Testing for Speed

We hit a couple of  hot buttons tonight at the dinner table: 1) The infernal need for speed in standardized testing, and 2) the tortures of testing for students with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 

Today, son Fickle Fan completed Day One of his final shot at the Algebra End-of-Course Assessment (passing is required for an Indiana general diploma), and for the first time he's using a common test-taking strategy devised by his tutor to help him answer more questions. So that's what brought the subject up for discussion, but, as you can imagine, it's my OCD-Aspie Daughter Dearest that has A LOT to say about the issue. 


DD despises timed testing. She believes--and I completely agree with her--that speed testing on math and science tests is a completely male-initiated venture. We not-so-fondly recalled her 2nd grade timed multiplication tests. Students were not allowed to move on to other areas of math until they could flawlessly pass the timed test--30 problems in 3 minutes. That gave her 6 seconds per problem. Each time she would attempt the test, she would come home with half the problems completed--they were all correct, of course, but nevertheless, she was not permitted to learn any new material. After buckets of tears, I decided the test was ridiculous. Knowing that the teacher was giving out the very same copy of the test each time, I had DD memorize the 30 answers.  Next time she took the test, she just wrote down all the answers. Problem solved. Temporarily. 


This was five years before I realized that she had OCD. And 13 years before we began to suspect that Asperger's was also an issue. Long story short, we now know that DD is incredibly intelligent and excels at math--but NOT if she's working under the pressure of a clock. She has a much slower processing time than most people who also have her IQ.  


At dinner tonight her voice rose--it always does when she's passionate about an issue--when she described her frustration at standardized math and science tests, including her AP tests and the ACT. (She did very well on her ACT test, by the way; not so well on her chemistry AP.) "I knew all the answers, Mom. I just couldn't ever get all the problems finished."  


She went on to describe the agonies she goes through each time she reviews her answer sheet to detect patterns on the page, too many D answers in a row?, not enough As? "So then I'm sure I must've done something wrong, and I go through the test wondering where I messed up."


And then there's the issue of filling in the answer bubbles.  Is the oval filled in perfectly?  Maybe I've filled it in too dark.  I should erase that one and make it look better. That one is filled in uniformly. I need to fix that one too. Yikes!


It's painfully apparent now that DD should've had accommodations for extra time on tests and should have been coached in testing strategies to put her mind at ease. At the time, we had no idea. She was bright and wasn't the squeaky wheel in the family. Moreover, I don't know that she would have accepted accommodations then. She would have bristled at the very suggestion that she be treated any differently or be given any special consideration. (She confirms this.) Now, though, she understands the connection between her "issues" and her anxiety in a classroom and in testing situations, and that the accommodations are a must-have. 


If you're a parent of a student with a higher functioning autism spectrum disorder and/or OCD, be sure that your case conference team is listing accommodations needed for standardized testing. 


Also note that if your child received extended time for testing at school and both the disability and need for accommodations is documented by the school, your student may be able to use those accommodations during the ACT. Here's the ACT accommodations link for more information. The SAT also accepts accommodated testing for eligible students, but your student must first apply to the College Board. Talk to your guidance counselor about application requirements and procedures. Once a student is found eligible for accommodations on one of the College Board's tests, she/he does not need to apply for a second time. So if your student receives accommodations for the PSAT/NMSQT, he/she will still be eligible when it comes time to take the SAT. Here's the College Board's link to information on SAT accommodations.


And let's all put away our stopwatches, shall we?