Does Standardized Testing Accurately Test Intelligence?
Standardized tests, such as the ACT or the American College Test, have been around for quite sometime; however, its importance is often questioned. In the last decade, more than half of U.S. colleges required ACT scores for prospective students to even have their applications reviewed (“How Many Colleges Are There In America” 1). Standardized testing may appear to benefit students, but it also promotes nothing but hardships to some people. In some cases, the act of testing can even hinder one from excelling. All in all, a standardized test should not be the determining factor when deciding a student’s college readiness because it doesn’t fully measure one’s full academic knowledge …show more content…
There are some scenarios where there are students who do poorly on the ACT but have a very bright future in college; on the other hand, there are some students who do excellent on the ACT but have a difficult time facing college-level classes. When all of it was said and done, the success all came down to grades. An alternate form of testing college readiness besides the ACT is simple - a student’s GPA. A former dean of Bates College, William Hiss, conducted a study to track the relationship between the two. He started by researching colleges who had “test optional” submissions where students could opt out of presenting their ACT test scores. He found that there was an insignificant difference between the college performance of those who had submitted their test scores and those who did not. In fact, “Only .05 percent of a GPA point set ‘submitters’ and ‘non-submitters’ apart, and the difference in their graduation rates was just .6 percent” (Sheffer 1). Hiss figures that colleges should really look into the GPA of a student. He states, “...(it) matters the most (Sheffer 1).” “The evidence of the study clearly shows that high school GPA matters. Four-year, long-term evidence of self-discipline, intellectual curiosity and hard work; that’s what matters the most (Sheffer 1).” So now the question is whether the ACT is really important when weighing out the unprepared from the prepared? Could it be …show more content…
In 1908, two scientists, Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, studied the effects of stress on one’s performance. They found that when your stress it too high, your performance bares the burden. They also talked first hand to students and found that most students agreed with saying “I was so stressed, I could hardly breathe,” “When I came to an unfamiliar question, I froze,” “With all that pressure, I couldn’t keep my attention on the test” (Berstein 1). This leads to the conclusion of the ACT not being able to test someone’s intellect accurately because of the inability to focus on the questions, one is typically unaware of any prior knowledge that they may have learned. Therefore, it should not be a deciding factor of whether or not a student is college ready or not. Furthering this topic, a range of researchers did a study on approximately 5,414 students and to study the relationship between “test anxiety and academic performance” (Chapell et. al. 1). They found that “Low-test-anxious undergraduates averaged a B+, whereas high-test-anxious students averaged a B” (Chapell et. al. 1). This backs the claim of the possible interferences that the standardized testing does not take into consideration. While some may say that ACT testing quite beneficial and convenient for colleges when reviewing an applicant’s application because of it’s high
Standardized tests, such as the ACT or the American College Test, have been around for quite sometime; however, its importance is often questioned. In the last decade, more than half of U.S. colleges required ACT scores for prospective students to even have their applications reviewed (“How Many Colleges Are There In America” 1). Standardized testing may appear to benefit students, but it also promotes nothing but hardships to some people. In some cases, the act of testing can even hinder one from excelling. All in all, a standardized test should not be the determining factor when deciding a student’s college readiness because it doesn’t fully measure one’s full academic knowledge …show more content…
There are some scenarios where there are students who do poorly on the ACT but have a very bright future in college; on the other hand, there are some students who do excellent on the ACT but have a difficult time facing college-level classes. When all of it was said and done, the success all came down to grades. An alternate form of testing college readiness besides the ACT is simple - a student’s GPA. A former dean of Bates College, William Hiss, conducted a study to track the relationship between the two. He started by researching colleges who had “test optional” submissions where students could opt out of presenting their ACT test scores. He found that there was an insignificant difference between the college performance of those who had submitted their test scores and those who did not. In fact, “Only .05 percent of a GPA point set ‘submitters’ and ‘non-submitters’ apart, and the difference in their graduation rates was just .6 percent” (Sheffer 1). Hiss figures that colleges should really look into the GPA of a student. He states, “...(it) matters the most (Sheffer 1).” “The evidence of the study clearly shows that high school GPA matters. Four-year, long-term evidence of self-discipline, intellectual curiosity and hard work; that’s what matters the most (Sheffer 1).” So now the question is whether the ACT is really important when weighing out the unprepared from the prepared? Could it be …show more content…
In 1908, two scientists, Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, studied the effects of stress on one’s performance. They found that when your stress it too high, your performance bares the burden. They also talked first hand to students and found that most students agreed with saying “I was so stressed, I could hardly breathe,” “When I came to an unfamiliar question, I froze,” “With all that pressure, I couldn’t keep my attention on the test” (Berstein 1). This leads to the conclusion of the ACT not being able to test someone’s intellect accurately because of the inability to focus on the questions, one is typically unaware of any prior knowledge that they may have learned. Therefore, it should not be a deciding factor of whether or not a student is college ready or not. Furthering this topic, a range of researchers did a study on approximately 5,414 students and to study the relationship between “test anxiety and academic performance” (Chapell et. al. 1). They found that “Low-test-anxious undergraduates averaged a B+, whereas high-test-anxious students averaged a B” (Chapell et. al. 1). This backs the claim of the possible interferences that the standardized testing does not take into consideration. While some may say that ACT testing quite beneficial and convenient for colleges when reviewing an applicant’s application because of it’s high