SAT Testing Problems

Problems of SAT Test and Alternative Solution
In this era of innovation, it is apparently that knowledge is the key for success. And get accepted into universities are accredited as most important step to achieve the higher knowledge for a potential future. Since a major of people want to get into universities after graduated from high school, there must be a criteria to determined whether someone is good enough to enter universities. And the SAT test has been chosen by the U.S College Broad to be the qualification test for people who want a higher education. However, the SAT test is causing some problems for universities and students. Firstly, it restricts the effort of becoming diversity of some school. Secondly, it could be time-wasting
for student who do not want to attend to college after high school. Lastly, the SAT test pushes a lot of pressures on student in the U.S and student who is studying abroad in the U.S. Since English is considered as a second language for student from a country which their primary language is not English. Can a foreign student overcome the difficulty of the critical reading and writing section from the test to get into universities? Or even an American student, who is excellent in writing and reading, and could become a famous writer in the future, but he/she is not good at math, he/she could not enter the universities as well. In order to make universities more diverse and avoid time-wasting as well as try not to eliminating potential student and give foreign student a better chance to get into universities, the College Broad should make the SAT test optional and use the ACT test for universities qualification. The ACT test could give students a better chance to enter universities.
First of all, there are some schools that are looking to make their campus more diverse do not benefit from the SAT. “The SAT goal works against efforts to diversify the campus” (Chambliss). One example is that the University of Indiana is looking to raise the admission standards of the SAT far past the average of the state’s black students. Chambliss argues that “You need to reconsider and make sure that you look not just at student quality, you look at faculty quality, you look at funding quality, look at other conditions” (Chambliss Diverse Issues in Higher Education 23.3). If the University of Indiana raises its standards, then the number of eligible blacks for admissions would decrease and the campus would experience more segregation. By making the SAT optional at schools with this predicament, they could bypass the standard cutoff score and focus more on the student’s other strengths on their resume.
The SAT test also does not take into consideration the various factors affecting the students participating in the test. Different schools have different funding which would provide for different opportunities. It’s not fair to compare two different students in which one student had all the opportunities to receive preparations or help for the test to another student whose school district could not provide the same. Logically speaking, the students who receive all of the opportunities would come from more wealthy communities with better schools. If that’s so, the more prestigious colleges that have tougher standards on admissions will accept more students from wealthy communities not only because the more prestigious colleges are more expensive, but because the higher SAT scores will generally come from the wealthier communities as well (Trent). Also, those communities will have the opportunity to send their children to SAT review classes which can be quite expensive.
Along with not looking at students backgrounds, the SAT has no relevance with classroom progress. It’s a diagnostic test of how much student know and how well they take tests. It has been seen that there are differences in score due to race, economic status, and gender. The verbal section of the SAT I also discriminates against non-English speaking test takers as they find the analogy section extremely difficult (SAT I Not Best Indicator of Success). It would also have an affect with other sections of the test because they may not understand the directions or interpret something differently from the English speaking test takers. The percentage of blacks eligible for admissions for UCLA has doubled in recent year, yet fewer than one hundred blacks are expected to enroll this fall. The reason is that there is too much weight in admissions based on the SAT (Rogers). Blacks make up for most of the students in urban districts and these districts usually have low funding. The SAT does not discriminate based on gender, race, or economic status, but universities also do not know the other factors contributing to the student’s score. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has made the SAT a requirement for clearing at the division I and II levels. Although some people believe that school and studies come before athletics, it seems unfair that they could use the test as a determining factor on whether or not athletes will be able to compete on a varsity level. Especially a test that is not very reliable. The SAT requirement could unjustly discriminate against athletes who perform poorly on the SAT’s due to various reasons.
Moreover, U.S students are wasting so much time preparing for the SAT which could be utilized on more important things, but because the SATs are seen as the ticket to get into the college of their choice students start getting ready as soon as fourth grade. In intermediate school practice for standardized testing starts so they can be placed into the courses that will help them stay on track to do well on the SATs. Persuasive writings are practiced every year until high school for good reason since it is now worth almost one-third of the total grade on the new SATs. If students don’t perform to the standard on the HSPA (High School Proficiency Assessment) in either area of math or language arts literacy, they will be placed into high school courses to prepare for the SAT in those areas. It is ridiculous to force student to take a class just to prepare for a test required for college admissions. What if the student doesn’t plan on going to college and they’d rather take a course in graphic art or inventions and innovations? They waste an entire year for a course that will not even help them and not by choice.
