Standardized Testing Persuasive Essay
As a Senior applying to colleges, I have taken both the ACT and SAT multiple times. And I hate them. And it's not just because I have to get up early on a Saturday morning. But whoever created these tests surely isn't a teenager who loves their sleep. But that's beside the point. In today's society, they have become too important of a factor in the college admission process. They have the potential to be the only thing that prevents one from getting into a school of their dreams. Therefore, standardized tests, including the ACT and SAT, shouldn’t be as important in the college admission process as they currently are.
Standardized tests don't allow equal opportunity for success as they favor affluent students. Those at a disadvantage include minority groups and students coming from families with low incomes. Rich students can afford to take test preparatory classes such as Kaplan or The Princeton Review. However, those not as wealthy don't have this excess money to spend on nonessential things such as test preparation. Additionally, research shows that students score an …show more content…
additional 30 points for every $10,000 of their parent's income. Also, wealthy students can afford to take the tests multiple times. This has been shown to increase test scores by as much as 100 points. Again, poor students don't have this luxury. Suppose you were living in extreme poverty. You were barely surviving day to day and you don't know when the next meal is coming. You have managed to take the ACT or SAT once but spending that much needed money on a test retake would possibly deprive your family of necessary items.
Furthering the aforementioned, the tests are inherently biased. These standardized tests tend to favor males. In fact, studies have shown that boys score slightly higher than girls across all races. despite boys' lower grades in high school. Moreover, the fast paced timing of the test favors males over females as males are more likely to take risks by guessing on questions they are unsure of and are sometimes rewarded. Females, on the other hand, are better at discerning what is the best answer, which doesn't appear on these tests. Regardless of gender, it seems as if there just never is enough time. As in the video, I always end up having to guess and bubble in like 5 answers at the end because time is up. Tests also favor English natives. The idiomatic terms such as "ball and chain" are more recognized and understood by people whose first language was English. Also used on the test are phrases such as "in an ivory tower", "bright as a new pin", and "hang up one's hat". Prior to doing research for this speech, I didn't have a clue what any of these meant. Do any of you watch NCIS? You know Ziva, and how she always gets the idioms wrong? This just illustrates the difficulty associated with the idioms. Those who learned another language aren't familiar with these phrases and therefore choose the wrong answers. If you were a non-English native, wouldn't you have trouble knowing the meaning of these tough idioms?
Moreover, the possibility that one's future is decided by one test day is just absurd. Whether or not one may make it into a particular college can be decided by a mere three hours. However, some people don’t test well. A college counselor in Maine stated “I cannot tell you how many students I have worked with who are amazing in their classes but freeze when it comes to the SAT or ACT because they know how much is riding on the scores. Unfortunately, for these students who do have good GPAs but poor test scores, merit aid is usually lessened or not offered at all.” Additionally, a current college student stated "People could be bad test-takers or be distracted and it could end up affecting their score". As stated before, some people just don't do well on tests under pressure and their mind could be distracted and the last thing they want to do is take the test. These could both negatively affect test scores.
Furthermore, the ACT and SAT don't measure readiness for college.
Princeton President William Bowen stated "High school grades are a far better incremental predictor of graduation rates than are standard SAT/ACT test scores". Also, Generic national assessments of college readiness are not connected tightly enough to the state curriculum. Tests have not been tailored to state's specific curriculum and standards. Also, the ACT and SAT only test certain subjects. The ACT tests English, math, reading, and science while the SAT only tests math, reading, and writing. There are numerous subjects that aren't even covered such as foreign language and history. For someone who isn't majoring in one of these areas, how can this be a good predictor of college success? And in a society that preaches about being a well-rounded individual, why are we only testing certain
subjects?
Additionally, ACT scores in particular have been shown to have a large margin of error. If a student were to retake the exam, their score would be higher or lower on the test than when taken previously. Studies have shown that the English error is 1.55 points, the mathematics error is 1.43 points, the reading error is 2.20 points and the science reasoning error is 1.75 points.
So, are there any alternatives to these standardized tests? Yes, there are. Test scores should be optional in college admissions. The nearly 400 colleges and universities that already admit substantial numbers of freshman applicants without regard to test scores have shown that class rank, high school grades, and rigor of classes taken are better tools for predicting college success than any standardized test. And there are great schools that aren't requiring standardized test scores. American University, Denison University, DePaul University, Wake Forest, and Wittenberg all don't require the SAT or ACT. And their student body hasn't decreased. In fact, the diversity of their student body has increased which exposes students to a wider variety of cultures and practices, allowing them to choose who they want to be. College is for the formation and solidification of our beliefs and exposing us to different views will allows us to do this.
