ITBS
Posted by brmiller1984@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 82 comments
Anyone remember taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) in school? We took it every year at my school in Kansas. I'm sure it must have been given in many states?
crewsing82@reddit
The great part was that you knew you wouldn't have homework on those days! And milk and cookies, too.
stupidassfoot@reddit
Growing up in NJ we always took the California Achievement Test. Didn't know it went by other names?! Wild. I graduated high school in 2000. Was that due to just school locations? But I see someone above posted they were doing the CAT but they later changed it to the Ohio test? Unless they moved?
New-Anacansintta@reddit
“Wuzzle means to mix. A baloo is a bear. A younker is a young man…”
thenumbersthenumbers@reddit
A lep is a ball…
TheCosmicJester@reddit
I thought a lep was a shoe.
thenumbersthenumbers@reddit
They prob mixed em up? Def had one where it was a ball haha.
New-Anacansintta@reddit
It’s a ball. I believe these were real words.
The test was created by someone who was seemingly ignorant to the 80s-era Wuzzles cartoon, which featured animal mixes and to the fact that most of us had seen The Jungle Book and knew Baloo as a main character !
NegPrimer@reddit
I was in 8th grade before I realized it was possible to get below a 95. Knew a kid that was super proud he was in the 55th percentile.
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
Hey, he was better than most.
actionerror@reddit
Were there a lot of corn-based math problems?
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
Each cob of corn contains 145 kernels. Each bushel contains 250 cobs. Farmer Ted harvests 60 bushels per acre. If Farmer Ted's field is 160 acres, how many kernels does he harvest, assuming 10% of his field dies of root disease?
actionerror@reddit
How many footballers does that feed?
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
One
septquarantesept@reddit
Yes, except I feel like they didn’t stress us about them back then. Like “you do you”.
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
It seems like we took them pretty seriously. Maybe there was state or federal funding on the line for our district?
septquarantesept@reddit
Fair enough — I thought at the time they just used them to figure out what reading and math group to put you in.
GMJ1982@reddit
I totally forgot about these and now it’s reminding me how much I hated them. Now I want to forget again.
No-Relation4226@reddit
I grew up in Omaha, NE and even being literally across the river from Iowa, we took the CAT tests (California Achievement Test). I didn’t even know ITBS was a thing and that it was so widespread until I’d lived in Iowa for probably a decade.
madsci@reddit
CTBS here in California. Similar, I'm sure. I got 99th percentile for the total battery score every year I took it - which I found out way later qualified me for the GATE program. Would have been nice if someone had actually looked at the scores and told me that.
ImHere4TheGiggles@reddit
Is this the “bubble test”? I only know about the bubble test. #2 pencils ONLY!!
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
Yep! Don't even think about using a different pencil.
C'mon Mrs. Krabapple, like Walmart sells anything besides #2. 🙄
originalbrowncoat@reddit
If I could be any animal I would be:
A: A Carpenter Ant
B: A Nurse Shark
C: A Lawyer Bird
likeusontweeters@reddit
Well... Springfield also gave their school children "MALK" at lunch instead of Milk... so I wouldn't put it past Apu to sell something with worse quality than #2 pencils at the Kwik-e-mart
thenumbersthenumbers@reddit
I know I’m insane but I freaking loved standardized test day. I enjoy taking tests and it was a day without any classes. If only life was just standardized tests all the time haha, it’s where I shine! 🤣
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
I kind of get it. I was always kind of excited to see the results. Not to brag, but I was regularly a 99th percentile kid. I thought that meant full ride scholarship offers to the school of my choice in my future. Haha Yeah... that didn't happen. Turns out, no university or employer ever checked my ITBS scores. Lame.
mickeltee@reddit
Yeah, I was always up there too. I would always be 99th percentile and every year I got hyped to show off my test taking skills. I was such a freaking nerd.
djhyland@reddit
I liked taking the tests since they replaced regular classes. I was a 99th percentile kid too...but that didn't make me smart enough to realize that "100%" wasn't achievable. I kept trying, but never got there...
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
What if everyone on this thread realizes that we were all 99th percentile kids and the ITBS was just a BS way of trying to improve our self-esteem?
KellyAnn3106@reddit
Fellow 99th percentile kid here. I recently came across one of my old score reports in an envelope of school items my mom saved for me.
CatsEqualLife@reddit
My genius is finally being recognized. 30 years after my 99th percentile days. Don’t give up!
thenumbersthenumbers@reddit
Dude we could be the same person.. literal same 🤣
nvmls@reddit
It was great! I remember we had snack time halfway through. It was the ultimate introvert day.
thenumbersthenumbers@reddit
I legit almost mentioned the snack part in my first comment haha. Would kill for a work day like test day.
UndoxxableOhioan@reddit
We had to take the California Achievement Test. Later, we took the Ohio Proficiency Test in 9th grade (which you had to pass before graduation). There was also a 12th grade proficiency test, but most seniors didn’t care.
Jupiter68128@reddit
Fill in your mark heavy and dark. If you make a mistake please erase your mark and fill in the letter that corresponds with the correct answer. If you come to the bottom of the page and it says go on then go to the next page. If you come to the bottom of the page and it says stop then you have completed the test.
Ralliman320@reddit
CATs were the tests we took up through middle school (NC); I don't remember any other standardized EOG tests.
