Standardized Testing Argumentative Essay

Every college in the United States has different admission requirements. These requirements may range from essay, extracurricular activities, GPA and standardized test scores. All these requirements are put together to have a better insight on a students capabilities and knowledge. In recent years, debates have been talked about the importance of standardized testing in college admissions such as the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and the ACT (American College Testing). Many people advocate that college should prioritize the importance of this test toward a student’s admission process. In contrast to the there opponents that these test are very invaluable. In retrospect SAT and ACT is still a viable option in determining a students admission to a college and should be use in conjunction to the other requirements.
In many years colleges have used standardized testing as a
factor toward someone’s admission to a college. SAT and ACT are used to determine how well prepared a student entering college. These test have been part of American education. Proponents of these standardized tests convey that it is a fair way to measure student ability. In the article “The Big Problem of With the New SAT” by Richard Atkinson and Saul Geiser, mentions, “SAT will remain norm-referenced exam”. It means that students will be rank and compared to other students on how well they did on test. Opponents will say that this test is unfair and bias. They may be right; it is unfair in terms of the test being timed and not straightforward nad it is not subjective to what high school teachers are teaching. In my opinion, I see that these standardized test is use to assess someone’s ability on how will they perform in a college setting. This goes to the fact that if a student is not well prepared to attend a college means that there might be something wrong on how high school should prepare students to take on college. As a personal example my high school have different programs that help students to be prepared to attend college. One of this programs that I am involve at is AVID (Advance Via Individual Determination). AVID helped me prepare for standardized test and guided me in filling out my college application.
In the article “No, the SAT is not required. More colleges join test-optional train” by Justin Peligri, mention that a “College-wide Study showed little, if any, correlation between high test scores and academic achievement” and the test should not predict someone’s future. I completely disagree, I think that the test has a great correlation between a students academic achievement and that the test is there to assess how well prepared a student will be in a college setting. I say this because, as a personal example I knew many students when I was in high school who aren’t involve in extra-curricular activities and that they had the time to focus in this standardized tests and did very well, which help the lack of extra-curricular activity in their application. I on the other hand am involve in many extra-curricular activities and had a decent score on these test, which balanced, out my application. In my case, I wasn’t a good test taker and getting a good score on it means that I can have the ability to balance my extra-curricular and academics. Furthermore, in other student’s case, it meant that even though they are not much involved in any activities, it showed that they are very focus on their studies and wanted to do well on every class. Getting high score along with balancing academics and extracurricular signifies that is prepared not only in college but may also be in job. It obviously meant that there should be a better way to incorporate the test scores in the process as like to what is mention in this paragraph.
To have a better perspective, SAT and ACT score is one of the prominent aspects of someone’s admittance to a college.
Getting high score boost up the change of a student getting into the college. If the student is lacking something on their application, getting a high score on the SAT and ACT will fill the missing gap. This works in the other way. Yet still many opponents still oppose on its importance because of economic status. Opponents argue that the test is very expensive and only the people who are wealthy can afford to take the test multiple times. They are completely right, hypothetically students who takes the test multiple times have a better understanding on what is expected on the test when they take it for another time. Students who can only take the test once or twice have less understanding. Yet their claim lacked information that, a student who cannot afford the test may have their test fees waive. This is based on how well a family is doing financially. I for one have my test waived because of my family financial status. This meant that I could take the test multiple
time.
To conclude, since colleges have been using standardized test scores, there isn’t a problem of having it as a factor in college admission. The way to make a consensus is have a better system of incorporating the test scores. Standardized test score have a high correlation on students academic achievement and extracurricular activities based on how well balance the student is. Financially, these tests are very expensive but there ways to make the fee waived. As a student who took the test, it gave me an understanding on how well prepared I am to take on college. Taking the test serve a purpose in making my application stronger. High School who chooses to embark on taking the test may have a better chance of getting into a college along with a exceptional college application.