On February 26, 2018 Sophomores and some Juniors at Seymour High School took the ISTEP. The Indiana Department of Education states, “Beginning in 2016-17, the ISTEP+ Grade 10 English/Language Arts and Mathematics tests replace the End of Course Assessments in Algebra I and English 10 as the graduation requirement for the class of 2019 and 2020.” This means students in Indiana must pass ISTEP to graduate. Students can take ISTEP every year during testing windows after their sophomore year until the test is passed.

Seymour High School did prepare for ISTEP, but some students still had concerns. Sophomore Debin Bowman says, “One major con of ISTEP would be missing class. I missed an art class which was an hour and a half of work time which I desperately need. I would rather take it all in one day to get it over with. I think if we did a subject a day it would cause students to miss more class and be less focused on the test itself.” Even though class time is missed, students would rather have it in one day so the focus on the test is more intense, and to get it done and over with.

ISTEP+ for grade 10 consists of Algebra, English, and Biology. Whatever year biology is taken as a class (freshman or sophomore year) is the year that ISTEP will be taken. ISTEP is not excluded from freshman taking biology.  Test creators recommend students taking the test is to get a good night’s rest, eat a good breakfast, and take his/her time on the test.

Each session of the ISTEP can take anywhere from 30 to 65 minutes. For part one, there were two math sections, and three English sections. The total of all tests combined took about four hours. There are also directions, which take about ten minutes before each section that are gone over to make sure the students do what they are told. Along with breaks, directions, and test taking, the test takes an entire school day. This test is very important and needs to be taken seriously. Until this test is passed, the student will not be able to graduate from high school.