Tennessee end of Course

Baylee Boen

Extra Credit Essay

24 April 2012

Tennessee End of Course

Tennessee's End of Course test is set up in such a way that in order to answer the questions correctly, a certain thought process must be taken. The EOC is not a test where there is an answer that is obviously correct. There may be two or three answers that could be right, but you must choose the one that is the BEST answer choice. By best answer, they are asking for the answer that the majority of the students taking the test would choose as correct.

In my opinion, I do not believe this is a fair way of creating a test because not every student is going to have the same thought process on how to answer the question. If there is a multiple choice question, the test makers will create two answer choices that could be grammatically correct and ask you to choose the best answer. Every student has a different way of thinking and may find a different answer to be correct.

Another reason that I do not believe this test to be fair is the fact that it counts as twenty-five percent of the students' nine weeks average. I would think this was fair if the test was not set up the way it is. As I said before, not every student has the same thought process and may choose the wrong answer out of the two closest choices.

In class today, we were not only learning how to process these questions and come up with the correct answer, but we were also going over any questions or problems we may have. I think this will be helpful next week when we actually take the End of Course test. By that time, we will have gone over each question and subject we do not completely understand. we will have a better understanding of what the question is asking you and how to narrow the answer choices down to the answer that is right. By taking and discussing the practice test, we will be more prepared for the real thing.

The EOC is a test that words questions in such a way that two or three of the four answer choices may be correct. Because it does that, the question asks you to choose the answer that is not necessarily one hundred percent obvious, but is the answer that best fits. In class, Mrs Weilfaert is showing us how to narrow the answers down and make the best choice. She is also going over anything that we may not understand or that we are not confident in doing. I find this to be a very good way of studying and preparing for that day when we must actually take the End of Course.