As students prepare for the November 12 Basic Skills test, they may not realize that they are not the only ones working to help them succeed in passing the test.

Joan Henn, a professor of mathematics and computer sciences, and Janet Carpenter, the reading center director, are two members of the Eastern community going out of their way to give students the resources to prepare for the Basic Skills test, especially now that the standards have changed and limits have been put on how many times students can take the test.

“It’s upsetting that that students can’t pass this test,” Henn said. “We’re talking about intelligent people, the admissions department makes sure of that, it’s crazy, and we know their intelligence.”

Henn said this is why she works so hard to help students at her weekly math workshops sponsored by the education department.

“I was asked to help out in the spring of 2011,” she said “I always enjoyed working with struggling students, after hearing about all the trouble they were having, it was an easy decision.”

At the workshops Henn usually has 25-30 students to whom she passes out a study guide to and then goes over the strategies to help students understand the test better.

“It is not just memorization; I try to help students understand, as well as use process of elimination if they get stuck.” Henn said. “When someone says they understand and don’t get stuck anymore its really rewarding.”

Henn said another part of the workshops is instilling confidence in the students who struggle in this area.

“I work with the students to make them believe they can do it,” Henn said. “It’s really a shame when I work with a student and see the test has made them doubt their abilities.”

The other area of the test where students can receive help through a workshop setting is through the reading center, located in Buzzard Hall Room1330.

In addition to Carpenter being the director of the reading center, she also runs workshops throughout the year.

“We’ve always had these types of workshops, but after the push from the Deans we got more aggressive,” Carpenter said. “We started looking at the areas where students are struggling and based the workshops more on critical thinking. We also purchased the self diagnostic computer software so students can do self assessment.”

Carpenter said what is different about practicing for the reading section is that critical thinking skills have to be built up over time.

“Students cannot just go into the test and expect to do well,” Carpenter said. “At the workshops we show what is supposed to happen, model the questions they should be asking themselves to draw the correct conclusions. We do group work and go through passages. The hardest thing is jumping to faulty conclusions, students need to keep digging for facts and practicing.”

According to data collected by Carpenter, students have begun using the reading center as a resource more and more as the test approaches.

Since week three of the semester, individual students have been logging about four hours a week in the center, which Carpenter said will give them about 36 hours of study time before the test.

“Word is spreading about us, it’s wonderful to see students coming back and asking me the questions I taught them to ask,” Carpenter said. “They are starting to make sense of it; it’s great to hear of their progress,”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-7942 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.