As PARCC testing has officially ended for me, I feel that I should share my experience with it. Before testing started I stressed so much about it because I knew it was a state test that colleges would look at the score. Worst thing to stress about ever. PARCC testing was a complete waste of time for the following reasons.

1. Through out the testing sessions, we were asked to write essays. I thought "Hey, that's not too bad" until I went to indent my paragraphs. The Tab key had been disabled. If I am asked to write a proper essay, I expect to be able to format it correctly. I was very disappointed in the lack of ability to construct a proper essay.

2.There were many occasions where it took longer than it should have to get logged into the test. Before the state even thinks to give an online test, they might want to consider how long it'd take to get every student logged in. There were times that my peers, and myself were not able to start until a good 20 valuable minutes had passed. That's unacceptable to tell a student to read various long passages and answer complex questions in a certain amount of time when there are difficulties logging in.

3. From my understanding, PARCC was supposed to assess how well we have comprehended the material we were supposed to have learned this year. There were very few questions that were relevant to what I have learned. I know for a fact that Mrs. Kutz has done an outstanding job of teaching us more about English and literature. The material we were given during the sessions was totally new to me and I had never learned how to answer the questions they were asking.

4. Before PARCC even started, there was news of how parents could opt their child out of testing. This would lead to skewed state averages resulting in the USA looking even more unintelligent as it is. Don't get me wrong, the USA has plenty of geniuses, but taking test scores from each state and comparing them is just a stupid idea if not every student offered the test didn't take it.

5. Along with students having the choice to take it, I know many who didn't care about this assessment. The results that some of my peers, who I know are very smart, may not be the best and that is simply because the PARCC system is flawed.

In all, PARCC was a waste of my time and I do not intend on taking these again. I know next year I will be offered to take them again, but until I hear that there has been major improvement done, or that the test is on paper, I refuse to go through the hassles that were given to students and teachers. As a student, of course I want to succeed in my educational career, and make it far in life, but as long as irrelevant tests are given to me like PARCC, that are bound to make me look like a total dummy, I see no point in using my time on these tests. Intelligence should not be determined by a score on a paper (or computer in this case). I know people who are geniuses, but they don't do very well on tests. My point is PARCC shouldn't have been given and if the states chose to use these in determining if a student is smart enough to get into college, I'm going to have an even bigger problem than I have now.
Thank you.