Keystone Exams are too hard

May 28, 2013

This pie graph shows how students all over the state did on the Algebra 1 Keystone Exam. Graph Credit: Chartmaker.mathwarehouse.com Graph made by: Shae Imler

The ninth grade students took the Keystone Exams after completing Algebra 1 and biology courses. The Pennsylvania Department of Education added this onto the graduation requirements. Each student must be proficient or advanced on this exam in order to graduate his or her twelfth grade year.

The exams are extremely difficult and confusing for students of any level. It is suspected that 50 to 70 percent of the students who took the Biology Keystone Exam will not meet the state requirements and have to retake the Exam later. In the spring of 2011 46,998 students took the biology Keystone Exam as a test run. 64.3 percent of students who took the Exam didn’t meet the States the requirements.

In the spring of 2011 94,939 students took the Algebra 1 Exam as a test run. Only 38.7 percent of students got proficient or advanced. That clearly shows that the Keystone Exams are extremely difficult and students need to be better prepared for these exams.

The school seemed to take the PSSA more seriously than the Keystone. The seventh and eighth grade students took the PSSA in April. They were rewarded movies, dances and gym time. Unlike, the ninth graders who got no awards for taking the Keystone Exams that are much more difficult and they are required to be proficient or advanced on the Keystones in order to graduate.

The ninth grade students deserve some kind of award for taking the Keystone Exams. They were extremely difficult and students were all stressed out about them. The school should reward the students who were there both days, and didn’t get any write ups during the testing. The attitude towards the Keystone has always been negative. The students take the exams expecting that they will have to take them again.

The school needs to realize that the Keystones are extremely difficult. The students may not graduate because they are unable to meet the state requirements. The students who have taken the test multiple times and still didn’t meet the state requirements have the option of doing a research project. It is said that the research project is extremely difficult and is worse then taking the Keystone Exam. The students shouldn’t have to be stressed over the Keystones.