Padd Solutions

Converted by Falcon Hive

Short weeks through me off. July the 5th was a holiday for banks, institutions, and many businesses. Not for retail of course. For students loaded up on college courses it was just a busy day. The day after a holiday gets me tilted. I got involved with my studies, getting school stuff finalized and the day was moving along. I realized to late in the day I had missed the Summer Cookout that I had planned on attending. Did anybody go? I had a lonely peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

Part of any schooling is taking a test. I am one of those students, who can study for a test, have a great attitude about my knowledge. Then when the test is placed before me, my mind goes blank. My blood pressure skyrockets, I begin to wonder why I am putting myself through school, and test anxiety takes over. I really hate taking tests.

One of the places that you will get to know here on the campus is the Testing Center. Everybody gets to make several trips there for many different reasons. Unless you are exempt from the Accuplacer, there are other reasons to visit. I have done almost every basic test they have available. I have some tips in dealing with the testing center and taking the different tests.

The first test you will deal with is the Accuplacer. The Accuplacer is a adaptive test, meaning there is no pass or fail grade. The Federal guidelines require the Accuplacer for Ability to Benefit for students with out high school diplomas to receive federal financial aid. This is a computerized placement test that will assess your knowledge of English, mathematics and reading. Take the time to study up on the basics for this test. Google the Accuplacer for practice sites. For studying up on the math go to the WTAMU Virtual Lab.

I did not have any problems with the English or reading parts of the test. I suggest reviewing some grammar basics and the how to write a essay. Sentence structure and reading comprehension are two different types of grammar functions to add to your studies. For the Accuplacer you will type a essay based on a random subject. Read over the basics of writing an essay. You will need to come up with 300 to 500 words that will support the stated theme.

There are three different areas to the mathematics part of the test. Basic arithmetic operations, elementary Algebra and college mathematics. My math score was low enough to place me at the basic mathematics level. When you take the Introduction to Algebra class you have to take the math part of the Accuplacer again as part of completing the class. It took me five semesters to go from basic mathematics to college algebra. Know your mathematics really well if you want to avoid the basics of math and algebra.

In my next post on the Testing Center I am going to cover the GED. There is a big difference with the GED and how the testing center deals with you.

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