2 seniors and a sophomore from Elyria High School (all on the honors track) take on the practice PARCC test for 6th grade mathematics (PBA). It doesn't go well.

We are taking the practice Math PBA [performance based assessment] PARCC test for sixth grade.

Brooke is in Calculus which is only available on the track of honors math classes meaning during freshman year she started in Geometry, although students can get on the track and double up on math classes for a year and get up to calculus.

I [Megan] took a quarter of calculus but dropped it because I did not need it for college and am taking statistics.

Melanie is in honors classes but is a sophomore, she had more of a fresher memory to middle school math since she’s younger.

This test was hard for ALL three of us.

“I can’t do this,” the girl in the middle says at one point when the test asks students to explain why an answer is wrong.

The girl on the right says she could probably figure out the answers if she had her graphing calculator, but her friend reminds her that 6th graders aren’t allowed to use the more advanced calculators.

“How are 6th graders supposed to take this?” the girl in the middle exclaims.

“I can’t even do this. I’m 12th grade. I’m six years ahead of them!”

The girls complain that with the online test they can’t go back and check their work like they’re able to do with a paper test.

“I feel like I’m going to cry because I don’t know this and I feel so stupid,” says the girl in the middle.

By the time they get to question 11 of 12 on the first section, the girls give up, completely flummoxed by the test, despite their team effort.

When they try to view their scores, they are again frustrated when they discover that they must register for an account to see how they did on the practice test.

“Well, I’m not going to make an account for something I don’t support,” one girl complains (which raises some questions about the motives of this exercise).