Loquacious-Jellyfish@reddit
The 12th grade proficiency test came with a $500 voucher for in-state colleges if you passed all sections. The seniors going to state schools in Ohio put in effort, and everyone else didn't care.
Wak3upHicks@reddit
Core memory unlocked. I hit the 99th percentile myself, now look at me and all my potential! A high school dropout working as a dumb grunt in a warehouse (my life is pretty sweet, actually though)
DefyingGravity234@reddit
Yup. Every year in NY. Seeing these booklets unlocked the anxiety!
Anyone-9451@reddit
Regents I remember but I’m not entirely sure I remember these booklets..also ny originally
DefyingGravity234@reddit
I took the Regents too. I remember my teachers kept talking about how important both this Iowa test & the Regents were.
nvmls@reddit
I think I had no idea that the Iowa tests were important. I remember being really stressed out studying for Regents but I always wound up doing well.
Comeback_Kid26@reddit
I’m from NY too. Definitely remember Regents, but have never heard of this Iowa test.
DefyingGravity234@reddit
yeah Regents was high school. Iowa was grade school.
Anyone-9451@reddit
I was trying to think if maybe it was just the booklet style but man I just can’t remember what the darn things looks like lol
LittleLarryY@reddit
We took the CAT (California Aptitude Test) every year and I’m strange because I loved it.
RockItGuyDC@reddit
In Catholic school, it was CTBS. Man, did it love getting those results back!
Meatloaf_Mondai@reddit
No, we had the MEAP test here in Michigan.
shrimpcreole@reddit
Bring extra pencils day.
Tight_Day9668@reddit
To this day, I cannot for the life of me, concentrate on tests like these. Certification tests taken in a silent room at desks? I’m fucked.
Frosty_Cloud_2888@reddit
Iowa the leader in public education
alex_mack_@reddit
I still remember the chant from the pep rally. Good times 😂.
From California by the way.
Hilsam_Adent@reddit
We had CTBS "Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills" when I went through the system in Cali. Wonder when it changed?
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
You guys had a pep rally and a chant for ITBS?
Maybe we did, too, and I'm just getting too old to remember?
alex_mack_@reddit
We did. "I,T,B,S... Do your best on the test..."
It was a thing.
taylorwmj@reddit
Ha--I currently work for the company that owns the Iowa standard test (among many others). Never took it though. Believe it or not, all tests are electronic now!
adlittle@reddit
In NC, we did the California Achievement Test. I never understood why we didn't have our own test.
water_bottle1776@reddit
Every year in Illinois. It was always one of my favorite days. I always loved multiple choice tests and finished way early. Then I could just chill until time was up and then school let out early.
prayersforrain@reddit
Yep, in NJ. Troll dolls on my desk for luck
AssclownJericho@reddit
nj here too. we couldnt have anything on our desks
SlavaSobov@reddit
I feel bad when I hear someone suffering from Chronic ITBS. 😮💨
8Deer-JaguarClaw@reddit
I grew up in NC, and we did the California Achievement Test (CAT). Same type of shit.
RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit
We had those in Virginia too. Spent a month before hand prepping then a week of testing. Hated those as much as the physical fitness tests.
_Face@reddit
every year in Mass.
Woad_Scrivener@reddit
It's still a thing. My kid took the ITBS a couple years ago when he attended a private school.
emptybeetoo@reddit
I went to school in Iowa and … apparently everyone took the ITBS? I always thought they were just for Iowa, and other states had their own test.
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
I don't know that we even considered that it had Iowa in the name. We just knew we were going to be filling in bubbles with a #2 pencil for hours.
moonbunnychan@reddit
As a kid I am positive I never made the connection that it was Iowa like the state.
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
Nope. Let me just speak for Kansas and maybe 48 other states in saying, "Thanks a lot."
Confident-Cellist-25@reddit
Took it in Texas, but it was soon replaced by TABS (Texas Assessment of Basic Skills) and then something else. Can’t really remember, but I remember those two.
dilutingthebrand@reddit
I remember ITBS was every year, and TABS was every other year, then they replaced them with TEAMS for a bit, and then TAAS when I was in middle/high school.
Confident-Cellist-25@reddit
I forgot about TEAMS! It seemed like for a while we were taking a different test every year
Ag1980ag@reddit
In Indiana, we took the ISTEP, which almost certainly has been replaced by a loyalty oath.
melloyelloaj@reddit
You must be younger than me, because I took Iowa growing up but gave ISTEP as a teacher. (‘99 grad)
Ag1980ag@reddit
I’m 1980 so I think that we started on Iowa but then would have taken ISTEP in my final year of testing? Or perhaps I am just remembering the big deal that was made over the change?
melloyelloaj@reddit
Maybe. I did move out of the state after 7th grade but I remember state testing more in elementary school.
ScuderiaSteve@reddit
Remember how they would always threaten everyone "If you don't pass the Math section of the ISTEP test, you won't graduate."
brmiller1984@reddit (OP)
The OBTL, I'm sure.
(Orange Bastard's Test of Loyalty)
GLRob@reddit
“Complete battery” was right.
Daped01@reddit
Iowa basics. The Bain of my childhood
PilotC150@reddit
Every year in Minnesota.
sevalle13@reddit
I took it every year in Washington State, but my wife who is also from WA but lived in a rural city did not take it