Standardized Tests How many countless hours have teachers and kids struggled over ACT packets and practice SAT’s for a mere three hours of filling in bubbles? President Barack Obama said, “teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests.” In high schools all over the U.S. teachers prepare student for these impractical tests, to measure how smart someone is. These standardized tests, however, don’t take into account many other things such as work ethic, willingness to be involved, and student’s effort. These traits are crucial to being successful in college, but college admissions are focused on these tests. Standardized tests are inaccurate assessments and can be affect
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If the colleges looked at what a student had done in high school compared to what their ACT score was then they would receive students more likely to succeed. Jennifer Rorie writes in her article, “If the admissions would pay more attention to four years of hard work instead of three hours of filling in bubbles, they might get more successful and well-rounded group of graduates,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). There are also many variables that can affect that score for that student on that test. Such as, if the student slept well the night before or if the student ate a healthy breakfast that morning. And according to Laura Schocker, if you don’t sleep, you lose. Skimping on sleep can wreak havoc from head to toe. In fact, one study published last year showed that just one day of bad sleep can fatigue you and diminish your ability to function. (Schocker, “Here’s a Horrifying Picture of What Sleep Loss Will Do to You”). Factors such as this can affect the student’s concentration and ability to complete the test to the best of their ability. Your memory is greatly affected after only one night of sleep. Laura Schocker said after one night you are “less focused and having memory problems. Being exhausted zaps your focus, and can render you more forgetful… On top of that, sleep is thought to be involved in the process of …show more content…
Colleges have been using these tests since 1930 and remained largely unchanged until 2005, (Fletcher, “Standardized Testing”) However, even though colleges have been using these tests for admissions for a long time there is always room for improvement. According to Jennifer Rorie, “What universities can do is weigh the students academic track, such as what classes they took and how difficult they were or what extra curricular activities the student was involved in over their standardized test scores,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). If universities made this change to the admission progress it may produce better students for their programs. On the other hand, they like taking the easy way and keeping these tests. Miss Rorie agreed, “Schools are used to testing because, even though it has never been proven to indicate real world success, it is an easy way for them to predict academic success,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). The sooner the changes are made the better, so they can be implemented quicker. Many proponents of testing, however, that this will take to long change and we should leave the system the way it is. But what good is keeping an inaccurate
If the colleges looked at what a student had done in high school compared to what their ACT score was then they would receive students more likely to succeed. Jennifer Rorie writes in her article, “If the admissions would pay more attention to four years of hard work instead of three hours of filling in bubbles, they might get more successful and well-rounded group of graduates,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). There are also many variables that can affect that score for that student on that test. Such as, if the student slept well the night before or if the student ate a healthy breakfast that morning. And according to Laura Schocker, if you don’t sleep, you lose. Skimping on sleep can wreak havoc from head to toe. In fact, one study published last year showed that just one day of bad sleep can fatigue you and diminish your ability to function. (Schocker, “Here’s a Horrifying Picture of What Sleep Loss Will Do to You”). Factors such as this can affect the student’s concentration and ability to complete the test to the best of their ability. Your memory is greatly affected after only one night of sleep. Laura Schocker said after one night you are “less focused and having memory problems. Being exhausted zaps your focus, and can render you more forgetful… On top of that, sleep is thought to be involved in the process of …show more content…
Colleges have been using these tests since 1930 and remained largely unchanged until 2005, (Fletcher, “Standardized Testing”) However, even though colleges have been using these tests for admissions for a long time there is always room for improvement. According to Jennifer Rorie, “What universities can do is weigh the students academic track, such as what classes they took and how difficult they were or what extra curricular activities the student was involved in over their standardized test scores,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). If universities made this change to the admission progress it may produce better students for their programs. On the other hand, they like taking the easy way and keeping these tests. Miss Rorie agreed, “Schools are used to testing because, even though it has never been proven to indicate real world success, it is an easy way for them to predict academic success,” (Rorie, “Colleges are Putting too Much Emphasis on Standardized Tests”). The sooner the changes are made the better, so they can be implemented quicker. Many proponents of testing, however, that this will take to long change and we should leave the system the way it is. But what good is keeping an inaccurate