Essay On Standardized Testing In Schools

In order to get into majority of colleges, high school students are required to take the ACT or SAT. The score you receive determines which colleges you get into, which consequently determines the rest of your future. These difficult standardized tests cause an unnecessary amount of stress for high school students, as if they aren’t already stressed enough. Students are expected to take multiple AP classes, participate in multiple extracurricular activities, and find time to study for these standardized tests. The ACT and SAT are commodified on the American market through tutoring and the cost of taking multiple tests. Standardized testing for college acceptance is unfair because it favors the wealthy and privileged; all schools should be test-optional
The commodification of standardized tests has made it so that the wealthy typically perform better. One major reason for this is tutoring. ACT and SAT tutors cost anywhere from $75 an hour to $700 an hour. Sessions are typically 2 hours long, and students attend multiple sessions in order to improve their score. If someone attends 10 sessions for 2 hours at $150 an hour, that totals up to $3,000. Many people are not able to afford this intense and expensive
The ACT and SAT are commodified since many students pay to tutor and improve their scores. If test scores weren’t required for admission, everyone would have a greater chance to be admitted into schools that fit their academic ability. Since certain groups are proven to perform worse on the tests, these people have less of a chance of going to more academically challenging schools. Test-optional schools have proven to succeed, as well as the students who attend those schools. The students that do not submit their scores perform as well in school as those who do submit their scores, which shows that the ACT and SAT are unnecessary. Without the requirement of test scores, universities can become more diverse and create more opportunities for the