OGET and OSAT

It's been a couple of weeks, but I thought I would post about my experience withe OGET and OSAT as promised.

As I've mentioned before, on that Saturday I got up bright and early (5:30 a.m.) after only four and a half hours of sleep to take two of the three required teacher certification tests in my state. I was a little nervous (okay, a lot nervous) even though I usually test well. Mostly, I just didn't know what to expect.

I was more than a little frustrated when I showed up at 7:15 (as my admission ticket said to) when I had to sit and wait for almost an hour before I could start the test. Lesson learned: next time I will not show up until 20 minutes before the test begins.

I started the morning with the OGET which is the Oklahoma General Education Test. This test covers all major subject areas and cover the basic competencies that high school graduates are expected to know. I was not at all worried about the Reading and Comprehension portion of the test. I wasn't even concerned about Science (because those questions usually rely on reading comprehension and answer elimination). I was, however, nervous about the Math portion of the test, particularly Algebra and Geometry because I haven't used them in such a long time! I was also kind of concerned about my History competencies. I spent extra time studying both of these subject areas. I was greatly relieved when I heard (through an online chat board) that the Math symbols and equations were given in the test. Whew! One less thing to cram into my brain! Still, I had to figure out how to use the equations, so I kept practicing. Also, on a recommendation from a friend, I brushed up on all the major wars in history--who was involved, where they took place, how it began/ended, etc. This test surprised me in several ways:

1. There were few Science questions
2. There weren't very many History questions (at least, not as many as I expected)
3. I don't think there were any questions about wars at all and it was mostly American History
4. The Math was tolerable
5. The essay question at the end was not difficult, especially since they pretty much gave you both sides of the argument and you only had to pick one
6. Still, the essay took more time for me than I expected (maybe because I had to hand write rather than type?)

I completed the test in about three hours, then left for lunch and a short break before test #2: OSAT.

The OSAT is the Oklahoma Subject Area Test, which means it is the test covering the subject area that you are planning to teach. I took the Journalism test this time, though I later hope to take the Language Arts/English test. I really felt like I would be better prepared for this test having just come out of Journalism school in the fall. Still, I did some extra studying just to be prepared, but I was still surprised by the test:

1. Several questions had answers that were just slightly different. If I wasn't totally confident, I just had to pick one. I did this more often than I thought I would have to.
2. Having been a portrait photographer for almost five years, I didn't anticipate having any problems with photography questions. I was told that there would be many photography questions, but they weren't at all like I expected. There were no technical questions over f-stops or ISOs or shutter speeds. Instead, there were questions about whether or not you have to identify subjects in a specific photo or questions about how a particular photo was framed.
3. Many questions regarding technical journalism issues (like laying out pages, developing photographs) seemed quite dated. There was one question about how to develop an image in the darkroom. Nobody does this anymore in the real world--almost everything is digital and it certainly would be for a public school. We didn't even have a darkroom at my college! So, I had to rely on the information left in my brain from the time I spent in a tiny closet developing pictures for my high school yearbook many years ago. Hope my brain didn't fail me!
4. This was the biggest shocker of all: I actually felt more confident in my Math answers than many of my journalism answers! I didn't expect that at all!

I'm anxious to get my scores, but that won't happen until at least June 25. Until then, I've got to start preparing for the Language Arts subject area test and the final test requirement: the professional standards test.