This past weekend I participated in the Illinois Teacher Certification Testing at Parkland College in Champaign, IL. The tests themselves were fine (although by the time you get to question 100 you get the feeling that it should have been done 20 questions ago, and you still have 25 questions to go).
I'm very upset with the lack of testing transparency that was provided before taking the exams. This is in response to testing time as well as calculator use. I was told to bring my own graphing calculator for the mathematics test and check to see if it is on the approved calculator list, but there was no emphasis on the fact that the proctor will completely clear the memory on your calculator. It was lightly mentioned before the table of approved calculators. It wasn't in bold. Everything that I had on my calculator was lost, and I had to flash my RAM in order for my calculator to even connect with my computer again.
In regards to the morning session, it also wasn't specified that if you only registered for one test then you would have the full 5 hours to take the one test. If I knew that I would not have registered for two tests, in which I had to complete both within the 5 hours. Also, you're given both tests at the same time so you can work on either as you choose, but I feel that this shouldn't be the case. I took both the Mathematics and the Science: Physics tests where each had specific calculator requirements. The mathematics test required me to bring my own graphing calculator to use whereas the physics test required me to use a scientific calculator, a graphing calculator wasn't allowed. I was also specifically not allowed to use a scientific calculator on the mathematics test. This was contradictory because I was allowed to have my graphing calculator the whole time and work on both tests together. Not that you needed it for the physics test (surprisingly), but it still does not show that they planned well for people taking two tests during the morning session.
After testing for 9 hours, I am unhappy with the whole experience. I wouldn't do it again the way that it is set up. I am a proponent for transparency (e.g. "feed up" where you tell your students what is expected of them), and I feel that the practice tests did not reflect the content of the real exams.
Question: How do the teacher certification exams work in your state? If you're in Illinois, what do you plan on doing?
