Yesterday I took the FTCE. I had not studied at all. I didn't even bother to try to prepare for this exam. It has 4 sections: an essay section, a vocabulary section, a reading comprehension section, and a math section. Every single section was a joke. I figured it would be something similar to the GRE... it isn't. You're given 4 hours to complete all the sections. I finished in about an hour and a half. I thought I was going to have some problems with the math section. The only problem was using the tiny calculator that they provide. I don't have large, thick fingers, but even a child would have trouble using this miniature annoyance. I ended up not using it. The worst part about the math section was that every damn answer choice was presented in fraction form. It was easy to convert, but why add an extra step? Seriously... I think the hardest thing on that math section was the fractions which were a joke.
They seriously need to do something to get teachers to be qualified to teach3. The test was so stupid, I was insulted that I was even required to take it.
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1 - I decided this last week on Friday. I had sent my transcripts to the state a while back, but had decided then not to continue with it.
2 - It allows me to bump up my rate for my clients. It also lets me work creating curriculum for homeschooled students. I don't even have to teach it, and I get to charge ridiculously for it.
3 - This may explain all the stupid stories we get to hear about coming out of Florida.
I suspect that it's not a simple matter of just taking the FTCE. If it is, then wow, I'm moving to Florida.
In Illinois, there's a ton of ****ing **** you've got to do to become a teacher. I dropped out of the teaching program here because it was just a major hassle, and you'll literally have to be in college another year in order to get your bachelors. One of my friends told me that because they changed the requirements this year for the teaching program, he has to be in college for another two semesters (it's his junior year). Advisors have actually told their advisees that if they want to become a teacher, get a straight bachelors degree, and go into the teaching program later.
But yeah, it's easy because teaching isn't an appealing profession. They've got to make it easy enough that they get people to do it. They can't turn away stupid people.
Another time was when I applied for another factory gig. A friend of mine and I went in and they had all the applicants come it at the same time for the testing phase. It was a bunch of simple math. I suck at math - hard - but this was really simple to even me. The friend and I eventually got so fed up with the stupidity of the questions we took to racing each other. When done, we'd loudly slam our pencils down and laugh at each other. The other applicants and the friggin' interviewer looked at us like we were Einstein and Von Braun reincarnated or something. And the other testees took a lot longer to finish, too. We had fun, to be honest, but the test itself was insulting.
The other times I felt insulted by tests were when I took Civil Service exams. I don't think I ever scored less than a 95 or 98% and I was always either the first done or in the first five. They're really, really easy. And the physical part (for police anyway) ranged from nonexistant to pathetic (run a mile) to easy (run two miles, flexibility and strength testing). Insulting. I never once prepared for any portion and always finished well toward the top. Once I even got an interview for a position. And that, my friends, was the absolute most difficult interview I've ever had. No joke.
Fractions are actually godsend if you're not using a calculator. It's just some people don't know how to do math without a calculator and will complain incessantly about it.
Fractions are easy. The sad ting is that the fractions were the highest level math on the test. You are given a calculator to speed things up1. The anoying part was that all the answers were in fraction form. You would be given decimals to devide and the answer was in fractions. I could understand if they were trying to determine if you could convert decimals to fractions, but there was not a single answer for any problem that had decimals. I just found it annoying to have to convert to fractions. Not hard, just annoying.
I suspect that it's not a simple matter of just taking the FTCE. If it is, then wow, I'm moving to Florida.
Start packing. As long as you have a bachelors degree (in any subject) you can apply to teach something.If you have a degree in sociology, you can be certified as a soial sciences teacher. You would be able to teach: Psychology, sociology, history, geography, and a few other subjects. Once you submit your transcripts you are set. Each county may have other requirements. Miami Dade County (where I'm in0 requires the FTCE, but there are counties that don't even require that. This lets you get the temporary certificate that is good for 3 years. If you want the full certificate, there are 2 other tests. there is the Florida Educational Leadership exam. This test is even more insulting. I went to Barnes and Nobles to check out one of the practice books. After reading the practice questions, I felt as if I had been slapped accross the face with a shovel. It makes the FTCE look like a test for geniuses.
There is also the subject certification exam. Whatever subject you want to be certified to teach has its own test. Out of all the tests, this would probably be the only one that would require some studying... but not much.
The best part: You only need to score a 60% on any of these tests to pass them.
