On Thursday April 24 at 7:30 AM, Freshman and Sophomore students at Skyline piled into their assigned classrooms for the Aspire reading and math tests, after they took the science test earlier in the week during English classes.
Every year, students are assigned classrooms for their testing based on grade level and alphabetical order of last name. Posters on each floor direct students to the classroom they should report to on test day.
This end of year testing is not only to gauge the level students are currently at but also to help prepare for the ACT taken Junior year.
Students’ opinions vary when it comes to the end of year testing. Some agree that it’s helpful and feel it prepares them for their AP testing or for the ACT later in high school, and some Skyline students believe that it’s useless and a waste of time, along with adding other things to worry about during the already stressful last few months of school.
Freshman Gwen Nielsen took her Aspire test and shared her opinion on the tests as a whole: “It’s never fun, but it’s really necessary for the school and to kind of see where you’re at, so [you] just gotta push through.”
Some say that the test itself has too many questions compared to the time limit they give students on the test. Some agree that the test needs to have extended time, specifically for reading tests where there are long passages to read through.
Freshman Reganae Jones critiqued the length of the tests. “I think there should be more time on the English [reading test], because there’s long story passages, and it is hard to read that fast,” she said.
Some Skyline students say that the Aspire test is beneficial to help prepare for the ACT that they will start to take in their Junior year. The score they receive will be looked at by interested colleges to see how well the individual understands what they’ve learned.
Jones agreed that it helps you prepare, saying, “It does benefit you for the future because the ACT is very similar.” Nielsen also agreed that the test does hold importance: “I feel like it’s very efficient and has a purpose.”
