2008 Woodie Awards
Cry me a river, I failed the WEPT!
Adrienne Smith
Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Opinion
Calm, cool and collected was how I approached taking the WEPT exam. "I write all the time. It's in the bag. Piece of cake," I thought to myself. A piece of you-know-what is how I will describe my results that showed up in the mailbox three weeks later. It's truly a sad, sad day when someone who loves to write fails the Written English Proficiency Test (WEPT). To spare myself some dignity, I won't share my score. Let's just say, you are supposed to get an eight or higher to pass, and I was just under the mark.
According to the handy dandy WEPT handbook, "Failing the test is disappointing, but don't be discouraged. Failing the test does not necessarily mean that you cannot write at the level demanded by the test. Some students fail because they were tired or distracted when they took the test; some because they did not limber up with some practice writing before taking the test; others because they failed to heed an important criterion in the test (e.g., providing specific examples to explain or support their ideas, avoiding too much narrative, or using appropriate sentence variety)."
I write weekly, and I understood the content of the question posed. So, I am going to blame my little blunder on being tired. I was a good girl on Friday night and stayed home, but I am not much of morning person, especially on Saturdays. I did have to take the handwritten test, because I waited too long to sign up, and so it was filled with cross-outs, scribbles, and arrows pointing to other pages. Maybe my sloppy handwriting and disorganization was the cause.
Desperate to find out what I did or didn't do to throw my score into the toilet bowl of illiteracy, I called and left a message to make an appointment to see a counselor. Koreen Kulbert, the WEPT assistant, was very prompt in getting back to me and was helpful in making me feel better about bombing the test. She offered good advice as to what my next step should be, and recommended that I go to the writing center to practice before doomsday, Dec. 2 (the last time available to take the test this semester).
According to the handy dandy WEPT handbook, "Failing the test is disappointing, but don't be discouraged. Failing the test does not necessarily mean that you cannot write at the level demanded by the test. Some students fail because they were tired or distracted when they took the test; some because they did not limber up with some practice writing before taking the test; others because they failed to heed an important criterion in the test (e.g., providing specific examples to explain or support their ideas, avoiding too much narrative, or using appropriate sentence variety)."
I write weekly, and I understood the content of the question posed. So, I am going to blame my little blunder on being tired. I was a good girl on Friday night and stayed home, but I am not much of morning person, especially on Saturdays. I did have to take the handwritten test, because I waited too long to sign up, and so it was filled with cross-outs, scribbles, and arrows pointing to other pages. Maybe my sloppy handwriting and disorganization was the cause.
Desperate to find out what I did or didn't do to throw my score into the toilet bowl of illiteracy, I called and left a message to make an appointment to see a counselor. Koreen Kulbert, the WEPT assistant, was very prompt in getting back to me and was helpful in making me feel better about bombing the test. She offered good advice as to what my next step should be, and recommended that I go to the writing center to practice before doomsday, Dec. 2 (the last time available to take the test this semester).