<p>I always like taking CST tests. They don't really mean anything, but they're great for self assessment. So I'm looking forward to them arriving next week.</p>
<p>see, maybe we’d care if you told us what a CST is.</p>
<p>I figure it’s a California thing, and some kind of aptitude test, but that’s all I can guess by three silly letters. We’re not psychic.</p>
<p>I wish people on this board would explain acronyms and abbreviations, sheesh.</p>
<p>I’m still waiting for my CST scores too! It’s been so long! I took the CSTs in April and they still haven’t come?</p>
<p>And for non-California residents, the CST stands for California Standardized Test. It’s basically a test that we take near the end of the school year to test us on what we learned in school. Different grade levels get tested on different things. For example, in 6-7 grade, you only get tested on English and Math. In 8th grade, you get tested on English, Math, History and Science. Same goes for 9-11th graders. Although seniors don’t take the CST. </p>
<p>Every school has an API in California. It averages out CST scores in schools and they see how students are doing and which certain schools are on the right track, or some schools that are behind other schools.</p>
<p>There are 5 different grades you can get for doing the CST:</p>
<ol>
<li>Advanced</li>
<li>Proficient</li>
<li>Basic</li>
<li>Below Basic</li>
<li>Far Below Basic</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want more info about this, just go on Google and type in CST. :)</p>
<p>Man that test was so easy, specially the world history portion. I know that like 99% got like a 500+ in my school.</p>
<p>@Elleya Sorry haha I forgot that other states don’t have them. Other states do take STAR tests though, right? Or am I wrong about that too?
@ myolie It’s like the opposite at our school.
For Freshmen 2011
Eng:100% of enrollment- 12% adv.
Alg I: 73% of enrollment- 0% adv.
Geometry: 17.5% of enrollment- 2% adv
Bio: 18.3% of enrollment- 38% adv
Earth Sci: 77% of enrollment- 9% adv</p>
<p>@goodnoodle Only Californians take STAR tests. In Texas, we have a different test called “STAAR.” (Yes, I realize the names are similar, and they are somewhat alike, but they definitely aren’t the same, I promise! :P) They were just put in last year for the class of 2015. Not only do you have to pass all 16 of them to graduate (English I Reading, English II Reading, English III Reading, English I Writing, English II Writing, English III Writing, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, World Geography, World History, US History), but they also count towards your grade a pretty substantial amount (15%). </p>
<p>They’re scored through three sections, Level 1: Unsatisfactory, Level 2: Satisfactory, and Level 3: Advanced. Not to mention you have a time limit of 4 hours to complete it, which should be more than enough time, but the pressure still gets to you, especially on the writing test, which has you write three essays! Out of the hundreds of thousands who took the tests, only 68% passed the English I Reading test, 55% passed the English I Writing, 83% passed the Algebra 1 test, 87% passed the Biology test, and 81% passed the World Geography test. Among this, only 3% received advanced on the writing test! </p>
<p>I received advanced on English I Writing, Algebra 1, World Geography, and Biology, but I have to admit, the tests are a bit excessive. Writing three essays with essential tremor is hell.</p>
<p>We have similar tests in other states. Florida has the FCAT (AKA FCRAP; my English teacher came up with that one last year. I think it’s fitting.) The FCRAP is on a one to 5 scale. 3 is passing (except on the writing). It is the biggest joke; they had stuff like mean median and mode on the 10th grade math. </p>
<p>11th and 12th graders don’t take it though. There’s only a math, reading, writing, and science (I think only 4th and 8th grade take that one. I’m not exactly sure.). </p>
<p>I never really anxiously awaited the test results. (Funny thing is, I always got barely passing on the writing test, but did really well on the SAT writing.)</p>
<p>Some of the people running in the FL primary are trying to get rid of this test.</p>
<p>We have some unreasonablities in our CSTs too (IE all sophomores have to take a Life Science cst even if they took the Bio CST freshman year, and it only goes up to Alg II so higher math students have to take “Integrated math”) However your parents can opt you out of it so it’s not that big of a deal</p>
