One of our student teachers is taking the state exam today. She was telling me at school on Saturday that she had went to a Web site and took a sample test, and found questions for things she’d never heard of. She tried looking them up in our book and discovered they weren’t there. This scared her. I’m not taking the exam for another six months, but it got me thinking about it. What’s the best way to prepare for the state exam?
Part of our assignment for school is putting together a binder of all our notes from each chapter; vocabulary words and their meanings from each chapter; all handouts; assigned essays, etc. It’s designed to help us study for the state exam or to use when we do find work in the industry. It’ll be a great study and resource tool, but what other resources can we use to study, especially if we might come across questions on the state exam for things that aren’t in our book? How do we prepare for that?
What was your experience with studying for your state exam? I live in Illinois, so if there is anyone from Illinois reading this, I’d love to learn about the Illinois exam. Even if you don’t live in Illinois, did you find questions on the exam for things you’d never heard of? Did you find the state exam to be easier or harder than any of the tests you took in school? Did you pass the first time you took it?
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’m taking my exam next month and one of my classmates said that Milady has an online exam review that you have to pay for but she really likes it so I’m looking into getting it myself. She did say that there were things on there that weren’t in our book (by Salon Fundamentals, not Milady) that she didn’t know the answers to so I guess that’s normal.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Ashley: I think that is the sample test that our student teacher took. When I saw her in class on Tuesday night I asked her how it was and she said it wasn’t bad. She also said there weren’t any questions she didn’t know - not that she got them all right, but when she was done with the taking the test she felt really good about it. She said the test she took had a lot on the body systems and skin disorders, but she said another girl who took the exam later that same day had a lot of sanitation questions on her test. I’m not sure what other states do, but our state gives out different tests at different times so you just never know which one you’ll get. Anyway, good luck! Let us know how you do!
June 8th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I live in IL and just took my state board exam on Monday. There were more questions on the test that I had to think about but I definitely passed. THere were two questions on the test we had never discussed in class nor was the matireal in the book. However I know I got one out of two correct based on process of elimination and applying what I did know. My finals in school were more difficult. You should review everything but focus most on anatomy, sanitation and make-up good luck!
June 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Evelyn: I have heard that all the tests we take in school are supposedly harder than the state exam. And our finals are supposed to be pretty hard too. I guess that’s good preparation for when we do take the state exam. Thanks for the review tips. I’ll be sure to look those over really good! Let me know when you get your results!
July 15th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The state exam was harder than the exams in school. There are questions that are not in the book and are worded differently.
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