Phonics PreTest

As soon as I began the phonics pretest, I knew I was in big trouble. I got 37/75 right, so pretty much a 50%. My biggest area of struggle was definitions. Many times I did not know what the question was asking because I did not know the meaning of a word in the question. This really helped me relate to my students because if they are not sure of the meaning of a word, they're not going to be able to demonstrate their skills. Especially in math, being able to recall their meaning efficiently and accurately is highly important. Many times, if I would have know what the word meant, I would have been able to answer the question correctly. However, when I did not know the definition, I was forced to make an educated guess.

The areas I need to work on are:
-definitions/terminology (obviously)
-the rules that go along with the English language, rather than just knowing how to do something, I need to work on the WHY it is done that way
(This is something that will be realy beneifical for me to learn because I will be going back to Thailand all summer to teach English. The last time I went to Thailand, I was told I was teaching English two days before arriving (we originally were supposed to help sex trafficking victims.) I hate being in front of people and not knowing what I am talking about, which is what happened the entire semester. I would be able to tell my Thai friends how to do something, but had no idea WHY. I would really like to improve in this area for my own sake of knowing, and because I will be able to help my Thai students this summer at a greater capacity.)
-Syllables and consanants and correct rules and terminology specific to that
-The symbols that go along with pronunciation

Really, I have never studied, so I need to work on all of it. If I did get some right on the pretest, it was probably a lucky educated guess.

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.