<p>So basically an optional standardized test? Right on, I follow. </p>
<p>Sorry 'bout that, just reminded me of another thread where I didn’t get some obscure (to me, at least) acronym and everyone was like “WELL DUH YOU MUST BE STUPID.”</p>
<p>I opted out of the CST last school year (11th). I had already taken the math and bio sections before and didn’t feel like wasting time on a test that is unnecessary. My English teacher and then counselor acted as if I had committed heinous offense and repeatedly tried to make me change my mind. Some classmates were furious that I had opted out.</p>
<p>The California Stupid Test… That is how my APWH teacher referred to the CST.</p>
<p>I just got my state standardized test scores back today! I did better than I thought I would on the reading portion, but I did worse than my expectations for science. Luckily I scored above what the average school, district, and state scored.</p>
<p>Whoa. CST score receiver!</p>
<p>How close am I to perfection? (because this is an easy test) If anything, I missed the statistics problem(s) that involve standard deviation and things that you don’t learn if you didn’t take statistics. :(</p>
<p>I’m waiting, especially for the EAP scores. Math because it was full of hard difficulty SAT like questions. The writing I would like to see my essay score even though it doesn’t matter; I always end up writing the most ridiculous things on the California standardized tests including the CAHSEE. I rambled on the unsurpassable social status of men over women =D</p>
<p>Well, in my state we have a different test, but it sounds similar. And yeah, I really want to see my scores, considering that if I don’t get proficient in everything, I have to re-take to graduate. I don’t think I’ll have to re-take, but I still want to know. :(</p>
<p>I got 600 on the CST math in 10th grade. Took the same test a year later and got 530.</p>
<p>whoops.</p>
<p>I’ve never taken these seriously, ever since 2nd grade I’d always get advanced. They don’t mean anything to me or colleges so I just view them as a day off from school. The past few years administrators have flat out lied to us by telling us they count for college admissions. </p>
<p>Same with the EAP. I plan on going to a UC and not a CSU so they don’t matter for one, and two, I’m already qualified through other means, like AP tests and SAT scores. </p>
<p>The CAHSEE is sad. To graduate high school, basically all you need math-wise is knowledge of mean, median, mode, and range. Somehow many students still can’t pass.</p>
<hr>
<p>Interesting how you say some states factor in these standardized tests into grades. With such large margins of errors plaguing tests like these you’d think that’d engender a little protest.</p>
<p>Ohhh, the good ol’ days of having to take CA standardized tests… I went to a public middle school (and elementary school), so I’ve taken them like eight times. I never actually took them seriously, mainly b/c everything on it, especially math, was incredibly easy, and I’d always score Advanced. Although in 8th grade, I almost didn’t score in the Advanced range for history, mainly b/c I had a history teacher who WOULD NOT teach or control the class at all. My middle school was what could be considered ghetto or gangster or whatever, so I was stuck in a regular history class with those kinds of kids. But I digress…</p>
<p>I was so easily distracted as a kid. I remember so many times where I’d start thinking about something random in elementary school and then in 10 seconds it would have already been an hour. Although I always did good in class, and scored gifted on our 2nd grade IQ test, I guess I was just too unfocused to retain enough knowledge to do good on CSTs. But theres an upward trend. In 2nd- 4th I had one profficient and low-mid advanced. 5th and 6th two mid advanced. And since 7th I usually only miss between 1-5 questions. I’ve always wanted a perfect score but it hasnt happened. :(</p>
<p>I didn’t care much about those tests either until like 8th grade when I got proficient in something instead of advanced (nerd alert). I remember in 3rd grade, this one math question said to give your answer and explain “why”, so I wrote “because that’s what I think it is.” I showed it to my teacher and she found it pretty funny. :D</p>
<p>I googled it and read that the results are going to be delayed to Aug 31st. They’re saying it’s because of a security breach with social media. However, it’s not posted on California’s state website, so does anyone know if this is true?</p>