Question about Life Science (LS) MISA

[Anonymous]

DD is taking practice tests and it’s not going well. Will she have to retake it if it doesn’t go well? Is passing this a graduation requirement? Did your kids find it difficult? Thanks

[Anonymous]

The MISA is a graduation requirement but they do not have to pass it to graduate. It's factored into their Semester B grade. If they fail the MISA, and fail the course, then they would have to retake the course, but not the MISA. The misa is a tough reading test, but the state curves the grades, so most kids end up with higher grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is taking practice tests and it’s not going well. Will she have to retake it if it doesn’t go well? Is passing this a graduation requirement? Did your kids find it difficult? Thanks

I’m glad you posted this. My kid is freaking out. He has done very poorly on the practice exams. He mentioned today that the questions he is struggling with are the ones that ask him to pick the most likely answer. Of course all the answers provided could be correct so he can’t due process of elimination. He has ASD and nuances are not his strength.

[Anonymous]

It’s not your kids. The test is horrific. I’m not sure who wrote it, but many of my science colleagues and myself hate the test. No wonder the state curves it. It used to be a general science exam, similar to the MISA, but from my understanding kids were bombing it so they are just testing life science and are incorporating it into grades. Im not sure if they thought kids were just blowing it off….but it’s still a rough test. The best thing to do is just try to become more familiar with the test mechanics, be comfortable pulling evidence from text, and understanding how to read charts and graphs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is taking practice tests and it’s not going well. Will she have to retake it if it doesn’t go well? Is passing this a graduation requirement? Did your kids find it difficult? Thanks

How do you know it's not going well? What is a passing score?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not your kids. The test is horrific. I’m not sure who wrote it, but many of my science colleagues and myself hate the test. No wonder the state curves it. It used to be a general science exam, similar to the MISA, but from my understanding kids were bombing it so they are just testing life science and are incorporating it into grades. Im not sure if they thought kids were just blowing it off….but it’s still a rough test. The best thing to do is just try to become more familiar with the test mechanics, be comfortable pulling evidence from text, and understanding how to read charts and graphs.

What's wrong with the test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is taking practice tests and it’s not going well. Will she have to retake it if it doesn’t go well? Is passing this a graduation requirement? Did your kids find it difficult? Thanks

I’m glad you posted this. My kid is freaking out. He has done very poorly on the practice exams. He mentioned today that the questions he is struggling with are the ones that ask him to pick the most likely answer. Of course all the answers provided could be correct so he can’t due process of elimination. He has ASD and nuances are not his strength.

Remind him that it is curved, which is different from most MCPS assessments.

[Anonymous]

My DC is a very strong test taker. Came out of AP Gov fairly confident of a 5. 95th+ MAP scores. Aced the quarterly tests. Thinks they bombed the MISA. So I’m going to guess it’s very, very curved. So I wouldn’t worry too much.

[Anonymous]

Where is grade calculator chart. Q3 +Q4 +misa20%?
I can’t find that h. Bio grade chart after looking online for awhile. Anyone know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is grade calculator chart. Q3 +Q4 +misa20%?
I can’t find that h. Bio grade chart after looking online for awhile. Anyone know?

Use quality points (A=4, B=3 etc)

Total=0.4*Q3+0.4*Q4+0.2*MISA
round up