Is Standardized Testing Still Effective In College Admissions?
Michelle Obama once said, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn 't be here. I guarantee you that”. A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, is on a time limit, or is scored in a “standard” manner. The problem is, is that all students aren’t the same and colleges want diverse, critical-thinking students. Standardized tests are not an effective way to test students skills and abilities to get colleges what they want. Standardized tests should not be used in college admissions because they are not a good representation of what a student can do academically, there are more …show more content…
Some people say that tests like the ACT and the SAT provide an objective, “summative” assessment of student achievement. But no two students are the same, you can’t summarize the knowledge of a mass amount of students. No two students know exactly the same thing. Another reason why some people want to keep standardized testing is because they show comparability. They say that these tests can show how different schools compare to each other, but each school won’t follow the exact same curriculum and they each have different students. Why would colleges rely on this data anyways? They only want to know if the student would be a good fit at their school not how they compared to other ones. A third reason why some people want to keep standardized testing is because they show feedback. That when you take a standardized test they show you what you can improve on. Nevertheless, on tests like the ACT and the SAT you only get back scores in subjects. There is no way to know what exact area needs improvement. Students can only guess what area in the subject they need to practice in. Colleges don’t know what a student knows based on these scores because a student isn’t a number. A score can’t possibly amass everything a student
Michelle Obama once said, “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn 't be here. I guarantee you that”. A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions, is on a time limit, or is scored in a “standard” manner. The problem is, is that all students aren’t the same and colleges want diverse, critical-thinking students. Standardized tests are not an effective way to test students skills and abilities to get colleges what they want. Standardized tests should not be used in college admissions because they are not a good representation of what a student can do academically, there are more …show more content…
Some people say that tests like the ACT and the SAT provide an objective, “summative” assessment of student achievement. But no two students are the same, you can’t summarize the knowledge of a mass amount of students. No two students know exactly the same thing. Another reason why some people want to keep standardized testing is because they show comparability. They say that these tests can show how different schools compare to each other, but each school won’t follow the exact same curriculum and they each have different students. Why would colleges rely on this data anyways? They only want to know if the student would be a good fit at their school not how they compared to other ones. A third reason why some people want to keep standardized testing is because they show feedback. That when you take a standardized test they show you what you can improve on. Nevertheless, on tests like the ACT and the SAT you only get back scores in subjects. There is no way to know what exact area needs improvement. Students can only guess what area in the subject they need to practice in. Colleges don’t know what a student knows based on these scores because a student isn’t a number. A score can’t possibly amass everything a student