Standardized tests; love 'em or hate 'em, you've probably taken a few, if not many, in your time at school. So, in this thread, share some of the more interesting experiences you've had with these formal tests.
My favorite occurences:
* Last year, taking the TAKS (resident exit-level test): you know those seals they put on the edges of the question booklets that you have to break before you read them? As our class was opening them, I hear a big ripping sound; my friend managed to rip off the whole back page.
* Eighth grade, taking a lesser TAKS: some kid in my class was fooling around with a TI-83 (no calculators allowed for these tests in middle school) during the history portion of the test; he got caught and wound up having to retake the test the next year.
* Maybe a month ago, taking the ACT: you have to have some form of photo identification or a school official with you before they let you take the test. I have no driver's license. I have no school ID, no yearbook, and definitely no school official I can just lug around. My form of ID: an eighteen-month-old newspaper article with me in it. The admission guy spent a good half-hour looking from it, to me, baaaack to it, deciding whether or not I should be let in; meanwhile, I'm sweating bullets -- I don't want to miss this test. "Well," he says, angrily, "I'll let you slide this once... get a photo ID." Following this: quite possibly the heaviest sigh of relief ever. postscript: got my score back the other day (34).
My favorite occurences:
* Last year, taking the TAKS (resident exit-level test): you know those seals they put on the edges of the question booklets that you have to break before you read them? As our class was opening them, I hear a big ripping sound; my friend managed to rip off the whole back page.
* Eighth grade, taking a lesser TAKS: some kid in my class was fooling around with a TI-83 (no calculators allowed for these tests in middle school) during the history portion of the test; he got caught and wound up having to retake the test the next year.
* Maybe a month ago, taking the ACT: you have to have some form of photo identification or a school official with you before they let you take the test. I have no driver's license. I have no school ID, no yearbook, and definitely no school official I can just lug around. My form of ID: an eighteen-month-old newspaper article with me in it. The admission guy spent a good half-hour looking from it, to me, baaaack to it, deciding whether or not I should be let in; meanwhile, I'm sweating bullets -- I don't want to miss this test. "Well," he says, angrily, "I'll let you slide this once... get a photo ID." Following this: quite possibly the heaviest sigh of relief ever. postscript: got my score back the other day (34).