SAT’s have been the object of controversy for a few years now on grounds of if they really are a good measurement of educational level and ability and how much weight they should hold for admissions to universities. The SATs are flawed for college admissions because “the admissions process is overly reliant on numerical indicators of ‘merit,’ such as SAT scores and weighted GPAs” (Rogers 1). According to Rogers, colleges need to look for other ways to define “merit” as GPA and SAT scores are not fair due to the neglect of other factors.
Even though there are many opposite opinion among the endless controversy of the SAT test, many experts hold their belief in the accuracy and reliability of the SAT. In the article “S.A.T. Scores Are Valid, Reliable and Consistent” , the author states that the SAT has been proved to be a accurate nationwide test to measure mathematical and verbal abilities of college students. He also claims that SAT test is cheap, easy to administer, strict with high school programs and in-depend on how and where student were studied. (S.A.T). The author believes that “Every question on the S.A.T. is analyzed by an ethnically diverse panel of experts, is tested by thousands of real students and statistically tracked for the slightest signs of ‘item bias’.” (S.A.T) . The expert shows a large amount of scientific evidence to prove the validity and reliably of SAT measurement.
It cannot be denied that over a long period since SAT was created in 1926, SAT plays an important role in measure the abilities of college students. A statistic in the article “SAT: The Validity and Reliability and it’s Effect on Cultural and Racial Minorities” on psychsocialissues website showed that there are more than 2 millions young people in the U.S took the SAT test every year, and almost every four year universities in the U.S use the result from the test to qualify student from 20,000 different high schools. (Lester) Since the validity of SAT is undeniable. The reliability of the test is also be improved over year by experts and organizations like Buchmmann, Condron, and Roscigno in 2010 or Education Testing. Many effort was made to develop the test to reflect the result regardless on “school achievement” as well as “general mental alertness” and to be more convenience for testers (Lester). The author also claimed that despite changes in the population of test takers and education over the last 75 years, the SAT had proven highly reliable. For example, reliability studies had yielded such consistent result that researchers focused instead on examining the criterion-related incremental and constructed validity of the SAT. As researchers had found good evidence of the SAT validity, it could be inferred the SAT had met the statistical prerequisite of reliability (Lester).
Even many scientific evidence of the validity and reliability of the SAT.
On the other hand, the reliability of the test has been questioned recently due to the College Board (a privately owned company that runs the SATs and the scoring) recently making a costly mistake on the scoring of the October tests in 2005. For being the sole company that controls the required test at most universities to make a mistake on the scoring for 5,000 tests, it shows the unreliability of the test. By the time they discovered there was a problem with the answer sheets, the scores were already mailed to colleges and decisions about admissions made. In an article by Eric Hoover he notes that “…in the instance of future scoring errors, the College Board should notify colleges about students who receive incorrectly high test scores, in addition to those who receive incorrectly low ones…admission deans criticized the College Board’s decision not to report the corrected scores of some 600 students who had received inflated scores as a result of the scoring problem” (Hoover 52.46).The College Board not reporting the higher scores is as bad as not reporting the lower scores. By not reporting the students who received higher scores they give the students competing with that student a disadvantage because colleges will see a falsely high score. This greatly compromises the validity of the test and when there are hundreds of thousands of students relying on the accuracy of a test that’s been proven to
be inaccurate something needs to change.
Moreover, the SATs are not a reliable source of measurement for the caliber of students entering the field of higher education because it does not look at the student’s individuality, school district, or available opportunities. An example of a student who who’s SAT scores had no outcome on how she performed in college is given by John Cloud; “Le immigrated empty-handed from Vietnam in 1991 and yet managed to become valedictorian of her Portland, Maine, high school. But her limited grasp of English made the SATs a horror: she scored 400 on the verbal portion (800 is perfect). At Bates she has a 3.6 GPA and interns at a hospital. "The fact that I 've done well here shows that SAT scores don 't affect how well a person can do," she says” (Cloud). The SAT test doesn’t stand for anything anymore. Previously known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it has since dropped the name and goes only by the SAT now. A name that doesn’t mean anything is just followed by scores that don’t mean anything. The SAT discriminates against minorities and is continuing to segregate colleges after over sixty years of racial integration. Universities are reluctant to change their ways because they are getting a free way to make a cutoff at admissions. There are even scholarships based solely on SAT scores. The question is how many urban city students with poor school districts get those scholarships? They would assume that the numbers are very low. America is not promoting equality and racial justice with the continuation of administering the SAT test.
