Worried about MISA testing (Biology, 9th) and cant find any prep materials

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my 9th grader, who is great at science and an avid reader, is going to fail the MISA. He doesn't understand these questions and I agree they seem badly worded. His Honors bio class has barely prepared and his teacher told them it's not a big deal.

You don't know how it will be graded and curved.

Is it curved? Our child was also told that AI is grading the free response questions this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my 9th grader, who is great at science and an avid reader, is going to fail the MISA. He doesn't understand these questions and I agree they seem badly worded. His Honors bio class has barely prepared and his teacher told them it's not a big deal.

You don't know how it will be graded and curved.

Is it curved? Our child was also told that AI is grading the free response questions this year.

Standardized tests are always curved.

And yes, they are using an AI that they have trained for the past two years to score this year's free responses. I was at a state level training and asked about how they were going to return scores so quickly. The AI was trained on 2022 FRQs which were scored as usual. Then the AI graded 2023 which were all hand checked and verified that it was working correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The test isn’t content knowledge. It’s a reading, applying, and writing test. You have found all of the publically available practice. If you look at those you will see that there is information provided in the form of readings, charts, tables, and graphs, and then students have to make sense of it.

If you want to fill in content knowledge gaps, watch Crash Course Biology and the Amoeba Sisters on YouTube.

This is accurate (science teacher here). This test isn't about rote knowledge. It's more focused on how well students can read scientific passages, pull evidence from that text, and apply it to a situation or question. The goal is that they should have been prepared from previous classes to be comfortable finding answers on their own from text. You can look at it as a snapshot of how well they can interpret data essentially; the 9th-grade test is life science-based as that's a science all students are required to take in high school.

If you haven't seen this yet, there are practice sets here. Again, plan for a lot of reading.

https://itempra.org/public/coll-science-life-science-misa

Oh my goodness this link is so helpful. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Do AP Bio students have to take this? My kid was supposed to take it a few days ago but her school didn’t have testing tickets for the AP bio students. It was a disorganized shit show and they were all sent home. She just got an email that she has to take it tomorrow, the last day before AP
Exams start. She doesn’t want to miss class for this when she was ready to take it earlier in the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do AP Bio students have to take this? My kid was supposed to take it a few days ago but her school didn’t have testing tickets for the AP bio students. It was a disorganized shit show and they were all sent home. She just got an email that she has to take it tomorrow, the last day before AP
Exams start. She doesn’t want to miss class for this when she was ready to take it earlier in the week.

Our school messed up and did not allow some kids to test including mine. Call the school. It’s a requirement for graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The test isn’t content knowledge. It’s a reading, applying, and writing test. You have found all of the publically available practice. If you look at those you will see that there is information provided in the form of readings, charts, tables, and graphs, and then students have to make sense of it.

If you want to fill in content knowledge gaps, watch Crash Course Biology and the Amoeba Sisters on YouTube.

This is accurate (science teacher here). This test isn't about rote knowledge. It's more focused on how well students can read scientific passages, pull evidence from that text, and apply it to a situation or question. The goal is that they should have been prepared from previous classes to be comfortable finding answers on their own from text. You can look at it as a snapshot of how well they can interpret data essentially; the 9th-grade test is life science-based as that's a science all students are required to take in high school.

If you haven't seen this yet, there are practice sets here. Again, plan for a lot of reading.

https://itempra.org/public/coll-science-life-science-misa

The full practice test is in a janky app.

The "Go Directly to an Individual Set" pages are better formatted for small screens

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader’s teacher told his class that she’ll “make sure the test doesn’t negatively impact their grade.” Not sure how she’ll do that?

[Anonymous]

This test is totally obnoxious.

Question 1 is " Scientists claim that one reason Earth is warming is because it is absorbing more radiation from the Sun.

Which data best support this claim?"

https://itempra.org/public/arctic-ice

None of the answers are good answers to the question that was asked. Looking at the Answer guide, it shows that the actual, unwritten question students are supposed to answer is "Which of the following statement are supported by the text and charts above?"

So right off the bat, this is a test of "How well you know MISA's quirky gimmick?" not a test of science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader’s teacher told his class that she’ll “make sure the test doesn’t negatively impact their grade.” Not sure how she’ll do that?

If the scores scores come back before EOY, she can boost non-A grade to A for quarter.

This wouldn't help semester-AA or BA + MISA-D students. She may be betting that won't be needed.

I refuse to believe that MISA will give such low grades across the board, in it's first year.

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere on mcps’s disastrous website that those taking AP bio don’t need to take this. The inconsistency of information is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This test is totally obnoxious.

Question 1 is " Scientists claim that one reason Earth is warming is because it is absorbing more radiation from the Sun.

Which data best support this claim?"

https://itempra.org/public/arctic-ice

None of the answers are good answers to the question that was asked. Looking at the Answer guide, it shows that the actual, unwritten question students are supposed to answer is "Which of the following statement are supported by the text and charts above?"

So right off the bat, this is a test of "How well you know MISA's quirky gimmick?" not a test of science.

Also, the explanation for choice D is just babble (but that doesn't affect it's overall correctness as an answer choice).

[Anonymous]

You don’t need to prepare. My 10th greater just got their results from ninth grade back. They did just fine with zero prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read somewhere on mcps’s disastrous website that those taking AP bio don’t need to take this. The inconsistency of information is ridiculous.

That only makes sense if your school has ap bio. Ours does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read somewhere on mcps’s disastrous website that those taking AP bio don’t need to take this. The inconsistency of information is ridiculous.

That only makes sense if your school has ap bio. Ours does not.

Inconsistent, ambiguous should be under the MCPS logo on that terrible website. It's not the Constitution, MCPS, don't be ambiguous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader’s teacher told his class that she’ll “make sure the test doesn’t negatively impact their grade.” Not sure how she’ll do that?

If the scores scores come back before EOY, she can boost non-A grade to A for quarter.

This wouldn't help semester-AA or BA + MISA-D students. She may be betting that won't be needed.

I refuse to believe that MISA will give such low grades across the board, in it's first year.

Yeah - this is likely my kid. High A in Q3, high A in Q4 so far but likely bombed the test (according to his own assessment)