Author Keilani-Lyn Rudderham / Category Testing / Published: May-1-2019
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Author Keilani-Lyn Rudderham / Category Testing / Published: May-1-2019
When studying for an exam, looking at the amount of material and more specifically, what the material consists of, can be especially frustrating. One uphill battle about taking an exam is knowing that you need to study something you don’t particularly have interest in. If you are looking to enter a trade such as auto-mechanics or looking to advance your career path in administration work, why does your future employer care if you can answer questions like, “Given this three-paragraph passage set, what is the supporting detail that improves the argument?”
The truth is, your employer has most likely never even seen the passage sets your exam asks you to answer questions about or will require you to compute the square root of 196 in a moment’s notice. Your (future) employer just needs proof that you have specific skill sets to perform the job you will have.
Educational exams test a wide variety of knowledge capabilities with the questions they ask. They are designed to do so. The TABE is an exam that tests for the foundation of your knowledge set as it revolves around the two most standard subject areas of language and math.
Luckily for TABE test takers, the content within the exam is practical and applicable in every day life. This is not to say that other exams test for impractical skills, but rather, other exams test for an even larger range of skills such as memorization and higher-level reasoning with subjects such as social studies and/or science. The TABE provides insight to the basis of such skills. Such practical knowledge is most likely being used by people every day, whether they know it or not.
What does your morning routine consist of? You wake up, get dressed, and eat breakfast. Do you put on CNN or read the newspaper? Perhaps you listen to NPR on the radio. These are all forms of obtaining information. Whenever you hear or read something that makes you feel a certain way about the report, you are drawing conclusions based off of reasoning.
Alternatively, you might travel to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Since you have traveled to the store, you could pick up all of the items you need for the week. However, you only have a $10 bill so, you decide to just pick up what’s necessary. Your logic keeps you functioning within a boundary. Furthermore, you realize that buying half a gallon of milk costs $2.50, but buying a whole gallon of milk is $3.00. You can get double the amount of product with an extra 1/5th of the cost. You mathematically computed the better option using monetary values, ratios, fractions, and comparisons.
Your routine incorporates the skills the TABE is looking for and that you already possess. You just didn’t realize it. While it seems difficult to keep practicing material, reevaluate your surroundings and challenge yourself to analyze the information you have to retain on a steady basis. The next time you are watching television, or even looking at advertisements on the bus, dissect what are the purposes behind those materials. What is an advertisement trying to tell you or what strategies is it using within the ad? The advertisement is likely using a statistic or numeric value to showcase a point.
When you are talking to a relative and they tell you about this “Crazy story!” what details are they using that make it seem absurd? Is their tone of voice affecting the way you perceive the information?
TABE skill application is everywhere, which is why institutions and employers choose the exam to evaluate potential performance in their setting. While it may seem unnecessary originally, looking at the overall intention and purpose provides a different perspective. This awareness can help make the studying process a little more bearable, but also provide a broader understanding to open up the doors to more creative and useful ways for studying.