th grade.

77. Solve for x. 2x-3=7 A –5 B –2 C 2 D 5

Our poor children. I am glad I spend extra time with them to mentor and tutor them on their homework and extra credit.

These are 17-18 year old's questions to graduate from high school? What a shame.

I'd say, at Sixty pages, it's a rather L-E-N-G-H-Y joke!

Nonetheless, I figure THIS should put some kids at ease and assure them they have precious little to worry about. Hey, if nothing else, they can download the test and...well...test themselves! I should have mentioned this is only the Algebra portion of the test. But hey, the English questions are at the above links too. Have at it!

Well, at least "they" make you read in that one. A no "Spot is a dog. Spot likes the park." kind of sentences.

I wonder why it seems to me that the two tests are on a totally different level? Or is it because English is easier than Math is for me?

The english section was almost hard.

hard because the "essay" should have been a short answer.

so you basically had all the students trying to come up with enough BS to fill a page for a one sentence answer.

And if these questions scare you, please realize the first version was "too hard", so instead of making students learn more, they made the test easier.

And they are looking at doing that again.

Pathetic

I absolutely agree! But we must keep in mind most of these kids won't become novelists or mathematicians. About the only thing this test is really good for is proving the kids have learned enough to survive a sophmoric-first semester at a community college.

Okay, I can accept that.

What does bother me, is this is the best our education system hopes for our kids. I say make them shoot for the moon! T'is better to do this and fall short, than to aim into the dirt, knowing you'll hit something.

[edit on 16-3-2006 by Toelint]

I find that a lot of the "math" questions on tests these days aren't math tests, but rather logic tests. They don't have to do with calculation.

Well, I suppose building "common sense" skills are important too. That is, as long as you keep in mind "common sense" only works when you also have the facts.

I need the link to the English Exam too. Anybody wanna help?

[edit on 16-3-2006 by Toelint]

Boring to say the least. THe test reads like an applied math examine (stat/prob). Very little math until the end. And what is the deal with giving the students the answers?

Ahh, it won't be long before Aussie kids are as under educated as Americans, now that we too have made schools 'centers of fund raising and social programming' instead of 'centers of learning', and that's despite our massive taxes that are supposed the pay for it.

A local high school has poor Year 12 students, trying to prepare for university without an English teacher! Well, 'on the books' they have one but they're too busy at 'meetings' 'about' education to EVER attend the class other than to turn up to say they won't be there.

But the main thing that terrifies me is essays that get severely marked down if they deviate at the slightest from the Politicaly Correct garbage worked into every subject, and all the more so the stronger the student's argument is.

It doesn't matter how hard you work at balancing their education at home, 12 years of learning to say, do and think what it takes to pass, does have a brainwashing effect.

Originally posted by Toelint
I need the link to the English Exam too. Anybody wanna help?

It is located here.

Originally posted by pineappleupsidedown
And if these questions scare you, please realize the first version was "too hard", so instead of making students learn more, they made the test easier.

And they are looking at doing that again.

Pathetic

The funny thing is, they're doing the same thing for the firefighters physical test in some states. It sucks that there is no desire for challenge any more. Now when these students go on to college it will be like their stuck in a burning building and too weak to break down the door.

Originally posted by Rouschkateer

Originally posted by Toelint
I need the link to the English Exam too. Anybody wanna help?

It is located here.

Okay, I got it on my harddrive now...THANKS! BTW, I don't have a problem with this being the determining factor on whether or not my kid graduates High School. The way I see it, my kid's a shoe-in!

Okay, I'm befuddled. How come this isn't one of the top Twenty-Five threads yet? Come on! This is a "get out of jail free" card for any High School aged kid!

Oh...okay...it's not quite a "get out of jail free" card. Ya still got to study and get decent grades each semester. But hey, ain't the effort worth a spot on the Top Twenty Five??

So let me get this right. These kids have access to their test before they take it? Not only is it easy, but you can view it before you take it, priceless.

Sorry guys, Brit here, is your high school like our Infant school?
It's not funny, your exams look better than the sort of thing we get here now from what people tell me. I don't know how true it is but I heard we're getting multiple choice in the near future.

In the name of evil…

How can anyone not pass this test. If they want to make the test so everyone can pass it then why do they even bother having a test in the first place.

I just saw a 20/20 report on Stupid American's this morning. Exposing "education" in America.

I've always known you had a woefull education system (that we are stupidly adopting more and more) but for crying out loud.......sorry, I don't know where to start or how to stop, in listing what is so very wrong with it, but I have to state that anyone who still believes there isn't a deliberate dumbing down, entrenched in government forced education systems, they must be a product of American Public Schools.

No wonder Australians still think our system is O.K. (we're somewhere in the high top ten in the world), they keep comparing it to America's instead of those so much more ahead of us both.

Aww, come on people! You're missing the real beauty of this test! Sure it's easy (I mean, it's REAL easy.) But the real beauty is you can take it SIX TIMES between the ninth and twelfth grade! Personally, I think we should test to see if kids should make it to the next grade, and again to get out of High School to boot!

Now if this test became the "end all" on whether or not a kid graduated, we might have a problem, but kids can still fail to get the required credits, or accrued days needed to graduate. This just stops them from slipping under the radar completely.

Seriously, I think this test has its place. I'm just not sure where.



[edit on 19-3-2006 by Toelint]

The problem is that some teachers keep passing kids (who cant pass the test) and now teachers are trying to get "exemptions" for some (disabled?)

I disagree with this. Even if a workplace is "equal oppourtunity", they do not have to hire someone who cannot complete the work.

If a disabled person cannot pass this test, maybe they shouldn't graduate high school.

I havent heard any accounts of not passing personally, so understanding circumstances might change something.