The ETS® Proficiency Profile - prep

[Dumber]

I do not want to go into The ETS Proficiency Profile cold. What do recommend as concise review material for The ETS Proficiency Profile? The ETS Proficiency Profile is designed to measure students’ skills in reading, critical thinking, writing, and mathematics.

[jsd]

You get 100% credit on it no matter how you do on it. It's not worth preparing for.

[P226mem]

Prep advice:
1. Look at the sample questions https://www.ets.org/s/proficiencyprofile...leques.pdf
2. relax and breathe
3. see the note jsd gave you. most of us think it's full points for complete on time vs fewer points if did not perform well. maybe there's one case somewhere that someone got a 9 instead of 10. who knows? I certainly didn't score the full amount of points and got participation on time credit with full points.
4. this same ETS test (probably different questions) was used as exit exam at local community college. Personally? I think the ACT was harder. This is not GRE kind of stuff.
5. It really will be ok to go in cold.

[Dumber]

My understanding from my mentor (Haydel) in a zoom session is that most people do well, but she has seen other people who did not do well. Also, she gave us a score out of 400 that equates to A, B, C etc.

[P226mem]

I get it. At community college, I had to do this ETS thing on paper in a library room with 50 other people just weeks before covid shut it down.. I was nervous too. It was the longest 40 minutes of a test. I was that worried. AND at one point we had a power outage. can you believe it? I was really scared that I wasn't going to graduate or I'd pass out. I was fearing the worst. meh? got my check mark that I did the test. really? that's all?

And it was similar for TESU except online. not stressed. still didn't get all of them right. still got my credit..... still graduated. still got an A overall in capstone.

Remember, in LIB 495, the ETS is scaled as 5% of your total grade. Even if your mentor goes with the ETS scale (from the 400-500 range) and gives you a C, that's like 3 instead of 5 points. If you are otherwise doing well and taking the capstone seriously, that's a small point amount overall. even if you have the one mentor who does this differently than "complete vs incomplete". If you can read and write and do some basic math (ala CSMLearn level), it's going to be ok. Get it done on time.

The ETS scale of scores is from 400-500. My score on the test was more like "B" range and I still got the full "5%" points for doing the test on time. Your mentor may be correct in saying not everyone does well on the test. That does not mean anything about how she and TESU give points on it.

If you have test fears and have a mentor who is doing it very differently, find some free practice tests for something like SAT or ACT to get back in mindset of these kinds of things. not GRE. Just enough to time yourself. It is a total of 36 questions. Honestly, though? I didn't do that. and ACT and SAT are different tests. I only mean it will get you back in the mindset of oh yeah, this kind of stuff. But even TESU does not expect you to prepare for this.

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ps: this is on the syllabus found online at tesu site

How is the test graded?
You will receive a total score on a scale of 400–500. This will translate into a grade. Your Proficiency Profile grade is determined on a broader scale than the one used for typical course exams. You do not, for example, need to get 93% correct to get an “A.” Students who make an effort and answer every question usually earn an “A” or “B,” even if there were a number of questions they were not sure how to answer.

Performance on the test does not affect your eligibility to graduate, but you must take the test, submit your score, and receive a grade in your gradebook in order to pass LIB-495.

[LevelUP]

Remember, in LIB 495, the ETS is scaled as 5% of your total grade.  Even if your mentor goes with the ETS scale (from the 400-500 range) and gives you a C, that's like 3 instead of 5 points.   If you are otherwise doing well and taking the capstone seriously, that's a small point amount overall.  

I strongly disagree.

That would be a big deal if the professor gave you 3 out of 5 points.  WTF??

Those 2 points directly impact your grade and could mean the difference between an A or A-.

If I saw any professor on RateMyProfessor that gave anything less than 100% for forum posts or ETS, I would avoid them like the plague.

[P226mem]

Good point that A vs A- could be very important to someone who needs GPA as high as possible. Or maybe it's someone who needs 1 point to not fail the course. Then it would be horrible worst case. I didn't mean to imply there was no consequence at all.

I think in that case (on the bubble of failing) the person would be better spending more time pulling up points on the other parts of the course though than to over prepare for ETS. but that's certainly not a universal position either. I certainly put more time into the research paper and power point, and making quality forum posts than worrying about ETS. (ps. I never knew my score from community college days. and my TESU version wasn't perfect and still got 100% on that part).

[studyingfortests]

My professor for LIB-495 told me that TESU provided him with a scale for ETS score results that he is to use in assigning points:

ETS Proficiency Profile total score (400-500).

440-500 100%
410-439 85%
400-409 75%

The test is worth 5% of your total grade, so at the lowest score, you'd get about 3.75 points instead of 5.

I wouldn't focus a lot on prepping for the test.

[Dumber]

I did 429 +-(9.9*2). Truthfully, I failed the damn thing. I think 429 must be the average of all TESU's previous students. The math questions were basic, but there were at the back of the test, so there was no time then. The front side was loaded with passages and questions - A time waster. I did at least ten questions by guessing without reading the prerequisite just so that I could have completed all 40 questions.

[LevelUP]

I did 429 +-(9.9*2). Truthfully, I failed the damn thing. I think 429 must be the average of all TESU's previous students. The math questions were basic, but there were at the back of the test, so there was no time then. The front side was loaded with passages and questions - A time waster. I did at least ten questions by guessing without reading the prerequisite just so that I could have completed all 40 questions.

You haven't lived until you do the major field test in computer science and then realize 1/2 the questions are based on topics you haven't studied.