CBEST Test Day
Suggestions from Bhasha Leonard
Coordinator, UC Irvine Student Resource Center
I suggest you get the directions to the test site and arrive in plenty of time. When you are told to begin, go straight to the two essays. Decide what issues need to be addressed and start brainstorming. Make notes on BOTH essays and take five minutes, at least, on each topic. Even if you take 15 minutes planning your both essays this will save you time in the long run. Add to your plans those ideas that come to you while you’re doing the reading and the math.
Then do either the math or the reading, whichever you like more and do better on so you begin with your strength. There are 50 multiple choice questions so try to take a minute or so for each of them. Some will be shorter and some longer; I would aim to finish in 1 hour or 1 hour ten minutes, at the most. Then do the other multiple-choice section in 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Don’t get hung up on a math problem or reading passage and take a huge amount of time on it; it might be an experimental question that is not going to count towards your score, anyway.
You are now around 2 hours 30 minutes through the test.
If you want to take a couple of minutes and go to the restroom this will refresh you, and you can even take an extra few minutes, if you like, to think about your essays. Your essays are both planned out and now I would write for 30-35 minutes: think of the sentence, rehearse it in your mind, and write it in the booklet. To rest your writing hand, you might proofread the essay and make a few changes, or none, perhaps the odd-word or fix a misspelled word; or, if you are on a roll, keep going and write the other essay, following your plan, then proofread the two essays.
Done!
The scoring is a little complicated for CBEST. You need to get 41/80 for each section; however, you can get as little as 37/80 provided the sum of your subtest scores equals 123. I suggest you do your best and keep moving. The writing is the hardest section to pass from the data I have so there are more suggestions for the writing on the handout attached. (I have also attached some tips for the reading comprehension section you might like to look at.)
Best wishes on CBEST Saturday! We’ll be thinking of you.