Failed CSU/CC English Readiness Exam

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everyone, </p>

<p>I’ve always thought of myself as a good student. I usually score mid-advanced on STAR tests, and last year, as a junior, I was enrolled in AP English Language (and APUSH, and AP Chemistry).</p>

<p>As a junior, I was given the CSU/CC English readiness examination. Basically, this exam assessed my grip on the English language in an effort to tell me whether or not I’d be able to handle English 101 at my local CC.</p>

<p>I thought that the exam was pretty easy. It had questions like, “which word would best fit in this sentence?” and the right (?) answers usually stood out.</p>

<p>I got my results today, and it turns out that I failed it, making me “ineligible for credit-freshman English at participating CCs and CSUs.” I’ve never been a particularly good test taker; for example, since freshman year, my SAT has stayed at the same +/-100 range (1700s); but could that really be the reason that I failed it? </p>

<p>Most of the students in my grade passed it! In my group of friends (who aren’t enrolled in H/AP English, or any other APs), everyone passed. I don’t think that it’s a problem that I failed it, since I passed the AP English Language exam, but can there be something that is fundamentally wrong with the way I write? My writing abilities have always been praised by my teachers, but could it be that it was merely a “pity praise”? The kind of applaud that you give your dog for sitting on command?</p>

<p>I just have this weird, ominous feeling about this exam. Could it be a fluke? Or could it actually point to a real problem in my style of writing, reading, and comprehension of written texts? Ostensibly, I’m not fit to sit in a CC English class (even though many of my CC friends, who can’t write for their lives, are)… but could it be wrong? When I first received my SAT results, I thought of getting it rechecked (because my GPA is pretty high, and I had scored a 2,200 on an at home practice test), but now it seems like I’m just a bad writer (or a bad test writer?).</p>

<p>So, what do you guys think about this whole readiness exam? Could it be wrong? I am eligible to take English 101 at my local CC due to my AP English Language test result, and I have already gotten credit, so what am I missing?</p>

<p>By the way, I thought that the readiness assessment was much, much easier than the AP test.</p>

2

<p>Are you sure that you’re bubbling correctly? Assuming it’s not stress, that’s the only thing I can think of that’s different between a self-graded practice and the actual thing.</p>

3

<p>What did you get for the essay on the SAT? I can tell you for the sat, the writing of the essay is very formulaic. What would get you an A in class, won’t cut it for the SAT. If you write a C quality essay changes are you’ll score high. Basically, it needs to be 5 paragraph form and fill the space.</p>

4

<p>At first, I thought that it was my bubbling skills; but it just seems acutely unlikely that I’d mess up, bubble wise, both exams. </p>

<p>I feel like I’m missing something in this puzzle. I know that, for a fact, that I could handle a community college writing class (my mother, who immigrated from another country and barely speaks English, managed to pull a B in the course), so something is definitely off… but I don’t know what it is…</p>

5

<p>@guineagirl</p>

<p>My SAT essay was a 10, I think. It may have been anywhere from an 8 to a 10, though. I wrote a seven paragraph essay, and integrated many SAT words. My friend, in a college preparatory class, who ins’t too ample with words, scored an 11.</p>

<p>Something major that I remember, though, was when I looked at the scanned copy of my essay, I could barely make out half the words, and my eraser, for some reason, looked as though ineffective, even though I remember that it worked while writing my essay. For example, sentences looked as if they were written over each other. Also, words written on the latter side of the page were crushed against each other.</p>

<p>I’d like to believe that both tests were freak cases of bad luck, but statistically, it wouldn’t make sense. I’m known for being calamitously unlucky (please, don’t get my started :3), but it just seems impossible that both tests were cases of bad bubbling.</p>

<p>So, to be candid, I’d like to rule out “bad luck” from a list of reasons as to why my test scores are muted. Is there any way I can train for standardized tests? I find it impossible (even though it happened) that I could have failed a CC Freshman English placement exam, especially because I passed the AP English Language exam.</p>

<p>Are there any “boot camps” that I could take part in for the SAT and other standardized tests? I plan on attending a community college for one year (will graduate high school with 35 units) and transfer to a UC or (fingers crossed) an ivy league, because of the flexibility that CCs will give me, and because my parents can’t afford a UC/4 year straight out of high school </p>

6

<p>bump!</p>

7

<p>When you say you passed the AP exam, what score did you get?</p>

8

<p>4! So not that great, but ostensibly, I’m a good enough writer to skip out of Freshman English.</p>

9

<p>My mother, who moved to the US 20 years ago, passed the exam with her broken English. She got a B in first-year college English. I’m confused about how I failed it…</p>

10

<p>You should talk to your GC about this…there are times when test scoring gets messed up.</p>

11

<p><a href=“csuenglishsuccess.org”>csuenglishsuccess.org; says that an AP English score of 3 or higher will fulfill the CSU English placement test requirement.</p>

<p><a href=“Entry Level Writing Requirement | University of California”>Entry Level Writing Requirement | University of California; says that UC also allows an AP English score of 3 to exempt one from its entry level writing requirement.</p>