Below is a link where anyone on the planet can take a 10-question sample of a typical standardized test for mathematics knowledge (our favorite subject!) for 8th grade. Remember, if you consider yourself a fully functional, ordinarily normal adult who graduated from high school, then this test should accurately reflect that assessment. Good luck!
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So, how did you do? Our resident Math Dude got a 90% because he missed the first problem due to the typo on the test. Oh, snap: did we forget to tell you about the typo? Sorry about that! They were actually asking you to convert a repeating decimal into a fraction. Too bad for the student too, huh? How convenient. BTW, Math Dude, 90% is less than 100%. Just saying.
He was also pretty amazed at what 8th graders are required to know. He asked incredulously if, for example, all adults readily know how to take a negative exponent of a fraction as part of being a normal, healthy adult functioning successfully in the 21st century. We of course all had a long and vigorous laugh at his expense.
In the end, however, he ended up having the last laugh: all of the PhDs here scored abysmally...
So? How did you do? Did you score low, just like any sane, regular, normal, ordinary human being who is a high school graduate would? (Sorry, Math Dude!) If you scored low, would you consider yourself not ready to enter the real world? That's patently ridiculous, isn't it? If you scored low, how does that make you feel?
It sure did humble our faculty.
A better question is: how do 8th graders feel about themselves, especially after, ironically, having scored the same as any other functional, ordinary, normal, high school graduated adult?
And we're paying how much money again for all of this? What's going on here? Are these for-profit tests really an accurate reflection of what students need to survive in the world?
The Solution
As we said, we're not against standardized testing. But, come on, there isn't a battery of tests out there, already paid for by the overly-generous US taxpayer, that can assess the aptitude of a student and direct them into a vocation that is suited just for them?
Sure there is!
It's call the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Go ahead, click on the link, and verify for yourself that it matches everything mentioned in the bulleted list above. We have always been advocates of mandatory military service after high school anyway, so this was a no-brainer for us.
Of course, there are even sample ASVAB questions online. Try taking the Mathematics Knowledge (MK) test. Come on, it's only ten questions, and you get instant feedback:
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