Persuasive Essay On Standardized Test

Standardized tests can place a huge amount of stress on students and teachers. Some students do well with certain levels of stress, others not so much. A lot of students suffer from what is called test anxiety which hinders performance. Studies suggest that too much stress is psychologically and physically harmful. Stress is so overwhelming that the brain shifts into a “fight or flight” response. Which means that it is impossible to engage in a higher order thinking process that

Anyone who has ever taken the ACT or the SAT knows how stressful and difficult the tests are. Students are forever judged because of the scores the receive by colleges and peers. The ACT/SAT are standardized tests that are meant to calculate what students have learned in previous years of high school. Colleges then use this score to determine whether a student will succeed in college. Specific problems with this process include the fact that high schoolers are extremely busy and may have other things on their minds, the tests require brutal test prep, the test can cause stress and anxiety, and the tests do not accurately gage a student’s college success. For these main reasons, students should not be required to take the ACT/SAT to get into college.

College is right around the corner and senior year will soon be coming to a close. Over the years, I have been exposed to all sorts of standardized tests. Some of these I can prepare for, like the ACT, while others seem to throw some curveballs, like the MAP Assessment. Either way, both tests help measure and determine my ability as a student. No student looks forward to taking exams, but I understand why they are essential for evaluating students. Standardized tests allow colleges and teachers to measure student’s ability as well as push students to study and take things seriously. For this reason, I think the number of them should be maintained.

Many people in the United States are concerned with the role that standardized testing has on education. Most of them have very strong views on this subject and as it usually happens with large-scale issues these views are very diverse and often opposite. Some claim that standardized testing is the best way to determine student’s skills and qualities because they are equally designed for everyone and not biased. Others, on the other hand, argue the fairness of these tests. They believe that test scores do not represent student’s knowledge. What is certain, in my opinion, is that this subject needs more attention followed by actions that will actually make difference in the education system.

Another problem with standardized tests is that they cause unnecessary stress for students of all ages. There has been an increase in stressful standardized tests that is somewhat disconcerting. “By the late 1980s, most states required some type of mandatory testing; by 1991, students who completed high school took, on average, 18-21 standardized tests in their career…”(Solley). Standardized tests can be demanding for many students. Students who are not natural test takers can have difficulty achieving proficiency on

Students shouldn’t be measured by what they get on standardized test since it doesn’t show other things that the students are good at. The author wrote, “ Contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement. They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills.” (Opposing viewpoints in Context pg.1) The author’s main argument is that standardized tests do not show the other skill that students, schools or programs have that isn’t shown just through a test. That Standardized testing doesn’t effectively measure the achievement of students. In his or her article, the author puts what achievement is but what is based on standardized test and not other things. A lot of attributes are not measured from the standardized tests. There are some places that have rewards for “shallow thinking” (Opposing viewpoints Pg.3)

Many students have experienced the joy of test-taking. For some people, tests do not bother them. However, many experience test anxiety especially for these more high-stake tests. There are many different standardized tests such as: SOLs, SATs, ACTs, and college entrance exams. These standardized tests are not efficient tools for determining the knowledge of students. People respond differently on tests depending on the testing environment and how their day has been. However, others argue that standardized tests show grades each individual student has truly earned. Standardized tests are stressful, they do not represent a student’s understanding of material well, and they interfere with the way teachers want to teach.

I understand standardized testing is to know where a student educational level is at but it’s not right to make it worth a huge part of our grade. Many fear if they lower the percentage students are more likely to try less on the test but it could actually improve how well they do. It makes students feel worse about themselves because of the low score they received. Standardized testing is not worth the pressure it places on students.

