DIAGNOSTIC CBEST EXAM 5 potx

Though many students will complain, requiringpublic school students to wear uniforms makes sense.. If public school students are forced to wear uniforms, this important form of self-expr

Though many students will complain, requiring

public school students to wear uniforms makes sense

Students will learn more—both about themselves and

about the world around them

Marginal Pass—Score = 3

I don’t think that requiring public school students to

wear uniforms is a good idea The way the student

dresses makes a powerful statement about who he or

she is, and the school years are an important time for

them to explore their identities Uniforms would

undermine that They would also have little, if any,

positive affect on students with disipline problems

Each student has their own personality, and one

way he expresses who he is is through his clothing

Clothes are an important way for young people to

show others how they feel about themselves and what

is important to them If public school students are

forced to wear uniforms, this important form of

self-expression will be taken away

I remember back when I was in junior high

school My parents had given me complete freedom to

buy my back to school wardrobe They took me to the

mall and let me choose everything, from sweaters and

shirts to socks and shoes I’ll never forget how

inde-pendent that made me feel I could choose clothing

that I liked I did make a few bad choices, but at least

those were my choices Students today, I am sure,

would feel the same way

Besides, America values individuality What

hap-pens to that value in an environment where everybody

looks the same?

Though disipline in schools is a serious concern,

uniforms are not the answer Disipline problems

usu-ally come from a lack of disipline at home, and that’s

a problem that uniforms can’t begin to address A

stu-dent who is rowdy in the classroom isn’t going to

change their behavior because they are wearing a white

shirt and tie In fact, disipline problems might increase

if students are required to wear uniforms Students often make trouble because they want attention Well-behaved students who used to get attention from how they dressed might now become trouble-makers so they can continue to get attention

Uniforms are not the answer to the problems public school students face In fact, because they’ll restrict individuality and may even increase disiplinary problems, they’ll only add to the problem

Marginal Fail—Score = 2

I don’t think that requiring public school students to wear uniforms is a good idea Each student has their own identity and express who he is through clothing The school years are an important in finding one’s per-sonality Uniforms would also have little, if any, posi-tive affect on students with disipline problems

In junior high school I let my children buy their back-to-school wardrobe, anything they wanted I let them choose everything I’ll never forget how that made them feel As they would say, awesome! They could choose clothing that they liked

We are told to be yourself But how can a young person be in a country where everybody is the same Disipline in schools is of a serious concern, uni-forms are not the answer It is the home life of many students that make bad behavior If the parents use drugs or dont disipline children at home, thats a prob-lem that the school and uniforms can’t do anything about A student who is causing trouble at school isn’t going to change their behavior because they are wear-ing a white blouse or pleated skirt In fact, disipline problems might even get worse if students are required

to wear uniforms because of not getting enough atten-tion about the way he or she is dressed

Uniforms are not the answer to the problems public school students face In fact, because they will keep them from being who they are they will make it worse

Fail—Score = 1

Public school students should wear uniforms to Not

just private school students I do not want to teach in

a private school; but I like them wearing a uniform

every day The look neat and well-groom no matter if

they are low income or high income Social level

doesnt matter

Wearing uniforms is good because they build a

sense of community Everyone from the same school

wear the same clothes The students know if someone

is from there school right away It makes it easier for

students, rich or poor, to make friends with people

They don’t have to worry about what to wear in the

morning because they always know

Also they don’t have to spend as much money on

cloths

Many students think it is unfair that public

school students could wear whatever they wanted

Maybe private school students shouldn’t wear

uni-forms either Then everyone would be able to dress the

way they want to and be individulistic

Some people say uniforms would make bad

stu-dents behave better Because they wouldn’t always be

talking about who has a better sneakers or better jeans

They might have paid more attention in school like

they should of, and then everyone could learn more

TOPIC 2

Pass—Score = 4

Life is full of problems, but how we approach those

problems often determines whether we’re happy or

miserable Bob Maynard says that “Problems are

opportunities in disguise.” If we approach problems

with Maynard’s attitude, we can see that problems are

really opportunities to learn about ourselves and

oth-ers They enable us to live happier and more fulfilling

lives

Maynard’s quote applies to all kinds of problems

I faced a problem just last week when our family’s

kitchen sink developed a serious leak There was water all over our kitchen floor and piles of dishes to be washed But our landlord was out of town for the week I come from a big family—I have six brothers and sisters—so we couldn’t afford to wait until he got back, and my mom couldn’t afford a couple hundred dollars to pay for a plummer on her own So I took the opportunity to learn how to fix it myself I went to the library and found a great fix-it-yourself book In just a few hours, I figured out what was causing the leak and how to stop it If it weren’t for that problem, I proba-bly would have relied on plummers and landlords all

my life Now I know I can handle leaky pipes by myself

I think it’s important to remember that no mat-ter how big a problem is, it’s still an opportunity Whatever kind of situation we face, problems give us the chance to learn and grow, both physically and mentally For example, when I had a problem with my car and couldn’t afford the repairs right away, my problem became an opportunity to get some exer-cise—something I’d been wanting to do anyway I had

to walk a mile each day to get to the bus stop and back But in the meantime, I got the chance to start getting back in shape, and I saved a lot on gas

I’ve come to realize that problems are really part

of what makes life worth living Problems challenge us and give us the opportunity to do things we’ve never done before, to learn things we never knew before They teach us what we’re capable of doing They give

us the chance to surprise ourselves

Marginal Pass—Score = 3

Just the word “problem” can send some of us into a panic But problems can be good things, too Problems are situations that make us think and force us to be creative and resourceful They can also teach us things

we didn’t know before

For example, I had a problem in school a few years ago when I couldn’t understand my math class I

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started failing my quizzes and homework assignments.

