Danny N
04/6/11
Period: 6
Attitudes During the CST
Let me ask you this: Why is the CST (California Standards Test) so important? Is there a reason why to pass the CST, or is it just a waste of time? Students tend to question themselves about the CST before the day of the testing, yet they feel prepared. The students show a lot of confidence that they’ll pass the CST and promising that they will pass it, 24/7. Yet, when the day comes the students show signs of nervousness and unprepared as they’re taking the test. What’s lurking in the minds of our students, what happened to their showing of confidence to the CST?
One thing that students tend to show during the CST is signs of them feeling tired/thirsty/hungry. Most of the time, students will do the test while either doing three things: closing their eyelids then opening them in a quick second (follow by a quick head shake), holding their tongue out wanting something liquid, or holding their stomach as it’s doing a lion’s growl. Students tend to show these signs, as they’re tired, thirsty, or hungry while doing the test. I can tolerate that sort of sign, but I always ask myself this: Why can’t the students have a good sleep, or drink water and eat a hearty breakfast at the beginning of the day? Would that make it a lot easier, instead of just holding your stomach, hanging your tongue out, or closing your eyelids then opening them in a quick second (follow by a quick head shake)?
Another attitude that students tend to show during the CST is that they kept feeling like they’re timed. The CST does have a time limit, but it’s not short (only 8 hours on one 72-90 questioned subject, not bad). Yet, students feel like they’re timed on a short amount of time (example: 2 hours, 3 hours, or even 1 hour). I know, I used to be like that too, but at times like these students need to read the questions carefully and answer it as best as they could, not just bubble out every answer in one minute and get everything wrong. Bottom line: take as much time as you want on the CST, and when you’re done, double check your answers and see if their correct, don’t just be done with it and hang out by texting, playing with your fingers, playing with your hair, etc.
Third thing that students feel when they’re doing the CST, is feeling too nervous, and having false confidence. This is the main problem during the CST, cause when a student is too nervous during the test, they’ll struggle a lot to the point that they’ll not finish the test on time, or just give up too easily on the test. The false confidence part: students sometimes scoffs at the test, thinking that it’s just a practice test and want to get away with it when in reality, the CST is a test taken seriously, and the results would someday come back to bark at you, chase you around, and bite you in the rear. Okay, I know that’s taking the situation to extreme detail, but you get what I’m trying to say here. In other words, The CST is a very serious test, and the students must pass it, regardless if you’re lazy or just don’t really care about it. Who knows, maybe you’ll get yourself a prize when you pass the CST, or maybe be proud that you’ve done something to earn respect for the school.
That’s mostly what everyone felt during the CST, and it’s pretty disappointing at the thought of it. Yet at the same time, everything felt like it’s just to see which school has the smartest students in the whole district, so it’s also pretty disappointing. Yes, it’s pretty honoring, but at the same time it’s just another contest with a few prizes (getting proficient/advanced proficient, rewarding yourself with whatever you want, etc.) and less to no satisfaction of the results (we could be relieved when we finished the CST, but still no satisfaction). Regardless though, it’s still a pretty serious test, and in other words it’s pretty deadly when people don’t pass the CST. So bottom line: be well prepared for the CST, study as much as you want and answer it with your honest thoughts, no lies.
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