Welcome aboard Mark P! Thanks for jumping in.
The WEST-B writing prompts require a hand written response. However, for the past 20+ years, I have relied on PCs and laptops for almost all writing. Literally, I have filled in less-than a half dozen bank checks in the past 5 years. That’s probably typical so you might think about the fact that the WEST-B restricts us to #2 pencils, erasers and paper. In case this seems trivial, it didn’t take me long to be reminded of word processing functionality I have become reliant on and which WILL NOT be at my disposal during the WEST-B. Be advised you will not have a spell checker (I don’t think you’re allowed a dictionary either). Writing legibly, in your own hand, may take some practice. Also, although it comes back quickly, you’ll probably want to, try take a dry run at using a pencil, paper and eraser for both organizing and editing your writing. Prior to responding to the test writing prompts, I bought a set of #2 pencils, gum eraser and binder paper. Note that the paper supplied for the WEST-B is not the dimension of standard binder paper (it’s not 8.5”X11”). Note also that, on test day, you should bring multiple sharpened pencils. I brought 6 but only used 1 or two. That’s my tip: pick up some old school tools and practice with them.
3 comments:
Thank you for your tips. It will help me a lot for preparing the test. But it is good for me to use pencils on the test because I am still more comfortable with writing on the paper, especially with rectangular shaped eraser. ^^
I brought a mechanical pencil for writing (although, they kind of restrict it, nobody stopped me) and a couple of regular ones for marking the answers.
The most annoying thing for me was the organizing my writing on paper, where I can not just copy and paste. It is very little time to come up with the idea for writing itself, but think what happened if you need to change it in the last minute. My tip is: to start practice with gum eraser, you should master it first of all.
I think the idea of the writing portion of the WEST-B is to prepare us as future teachers to organize and put out our thoughts in a concise way. As we all know, communications is so important in teaching. To prepare for the writing prompts, I practiced organizing key points of the paper in my head and then come up with supporting ideas to back up those key points. For those studying for the writing portion, I would recommend practicing getting your points across clear and concise.
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