I wasn’t sure what to do, so finally I went to the teacher

and asked for help She said she would arrange for me

to be tutored by another student who was her best

stu-dent In return, though, I’d have to help that student

around school I wasn’t sure what she meant by that

until I met my tutor She was handicapped

My job was to help her carry her books from class

to class I’d never even spoken to someone in a

wheel-chair before and I was a little scared But she turned

out to be the nicest person I’ve ever spent time with

She helped me understand everything I need to know

for math class and she taught me a lot about what it’s

like to be handicapped I learned to appreciate

every-thing that I have, and I also know that people with

dis-abilities are special not because of what they can’t do,

but because of who they are

So you see that wonderful things can come out of

problems You just have to remember to look for the

positive things and not focus on the negative

Marginal Fail—Score = 2

The word “problem” is a negative word but its just an

opportunity as Mr Bob Maynard has said It can be

teaching tool besides

For example, I had a problem with my son last

year when he wanted a bigger allowance I said no and

he had to earn it He mowed the lawn and in the fall he

raked leaves In the winter he shovelled the walk After

that he apreciated it more

Its not the problem but the sollution that

mat-ters My son learning the value of work and earning

money (It taught me the value of money to when I

had to give him a bigger allowance!) After that he could get what he wanted at Toys Are Us and not have

to beg Which was better for me too Sometimes we forget that both children and there parents can learn a lot from problems and we can teach our children the value of over-coming trouble Which is as important as keeping them out of trouble As well we can teach them the value of money That is one aspect of a prob-lem that we manytimes forget

So problems are a good teaching tool as well as a good way to let you’re children learn, to look at the sil-ver lining behind esil-very cloud

Fail—Score = 1

I agree with the quote that problems are opportunities

in disguise Sometimes problems are opportunities, too

I have a lot of problems like anyone else does Sometimes there very difficult and I don’t no how to handle them When I have a really big problem, I sometimes ask my parents or freinds for advise Some-times they help, someSome-times they don’t, then I have to figure out how to handle it myself

One time I had a big problem Where someone stole my wallet and I had to get to a job interview But

I had no money and no ID This happened in school

So I went to the principles office and reported it He called the man I was supposed to interview with Who rescheduled the intervew for me So I still had the opportunity to interview and I’m proud to say I got the job In fact I’m still working there!

Problems can be opportunities if you just look at them that way Instead of the other way around

Because it is necessary for you to do well on all three

sections of the CBEST—Reading Comprehension,

Mathematics, and Essay Writing—you must figure

your score on each section separately Reading

Com-prehension and Mathematics are scored the same way:

First find the number of questions you got right in

each section Questions you skipped or got wrong

don’t count; just add up how many questions you got

right out of the 50 questions in each section If you get

approximately 70% of the answers right on each

sec-tion, you will pass the test The table below will help

you check your math by giving you percentage

equiv-alents for some possible scores

You should get a score of at least 70% on both the

Reading Comprehension section and the Mathematics

section to be absolutely certain to pass those portions

of the CBEST (The actual number you receive on the

real CBEST will not be “70,” however, as the scores are

converted from raw scores to scaled scores But for the

purpose of finding out if you passed the practice

exams in this book, a percentage is just fine.)

In addition to achieving a score of 70% on the

Reading Comprehension and Mathematics sections,

you must receive a passing score on the Essay Writing

section of the CBEST On this portion, each essay you write will be scored by two readers who have been especially trained for this task The criteria are outlined

in detail in Section 3 on pages 56–57, but generally the essays are scored as follows:

4 = Pass (an excellent and well-formed essay)

3 = Marginal Pass (an average and adequately-formed essay)

2 = Marginal Fail (a partially-formed but sub-standard essay)

1= Fail (an inadequately-formed essay)

Your score will be a combination of the two read-ers’ judgments, somewhere between a possible high of

8 to a low of 2 The best way to see how you did on your essays for this diagnostic exam is to give your essays and the scoring criteria to a teacher and ask him

or her to score your essays for you

What’s much more important than your scores, for now, is how you did on each of the basic skills tested by the exam You need to diagnose your strengths and weaknesses so that you can concentrate your efforts as you prepare for the exam

Use your percentage scores in conjunction with the LearningExpress Test Preparation system in Chap-ter 2 of this book to help you devise a study plan Then turn to the CBEST Mini-Course in Chapter 4, which covers each of the basic skills tested on the CBEST in

24 half-hour lessons You should plan to spend more time on the lessons that correspond to the questions you found hardest and less time on the lessons that correspond to areas in which you did well

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 S c o r i n g

Each of the 24 lessons in this chapter reviews one important CBEST skill You can either move

through the Mini-Course sequentially or choose the areas you need to study most If you find you need more help after completing the lessons in one area, be sure to consult the More Help section

at the end of this chapter

Here’s an outline of what you’ll find in this Mini-Course:

Reading 1: General Strategies (page 64)

Reading 2: Organization Questions (page 66)

Reading 3: Unmasking the Main Idea (page 70)

Reading 4: About the Author (page 73)

Reading 5: Definite Details and Tables of Contents (page 76)

Reading 6: Impressive Implications (page 79)

Reading 7: Wizard Words, Departed Parts, and Other Oddities (page 81)

Reading 8: Graphs (also applies to Math) (page 87)

C H A P T E R

CBEST Mini-Course

C H A P T E R S U M M A R Y

The CBEST Mini-Course gives you the essentials you need to pass the CBEST in just 24 lessons By spending just half an hour on each lesson—more on the areas that give you trouble, less on the areas you feel confident about—you can increase your CBEST score and earn your California or Oregon teaching credentials

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