On March 28th and 29th the students of Dobie made their way into the school. Most people would think it was a normal school day, but it wasn’t. This was the day the students had to take the STAAR test.

The morning was madness. There were lists on the wall that told the students which room they had to go to. People were all over the place, asking teachers where to go, and what the test was going to be like. When the first bell rang, students hustled to their assigned rooms. There, the big test would be taken.

On the first day the 8th grade regular math students took the math STAAR, the 7th grade took the writing test, and the algebra 8th grade students took the EOC benchmark. The second day, all of 8th grade took the reading STAAR test.

“I think the test was between easy and hard. Some reading passages were simple and I understood them, but some were quite difficult,”said Bethany Castillo, 8th grader.

Most people have mixed feelings about the test, questioning if it is really necessary for kids to take. If you don’t pass the first test, you get a couple chances to take it again and if you don’t pass it those times either, you’ll fail your grade.

“I don’t think it is necessary to take because it makes kids stress over nothing. One test should not determine if we move on or not,” said Xavier Lopez 8th grader.

The STAAR stands for the state of texas assessments of academic readiness. All students are required to take the STAAR test. There are different tests the students take every year. The test can mainly focus on math, reading, writing, social studies, or science. Depending on what grade you are in, you are required to take the test that is assigned to our grade.

Everyone has already taken the math and the reading STAAR test but coming up, the 8th grade has to take the science and the math. On May 10th and 11th, the 8th grade will be taking the science and social studies STAAR test. You are not required to pass these to move on to the next grade.

The STAAR test is a struggle to most kids and cause really bad anxiety and stress, but the teachers make sure the students are prepared. If you want to make sure you do the best on the test get plenty of sleep, eat a good breakfast, and most importantly, study!