Pro Standardized Testing Essay

The test is expensive to take, especially when you include, fees for sending scores, retrieving scores, registration fees, and the fact that many students take the test at least twice. With the ridiculous fees you have to pay just to take this test, most people and the college board push for test prep.Which is not free. A few years ago, Daniel Riseman, a college test prep tutor in Westchester County, New York, reported that, “one year he took in $220,000, he says, ‘Sometimes I work seven days a week and it just never stops, but it’s good money,’” (Briody). For many people across America it could be very difficult to put food on the table and provide things like home internet for school work. So it is easy to see how a child coming from a struggling income is not as equally prepared for or even introduced to the SAT before taking it. The SAT is set up in a specialized way, so it is important that students are exposed to and taught some basic test taking strategies, something that many schools do not include, because of the rigid standards they already have in place to teach their core subjects. On average, there is a 400 point gap on overall SAT scores between children who come from a family who make less than $20,000 a year and those that make $200,000 or over a year (Goldfarb). Unfortunately, in America it is very difficult to guarantee

W. James Popham, former president of the American Education Research Association, defines standardized testing as, “Any tests that are administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard predetermined manner.” (Background). Standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT, have been included in the American education ever since the mid-1800s. These certain tests incorporate multiple choice questions which could be graded easily with haste by the usage of automated test scoring machines. The tests also include “open-ended” questions that require the expensive alternative of using human graders. The standardized tests do come in a variety of different formats; however, multiple-choice questions and true and false formats are favored in usage since

It tests students in four subjects along with an optional writing portion. These four subjects being, english, mathematics, reading, and science. The ACT takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes, and contains 215 multiple-choice questions. If you are taking the writing portion it will take just over 4 hours. The ACT is scored separately by by each subject on a scale from 1 to 36 and these scores are then taken into a composite score on a scale also from 1 to 36. On this scare 1 is the worst score and 36 would be the best score. The SAT is another standardized test that is said to get and understanding of how well students learn new information and can apply it to solve problems. The SAT tests students on, math, reading, writing, and language. It takes approximately 3 hours, plus an extra 50 minutes if the students chooses to take the optional essay test. The SAT contains a total of 154 questions. That scoring on the SAT is a scale ranging from 400 to 1600, 400 being the worst and 1600 being the

In the USA, standardized testing began in the 1900’s. The first tests were given during WWI, to determine if Soldiers were fit to become Officers. Later on it was used to determine if students were college worthy. The SAT, was created in 1926 by the College Board, as an aptitude test. This test became so famous, that by the 1930’s “the test was accepted

According to The ACT, the purpose of the test is to give colleges additional information about the student’s academic ability other than the student’s grades. The ACT score also shows how prepared the student is for college and helps colleges place the student in the right class. This test has four multiple-choice parts: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science; however, optional writing part is available for those who are applying to colleges that require writing scores. The national testing days are from September to June, and the ACT advises students to take the test in their junior year because of the retesting opportunities and other advantages. Furthermore, the college prep courses that the ACT suggests are four years of English, three years of Mathematics, Natural Science, and Social Studies, and two or more years of additional

When most people think of the SAT nowadays the first thing they think about is usually their academic fate and success. Many individuals have shared anxiety in believing that this test can make or break their success to getting into a good college. Many colleges today use the SAT score as part of their application process to help determine if a student is college ready material.

The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), created by Carl Brigham of Princeton University, was introduced in 1926 by the College Board [1]. The SAT is an attempt to predict how well a student will perform during their first year of college without measuring past academic achievement. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) was

From the time that children begin school, standardized tests have been used to gauge their intellect and evaluate how they stack up amongst their peers. Since the initiation of the No Child Left Behind Act, under the Bush administration, standardized testing has seen a sharp increase. The immense emphasis placed upon standardized tests has acquired several opponents and received backlash from various parties involved. Although the tests are implemented with positive intended results, there are several negative aspects surrounding their use that should be taken into consideration. The advantages or disadvantages of these tests depend on the individual, therefore standardized testing should be optional within the college admission process.

The SAT what first administered in 1926. The SAT stands for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. There are three sections in the test that includes, critical reading, math, and writing. The test takes about three hours and forty five minutes. The author from the article “Inside the New SAT”, says that students tend to brush up on their vocabulary and doing lots of practice test before taking the SAT (Berryman). This shows that the author is basically saying that some students tend to do practice test and practice more on their vocabulary before taking the test, thinking that it will help them pass and get the score they want, verses applying everything you have learned through your years of school and taking the test. The author of “Inside the New SAT”, states that the the makers of the SAT, the “College Board”, has undertaken an unprecedented the effort to push school districts to alter their curriculum in 2003 because they wanted to require the essay to produce better writers and advancing the algebra and geometry (Berryman). This shows that the author explains how the college board wants to push students more and more and challenge them a little by updating the test in 2003 with a required essay and a little bit more challenging math. They aren't just pushing students, they are pushing teachers as well to know more and teach more detailed curriculm so students will know how to answer the

controversy between the ACT and the SAT all the more important. The state has just voted to

Standardized testing has been used throughout recent history for evaluation by companies and universities and to test capacity and intellect within the education system. Even in China, standardized testing was used in a basic form to control citizens’ suitability for positions in the government and society. Alfred Binet established the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, which is now known as the IQ test. During World War I, the armed forces used Army Mental Tests to regulate the best positions for new draftees. IBM industrialized a system of standardizing test scores by scanning bubbled in answers, and today we use those scantrons and scantron machines. The College Board presented the SAT test we use today almost ninety years ago. When it was

The SAT was originally devised to test a person's aptitude or underlying biological potential. Many colleges use that score to predict how the student will do their first year. However, not everyone agrees that the SAT can predict a student’s future success. Psychologist such as Claude Steele have found that the test only measures about eighteen percent of what it takes for a person to do well in school. Studies have also found that the SAT is a bad predictor of freshman year grades as it either over predict or under predicts them to a certain extend. Instead GPA is a better measure of future success. Many people also believe that too much importance has been put on these

A standardized test, according to James Popham, is “Any test that is administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner”. Tests like these have been around for centuries, noticeably since the 1800’s in the United States. Today's tests are forms of those created in 1965 for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In 2002, these tests were enforced in all schools in every state of this country as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (Is the Use…).

According to the SAT vs. ACT article by The Princeton Review, seven key items are listed that students can focus on to help choose the right test. SAT vs. ACT states that the ACT has more straightforward questions; the ACT will not beat around the bush when it comes to their questions. The ACT also carries on a science section of the test while the SAT does not. Another deciding factor about the ACT would be the optional writing portion of the

Scholar Bill Ayers believes standardized testing in schools does not accurately measure what is necessary to be successful in life. Ayers insists that Standardized tests such as the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) measure specific facts and function which are among the least interesting and slightest important information that children should know. In an article titled “Testing the Right Way for Talent”, written by Hugh Price, argues the fact that standardized tests fail to capture the qualities that are necessary to be successful in the business world. Another article labeled “Implementing NCLB Assessment and Accountability Requirements in an Imperfect World” composed by