To summarize, standardized tests including the ACT and SAT are flawed. However, they are a enormous part of the current college admission process. Because of the lack of fairness, the biased nature of the test, the pressure put on students to perform well on one test, and the inability to serve as an indicator for college readiness, these tests should be less of a part of the college admissions process. Instead, different indicators such as class rank and high school grades should be used.
Standardized tests don't allow equal opportunity for success as they favor affluent students. Those at a disadvantage include minority groups and students coming from families with low incomes. Rich students can afford to take test preparatory classes such as Kaplan or The Princeton Review. However, those not as wealthy don't have this excess money to spend on nonessential things such as test preparation. Additionally, research shows that students score an …show more content…
additional 30 points for every $10,000 of their parent's income. Also, wealthy students can afford to take the tests multiple times. This has been shown to increase test scores by as much as 100 points. Again, poor students don't have this luxury. Suppose you were living in extreme poverty. You were barely surviving day to day and you don't know when the next meal is coming. You have managed to take the ACT or SAT once but spending that much needed money on a test retake would possibly deprive your family of necessary items.
Furthering the aforementioned, the tests are inherently biased. These standardized tests tend to favor males. In fact, studies have shown that boys score slightly higher than girls across all races. despite boys' lower grades in high school. Moreover, the fast paced timing of the test favors males over females as males are more likely to take risks by guessing on questions they are unsure of and are sometimes rewarded. Females, on the other hand, are better at discerning what is the best answer, which doesn't appear on these tests. Regardless of gender, it seems as if there just never is enough time. As in the video, I always end up having to guess and bubble in like 5 answers at the end because time is up. Tests also favor English natives. The idiomatic terms such as "ball and chain" are more recognized and understood by people whose first language was English. Also used on the test are phrases such as "in an ivory tower", "bright as a new pin", and "hang up one's hat". Prior to doing research for this speech, I didn't have a clue what any of these meant. Do any of you watch NCIS? You know Ziva, and how she always gets the idioms wrong? This just illustrates the difficulty associated with the idioms. Those who learned another language aren't familiar with these phrases and therefore choose the wrong answers. If you were a non-English native, wouldn't you have trouble knowing the meaning of these tough idioms?
Moreover, the possibility that one's future is decided by one test day is just absurd. Whether or not one may make it into a particular college can be decided by a mere three hours. However, some people don’t test well. A college counselor in Maine stated “I cannot tell you how many students I have worked with who are amazing in their classes but freeze when it comes to the SAT or ACT because they know how much is riding on the scores. Unfortunately, for these students who do have good GPAs but poor test scores, merit aid is usually lessened or not offered at all.” Additionally, a current college student stated "People could be bad test-takers or be distracted and it could end up affecting their score". As stated before, some people just don't do well on tests under pressure and their mind could be distracted and the last thing they want to do is take the test. These could both negatively affect test scores.
Furthermore, the ACT and SAT don't measure readiness for college.
Princeton President William Bowen stated "High school grades are a far better incremental predictor of graduation rates than are standard SAT/ACT test scores". Also, Generic national assessments of college readiness are not connected tightly enough to the state curriculum. Tests have not been tailored to state's specific curriculum and standards. Also, the ACT and SAT only test certain subjects. The ACT tests English, math, reading, and science while the SAT only tests math, reading, and writing. There are numerous subjects that aren't even covered such as foreign language and history. For someone who isn't majoring in one of these areas, how can this be a good predictor of college success? And in a society that preaches about being a well-rounded individual, why are we only testing certain
subjects?
Additionally, ACT scores in particular have been shown to have a large margin of error. If a student were to retake the exam, their score would be higher or lower on the test than when taken previously. Studies have shown that the English error is 1.55 points, the mathematics error is 1.43 points, the reading error is 2.20 points and the science reasoning error is 1.75 points.
So, are there any alternatives to these standardized tests? Yes, there are. Test scores should be optional in college admissions. The nearly 400 colleges and universities that already admit substantial numbers of freshman applicants without regard to test scores have shown that class rank, high school grades, and rigor of classes taken are better tools for predicting college success than any standardized test. And there are great schools that aren't requiring standardized test scores. American University, Denison University, DePaul University, Wake Forest, and Wittenberg all don't require the SAT or ACT. And their student body hasn't decreased. In fact, the diversity of their student body has increased which exposes students to a wider variety of cultures and practices, allowing them to choose who they want to be. College is for the formation and solidification of our beliefs and exposing us to different views will allows us to do this.
To summarize, standardized tests including the ACT and SAT are flawed. However, they are a enormous part of the current college admission process. Because of the lack of fairness, the biased nature of the test, the pressure put on students to perform well on one test, and the inability to serve as an indicator for college readiness, these tests should be less of a part of the college admissions process. Instead, different indicators such as class rank and high school grades should be used.