In Illinois, there's a ton of ****ing **** you've got to do to become a teacher. I dropped out of the teaching program here because it was just a major hassle, and you'll literally have to be in college another year in order to get your bachelors. One of my friends told me that because they changed the requirements this year for the teaching program, he has to be in college for another two semesters (it's his junior year). Advisors have actually told their advisees that if they want to become a teacher, get a straight bachelors degree, and go into the teaching program later.
Pretty much the same thing if you get a degree in education here. It is pointless though. The only benefit you get is that you get to take the CLAST exam while in school and use it instead of the FTCE.
But yeah, it's easy because teaching isn't an appealing profession. They've got to make it easy enough that they get people to do it. They can't turn away stupid people.
Sad but true. Although teachers down here get paid pretty well. If I remember correctly, starting pay for a teacher is $38,000/year plus benefits. I say pretty well because of the requirements to teach. If it was harder to become a teacher, i would say that is garbage pay, but until they are hiring quality teachers that can score higher than a 60% on such easy tests, I think 38K is good.
A few years ago I was working at a college in a computer lab. I had a few people come in one day asking for stuff on how to write an essay. Turns out they were all teachers that had passed most of the sections in the FTCE. They were all having a hard time passing the essay portion. This being Miami you would think that these people spoke English as a second language, but no, there were quite a few that were Americans who only spoke English.
I was insulted by tests a few times. One was my first factory job. It was makin' windows so understanding measurement was important. The test was a ruler with lines pointing to different lines. I scored 100%. I thought it was like a joke or something until they told me a lot of people fail. Fail reading a ruler. Something taught in elementary school and useful throughout life. Yeah.
Another time was when I applied for another factory gig. A friend of mine and I went in and they had all the applicants come it at the same time for the testing phase. It was a bunch of simple math. I suck at math - hard - but this was really simple to even me. The friend and I eventually got so fed up with the stupidity of the questions we took to racing each other. When done, we'd loudly slam our pencils down and laugh at each other. The other applicants and the friggin' interviewer looked at us like we were Einstein and Von Braun reincarnated or something. And the other testees took a lot longer to finish, too. We had fun, to be honest, but the test itself was insulting.
The other times I felt insulted by tests were when I took Civil Service exams. I don't think I ever scored less than a 95 or 98% and I was always either the first done or in the first five. They're really, really easy. And the physical part (for police anyway) ranged from nonexistant to pathetic (run a mile) to easy (run two miles, flexibility and strength testing). Insulting. I never once prepared for any portion and always finished well toward the top. Once I even got an interview for a position. And that, my friends, was the absolute most difficult interview I've ever had. No joke.
I work for Kapplan University for two months a while back. When I applied to work with them, part of the interview process required that I take a omputer test. I had to attach a picture to an email and send it. They gave you 10 minutes to do this. Apperantly there were people that couldn't do it.
I work for Kapplan University for two months a while back. When I applied to work with them, part of the interview process required that I take a omputer test. I had to attach a picture to an email and send it. They gave you 10 minutes to do this. Apperantly there were people that couldn't do it.
That's the kind of thing I'd doubt had I never experienced the ruler test.
Best question Ever.
Second best "Do you steal?"
Third
"Is it okay for your register to be short?"
When I was training to be a machinist, onen of the things we were tested on was our knowledge of fractions and their decimal equivilants. Apparently, there are some machinists who don't know that 11/16 in. = .6875 in. I'm sure there alre also those out there who don't know that .250 in. = 1/4 in. I can understand when it comes to measurements in 1/32's (rather uncommon), but 1/16's and larger are more common and should not be a problem. Apparently, it is.
I didn't know that. Sure, I could figure it out in a matter of moments, but I don't know it. Then again, my education and profession have not included fractions for a long time (Relatively speaking. I'm fairly young, but you get the idea.) Metric system does not often use fractions in my experience. 1/2 Liter? Just seems silly.
Then again, if the opening test is stupidly simple just to weed out the idiots, that's fair enough. There seem to be a lot of them out there and you want to waste as little time as possible on them.
I just hope there's a follow-up test with better questions (preferably face to face) in round two. Even when it comes to retail-work, where you have the braindead ones and the actually good ones. Although few stores care about the difference.
I took the GED in high school so I could graduate early and THAT test was a complete joke.
It's like being surprised that people don't know what 2^16-1 is from the top of their head. I mean programmers probably know; but is it really relevant to anything? Is this the kind of information you want to test for, or are you looking to find out if they're actually capable of doing their job?
(1) its 65k and a bit
(2) it s pretty important, as large numbers would overflow ( if you use 2 bytes (16 bits) to store a number that could be bigger than 33k (half of 2 to the 16), it s possible the code fails , hard )