In addition, when being used as a predictor of academic success, the SAT is not the best option.
“Within the relatively homogeneous group of students in our study, the SAT was a better within-group predictor of academic performance for women than for men, even though overall the women had higher GPAs and lower SAT scores. Perhaps, controversial though the practice may be, standardized examination scores should once again be normed and reported by sex” (Sheehan and Gray). The only reason that the SAT is still in use is because it is convenient and cost the college’s nothing. A big concern with critics of the test is the reliability of the new section and if it will be comparable to the old SAT scores. The College Board saw a “decline by 4 to 5 points as compared with the combined average score for the entire 2005 cohort” (Hoover 52.38). Some universities have seen as much as 10 to 15 point drop while others see no change. Some professionals believe that the reason for the change in scores is because they are finding fewer students retaking the test and students generally improve their scores on the retakes. Another reason could be that the 3 and a half hour long test would effect the concentration of test takers due to hunger or fatigue. Some are not concerned with the scores being lowered so long as the test is still able to predict how well a student will do at the university. However; SAT scores have been shown to be just as good as, if not worse, predictors of success at
college. Colleges that do not have the SATs as a requirement are just as happy with the quality of students (Hoover 51.7)
Because of the doubt on the reliability of the SAT, some Universities are already making the SAT optional for admissions. The College of Holy Cross has made the SAT I, SAT II, and ACT scores optional for applicants to send in with no penalty. The senior vice president says that the SAT scores do not concern him as much as the whole student. “We evaluate a student’s academic career and consider the choices he or she has made both in the classroom and outside activities…no test can communicate a student’s passions, interests, motivations and achievements”(Black Issues in Higher Education 28.8). The Director of Admissions feels that with the new SAT’s debut and the essay requirement that it was time to make it optional. The University of California is considering making the SATs optional which would be a tremendous challenge for the admissions department. The first college to make the SATs optional was Bates College in Maine and they have since been pleased with the caliber of students they have been enrolling. Even without the SAT scores, schools can still judge the applicants and choose students who will have success at their university.
An alternate option to the SAT is the ACT test (American College Testing), which due to the controversy over the SAT has increased in the number of college bound students taking it. The ACT matches up to the SAT with students doing equally well on each. The SAT has a 2400 point cap while the ACT has a maximum of 36 points. It is seen as “a welcome(d) alternative for many high schoolers who no longer see a need to endure the usual SAT trauma” (Mathews, Newsweek p.78). The ACT is now accepted at every school in the country but one, which gives even more reason to look into the alternative. The SAT has been having much bad publicity recently and popularity is shifting towards the ACT. Students may also feel less stressed to talk the ACT because of all the hype around the SATs. And over years, the number of ACT test takers gradually increase and get over SATs, the data from the graph below showed the number of SAT verus ACT test takers from years 2006 to 2010. The graph indicates the increment in test takers every year of both SAT and ACT test. However, the number of ACT test takers increase much faster than SATs. In 2006, there are only 1,2 millions people took the ACT test, but after a year, the number increases to 1,3 millions. And rapidly increase by 150,000 more to reach 1,45 millions test taker in 2008. The number of ACT test takers pass the SATs in 2010 with almost 1,6 millions test takers. On the other side, the ACT test takers increase slowly by just about 20,000 people per year. In fact, the number of ACT test takers grow from just about 80% of SAT test takers in 2006 to more than 102% of SAT test takers in 2010. We can conclude that the ACT test are using more widely as the primary test for college qualification.
