Ever wonder how hard the TAKS test really is?
Twice each spring, Texas schools administer the exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills – the test students must pass in order to graduate from high school. (Once is for 11th graders; the other is for seniors who failed it the first time around.)
Here are the questions that Texas students found toughest on the four sections of the 2006 exit-level TAKS. See if you can outsmart a typical 17-year-old.
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1. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:
(49 percent got this one wrong.)
“Gorman loved the boulevards and shops that were a few blocks away, an urban type.”
Question: What is the most effective way to rewrite the ideas in this sentence?
A. Gorman, an urban type, loved the boulevards and shops that were a few blocks away.
B. A few blocks away Gorman loved the boulevards and shops, an urban type.
C. Loving the boulevards and shops that were a few blocks away. Gorman was an urban type.
D. Gorman loved the boulevards and shops that were a few blocks away, he was an urban type.
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2. MATHEMATICS:
(59 percent got this one wrong.)
Look at the cube below:
Which equation best represents the area of the shaded rectangle located diagonally in the cube?
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3. SCIENCE:
(70 percent got this one wrong.)
Compounds with the same chemical composition may have different densities because they:
A: have differences in reactivity
B: are able to bond with oxygen
C: vary in solubility
D: exist in different phases
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4. SOCIAL STUDIES:
(48 percent got this one wrong.)
The theory illustrated above represents one reason why the United States continued to support:
A: the Good Neighbor policy
B: a policy of isolationism
C: a policy of containment
D: the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks
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5. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:
(32 percent got this one wrong.)
“Schindler hisself spent every night in his office, ready to intervene if the gestapo, a Nazi police agency, came to take away one of the Schindlerjuden, or ‘Schindler’s Jews.’”
What change, if any, should be made in this sentence?
A. Change “hisself” to “himself”
B. Change “intervene” to “interveene”
C. Delete the second comma
D. Make no change
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6. MATHEMATICS:
(86 percent got this one wrong.)
Winners from the math club’s fund-raiser randomly select a gift certificate from Box A and from Box B. The contents of each box are shown below.
Box A: 5 dinner certificates; 4 DVD certificates; 3 movie certificates; 5 T-shirt certificates
Box B: 4 CD certificates; 3 camera certificates; 5 amusement park certificates; 5 television certificates
What is the probability that the first winner will randomly select a DVD certificate and an amusement park certificate?
A. 20/289
B. 9/17
C. 9/289
D. 1/19
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7. SCIENCE:
(81 percent got this one wrong.)
Question: The table shows the results of a study testing the effectiveness of an ulcer medication. Why was one group given a sugar tablet?
A. To include a control group
B. To have an experimental group
C. To provide a variety of treatments
D. To give the body additional nutrients
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8. SOCIAL STUDIES:
(72 percent got this one wrong.)
Question: During World War II, the United States became an ally of which of the following European dictators?
A. Adolf Hitler
B. Joseph Stalin
C. Benito Mussolini
D. Francisco Franco
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ANSWERS:
Here’s how Texas students answered. The first four questions are taken from the test given to 11th graders; the last four are from the retest given to students who failed the first time. (The correct answers are starred.)
1. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
*A: 51 percent
B: 9 percent
C: 7 percent
D: 32 percent
2. MATHEMATICS:
A: 22 percent
B: 16 percent
C: 21 percent
*D: 41 percent
3. SCIENCE:
A: 19 percent
B: 6 percent
C: 45 percent
*D: 30 percent
4. SOCIAL STUDIES:
A: 25 percent
B: 19 percent
*C: 52 percent
D: 4 percent
5. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:
*A: 68 percent
B: 1 percent
C: 2 percent
D: 29 percent
6. MATHEMATICS:
*A: 14 percent
B: 59 percent
C: 16 percent
D: 11 percent
7. SCIENCE:
*A: 19 percent
B: 36 percent
C: 24 percent
D: 22 percent
8. SOCIAL STUDIES:
A: 28 percent
*B: 28 percent
C: 24 percent
D: 20 percent