On April 19, juniors took the U.S History STAAR EOC test. Students reported to the main building and went to their designated testing room. The test began at 9 a.m. and was a 4-hour long test. 

The students took their tests on either the school MacBooks or on computers in one of the computer labs. A few days later, students who took the test got their testing results back.

“If students chose to not take the EOC or were unable to attend, then they would not be able to graduate as the STAAR EOC is a graduating requirement,” testing coordinator Cristin Zuniga said. “That is why it is so important for students to attend their EOC appointments and not think that these tests are optional.” 

To prepare students for the test, U.S. History teacher Anthony Armendariz, chunked all of the information he taught throughout the school year and went through all the key points of each unit. 

“Some of my students have told me that my quizzes and exams are harder than the actual STAAR test, and to me, that is a good thing, as I feel it makes my students more confident in their abilities when they are taking the STAAR test,” Armendariz said. “So when I saw that most of my students passed with great scores, I knew I had done my part.”

Armendariz also further explained that the questions may have come from the same Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), but the way in which the questions are presented will vary. The U.S. History teachers at Chapin cover as many TEKS as possible, as they don’t know ahead of time what will be tested.  

“I’m honestly glad that my teacher has been giving me study guides and quizzes over the past few weeks,” junior Tristan Endlich said. “I think I have a chance at doing good on the STAAR.”