SAT Needs Change

The SAT Needs Change After almost a year after taking the SAT, I ask myself, what was the point of it? Was all my hard work throughout high school taken in vain because of a single exam that, for the most part, didn’t recognize? Following that 3 hour exam, I am sure that this is what many students (along with myself) thought. They were greatly devastated knowing that this was their opportunity in setting their foundation for their future and that they weren’t guaranteed a better score. Standardized testing like the SAT, in my opinion, have the capabilities of testing a student’s abilities. However, the flaws that this exam contains further distance its intentions of the college admission process of finding the best students. As a result I …show more content…
“Criterion-referenced exams… measure how much students know about the subject”, (The Big Problem with the New SAT). This structure should reflect the SAT because students should’ve been tested with material that they learned in high school since that is what they will need in order to succeed in college. For example, currently I am a student at the University of California Davis, and the material that the SAT asked for is being taught while being here my first year. Shouldn’t we have an opportunity to learn and practice the material before taking an exam of such magnitude? The criterion referenced exam fix this problem because the exam consists of the material that students have already learned. The SAT should’ve have been in that structure a long time ago because students have been practicing with those tests since primary school. As the article “The New Problem with the SAT” says, “K-12 schools employ… that have adopted the Common Core- to set explicit learning standards and assess achievement against them”. Students have been developed to take tests of material they know rather than their abilities of taking …show more content…
However due to the flaws it contains, it is an ineffective way to see if this student is capable of being a top flight university. The norm-referenced structure of the SAT is the biggest factor to why the SAT shouldn’t be considered by college admissions. Instead a change to criterion-based exams should be made because students need to be tested on material that they already know. If the SAT continues to be structured as it has been, disadvantages will continue to be a part of a student’s educational career. Changes need to be done in order to give all the same chance of becoming successful. Think about all the talent that has been lost as a result of scores of the SAT. Where do you think all those bright minds have gone? Bright minds that could make our world a better