To school administrators, these standardized tests evaluate students on their testing ability. To teachers, it is a way to get an idea for how students are learning in their classroom. To students, it creates tension since they do not how to prepare for these exams. After completing the appropriate course, students have the opportunity to take the standardized test during that assigned semester. The schools do not provide much help on the standardized tests for students who have to take them. They have only a few practice sessions. Students could go to tutors, but many students believe they do have the intelligence to pass these standardized tests, but sometimes have too much anxiety. For instance, The Simpsons displays a segment of their own when students have to take the standardized tests in a certain amount of time for each, which causes some to have anxiety. In The Simpsons episode, Lisa is having anxiety when taking this difficult test because Principal Skinner explains to the class about the importance of this standardized test they are taking. Schools make it seem like these standardized tests are the “end of the world” if they do not pass. Being able to succeed is one adventure, but it truly is up to the student of what he makes out of his education in order to build up his

Standardized tests, the monster all students have to face. These “important” tests are known to cause high amounts of stress on not only students, but also teachers, causing them to “teach to the test.” This, and the stress, can negatively affect a student’s potential to learn as much as they possibly can. Studies have proven that standardized tests also are not reliable for many reasons. One reason being, standardized tests do not even accurately measure how much an individual student has learned.

Since 1805 public schools have been the backbone of many Americans and their strive for an education. On top of this, public schools, according to the Huffington Post, equate to 91% or 50.7 million of those attending pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade. But, with other school types such as year-round attending over 2 million students, the question begs, “Which school type provides their students with the best education”?

Have you ever thought about what college you want to go to after high school? In order to get into that college, you must be accepted. Colleges look for a numerous amount of criteria in order for you to get accepted, and one of those things colleges look for is your standardized test score. The standardized test is a test administered and scored in a consistent, or “standard”, way (edglossary.org). Seeing that you must get a high enough score on the test in order for your dream college to accept you, the tests are difficult, but are very worth it at the end. Colleges have been accepting students into their school with standardized test scores for more than 50 years, and with that being said, it has seemed to work pretty well (content.time.com). In the end, standardized test scores show that you deserve to go to that college, and is also a way of showing that you’ve worked hard for so long to accomplish something huge.

When students think about tests, their thoughts tend to move more towards the idea of “how am I going to memorize all of this in one week,” I know this from experience. Why is this the way that students treat such “important” tests? I ask myself that question just about every time I think about taking an end of course test, SAT, ACT, or anything like that. All across the nation, students have also been introduced to a thing called common core, which has, for some reason, been made even more difficult than the previous set standards. This seems to be no solution to the problem, but will more than likely only worsen the ditch that we have gotten ourselves into, in terms of education. Before focusing on making school more challenging for students and teachers, would not it make more sense for the problem of students not actually learning the content of the course to be fixed first? With more challenging tests, comes more confused students who are willing to do anything just to pass; including flushing their education down the toilet. They do this by only storing the information in their short-term memory rather than actually learning the content of the class, but it’s not always their faults, either. The way the school system is set up, students are not taught how to actually learn the material or use it in real life. A student’s only goal is making good grades on the tests and surviving the class. This memorizing business can hurt students later on in life, as well. These kids get used to taking the easy way out, and will never learn the “deeper-thinking skills” that they need to succeed in the world today. “The focus on memorization, fueled by standardized testing, has obstructed learning, according to Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, who argues that students have been losing or squandering most of the information they acquire in school.” (Towler.) Even a

How do I do on standardized tests? Well it all depends on what the subject of the test is. If it is English I feel confided that I'll do great on it, but if it is Math, well then there is a problem because I struggle with math a lot. I consider myself a good but sometimes bad test taker because I sometimes don't know the answer to a question and I leave it like that, I don't try my best. Although I sometimes come back to the question and try to solve it again to see what the answer is. In other words I try my best to figure everything out. I prepare for a standardized test my going over what we have learned in the past classes. A night before, I try my best to go over and review old worksheets and repeat the questions on a different piece of

To begin with standardized testing creates several critical problems for students and for the education industry. These tests are created to test over particular things. In the end these types of tests are only limited in the amount of knowledge that can be tested toward students. For example, “Standardized exams offer few opportunities to display the attributes of high-order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity.” (“Standardized Testing Has Serious Limitations”). Even though these tests are able to attack certain subjects at the core, they still leave out very valuable and critical information that all students should know. In