Journalists pick up No. 2 pencils and take exam

First things first: We survived seven straight hours of the high school basic skills test.

But for all we know, we bombed.

Still, we'll tell you, no matter how bad it hurts, how we did.

We three education staffers for the Deseret Morning News — editor Mary Finch and reporters Laura Hancock and Jennifer Toomer-Cook — spent Friday taking the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test. Each section took us 90 minutes to two hours; we had an hour lunch break.

We sort of invited ourselves to the testing party intended for lawmakers on the Education Interim Committee (only one showed up) and public school chiefs to see firsthand what the test that every student in the state has to pass to get a basic high school diploma is really like.

We paid $25 per test to have our exams administered, scored and returned to us, just as if we were real students.

We even signed nondisclosure agreements, so we don't compromise security by revealing test questions.

But we can talk about what the basics of what it covers, which are already posted online at www.usoe.org.

We can also say what it was like: exhausting, educational, and oddly, entertaining.

We're pretty drained. Finch spent the evening trying to get the stress-induced knots out of her shoulder muscles.

We liked the reading and writing tests, though we felt a few times none or perhaps more than one of the multiple-choice answers could have fit. Finch also longed for her delete key in the handwritten essay and nearly wore out the eraser on her No. 2 pencil. But in all, those tests were kind of fun.

The math was challenging. Hancock, who dreaded that test, wished she had brushed up first.

Toomer-Cook says she may have a lot of incorrect answers. But she swears she has a logical explanation for every one, and that ought to be worth at least a couple bonus points.

The State Office of Education says our results will come back in about two weeks. Officials swear they'll keep them confidential, and the state's testing contractor will destroy our records once they're in our hands.

That might be comforting to the legislator and five other education officials who took the test with us.

But we're going to publish our scores — at least, whether we passed or failed. We'll detail more of our experiences then.

The way we see it is this: We took this test ultimately to be able to report on the UBSCT with more perspective and authority.

And if we're going to publish everyone else's test scores, well, we've got to play by our own rules.

Fair is fair.

If you see us at a press conference, school board meeting or social situation with our fingers crossed, you'll know why.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com; lhancock@desnews.com; mary@desnews.com