Why is ACT better than the SAT test. The answer is not only based on the numbers of test takers. But also from the efficiency of the test, the ACT test helps create the diversity for universities. In the article “The Ultimate Guide to ACT Test Statistics” on Collegestats.org, the author states that the ACT test is considered as easier than the SAT test, it give more chance for students from another background and nation to join the universities, it also not focus only on books material so it will give an equal chance for people. Moreover, even the questions are easier, and the time for the ACT test is shorter than SAT, but it focus more in general knowledge than test-taking skills (The Ultimate). Because of focusing on general high school knowledge, the ACT will not force high school student to scam for the test, like what the SAT did. It will save a lot of time and helps reduce pressures on student who decide to take another way instead of going to college. It will also give more chance to athletic student to get into universities. Beside of that, the cost for ACT is much cheaper than SAT, for only 16$ refundable, a person can takes the test. This number is very significant for foreign students. The statistic in the article “The Ultimate Guide to ACT Test Statistics” also shows that “ACT provided $6 million worth of free exams in 2007 and budgeted $8 million in free exams for the fiscal year ending in August 2008. Additionally, ACT places an emphasis on serving students with disabilities.” (The Ultimate). In summary, the SAT test is not a valid way of predicting student’s success in college or for comparing them to other students who take the test because it does not put into consideration many other factors besides the face of whether they fill in an A or B. If we are to keep Universities in America as diverse as it claims to be there needs to be a change with the SAT test. Since the ACT test works is easier, shorter and cheaper, it helps better than the SAT not only in improving the diversity of American University, but also give students from another country more chances to join the American educational environment. Because of that, in order to make universities more diverse and avoid time-wasting as well as try not to eliminating potential student and give foreign student a better chance to get into universities, the College Broad should makes SAT optional with no penalty for not taking the test, or the best way is to use the ACT test to evaluate the caliber of students applying for admissions.

Works Cited
Chambliss Alvis . “Diverse Issues in Higher Education 23.3” (March 23, 2006): 14(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013 .
Cloud, John. "What Does SAT Stand For?." Time Reports: Understanding Psychology.
10 Nov 1997. 11 Nov. 2013 .
"College Board Clashes With N.Y. Lawmaker Over Report on SAT Scoring Snafu." The
Chronicle of Higher Education 52.46 (July 21, 2006): NA. Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
"Holy Cross makes standardized test scores optional: college officials concerned about inherent racial and socio-economic bias in standardized tests.(NOTEWORTHY / NEWS)(College of the Holy Cross)(Brief Article)." Black Issues in Higher Education 28.8 (June 2, 2005): 11(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
Hoover, Eric. "A Search for Meaning in the Means.(fall in Scholastic Assessment Test scores)." The Chronicle of Higher Education 52.38 (May 26, 2006): NA. Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
Hoover, Eric. "Bates College Finds Few Differences Among Students Admitted
Under Its SAT-Optional Policy." The Chronicle of Higher Education 51.7 (Oct 8, 2004): NA. Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
Lester, Long, Jr. "SAT: The Validity and Reliability and It’s Effect on Cultural and Racial Minorities | Psychsocialissues." Psychsocialissues. Worldpress, 20 July 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
.

Rogers, Ibram. "Study: California admissions process unfair to Blacks.(University of
California)." Diverse Issues in Higher Education 23.10 (June 29, 2006): 9(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
"S.A.T. Scores Are Valid, Reliable and Consistent." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Feb. 1989. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Sheehan, Kate R., and Mary W. Gray. "Sex bias in the SAT and the DTMS. (Descriptive
Tests of Mathematics Skills)." The Journal of General Psychology 119.n1 (Jan
1992): 5(10). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware
Library. 11 Nov. 2013 . ale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=udel_main&version=1.0>. "Survey: length of new SAT is biggest complaint among first-round of test- takers.(Noteworthy News)." Black Issues in Higher Education 22.4 (April 7, 2005): 15(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
"Test Wars; Despite repeated promises of reform from the SAT 's keepers, critics still find plenty to talk about. Could the ACT finally conquer all?(standardized achievement tests)." Newsweek (August 21, 2006): 78. Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.
“The Ultimate Guide to ACT Test Statistics.” collegestats. U.S. Department of Education, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2013

Trent, William T. "Why the gap between black and white performance in school? A report on the effects of race on student achievement in the St. Louis public schools.(The Role of Social Science in School Desegregation Efforts: The St. Louis Example)." Journal of Negro Education 66.n3 (Summer 1997): 320(10). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. University of Delaware Library. 11 Nov. 2013
.