SBAC Testing at AJCMS
Last week at Animo Jefferson it was that time of year where all students, grades seventh through eighth, showed teachers, high schools along with the school district (Green Dot) what they had learned throughout the year. During this time, the students had to take tests for two straight weeks.
There were two tests, both being different subject, that all grade levels were required to take; an English and a math test. These tests usually have two parts to it; one being the Performance Task and the other being the CAT. Although all the grade levels had to do these test, the seventh and eighth graders have an additional things to do.
The seventh graders were required to take a fitness test were and had to run a mile, do push-ups, sit-ups, and get weighed. However, the eighth graders had an additional test being science otherwise known as the CAST.
Although all the students from each grade level have different things going on during those two weeks, most of their feelings towards testing was similar. Here are some thoughts of students from each grade level.
Brayan Salas, a sixth grader, said that during testing he felt stressed out. He stated, “I would describe my testing days as them being very stressful because I didn’t study for anything and I was worried that I wouldn’t do well on it, since I didn’t know what some questions were asking me to do.” In addition, he also said, “ I also couldn’t concentrate since most of the time I was just thinking about going home and playing Fortnite.”
Manuel Argueta, seventh grader and student council member, said, “ My testing experience was stressful and boring. What really stressed me out was that the test was [quite] long and that I also didn’t know if I was getting the questions correct.”
Lastly, eighth grader, Joel Salas, said, “I would say that my testing experience was stressful, boring, and tiring. I could hardly concentrate on my tests, since I wouldn’t get enough sleep and my mind would wander off. This also made it difficult for me to understand the questions.”
However, in the end all of the hard work paid off, since there was going to be a carnival and luckily the only requirement to enter it was to fill out your testing merit card. The carnival had a few activities like rock climbing, dunking the teacher, and sumo wrestling. Brayan said, “ I enjoyed the testing carnival because I went rock climbing and also played ‘Dunk the Teacher’ which I enjoyed the most because I had fun trying to dunk Mr. Lo into the water.” Manuel, who had to help sell stuff in the carnival said, “I would have wished to have more fun by participating in the activities in the carnival instead of helping out with SLRA; however, other than that I would say the testing carnival was okay.”
Lastly, Joel Salas, brother of Brayan Salas, said, “ I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other ones, since this year they didn’t put the jumper.”
