Pros And Cons Of College Admissions

Standardised testing is something every high school student has to go through as it is a crucial and stressful part of the college application process. During their junior year, high school student’s stress levels increase as they have to take both the SATs/ACTs and AP tests. The SAT was introduced in 1926 and since then it has slowly become more integrated into the standard procedure in order to get into a university. The AP is an understandable test as it tests students on what they studies in class; the SAT on the other hand requires students to do all the learning and studying on their own time. Some students may even pay hundreds of dollars on the test-prep books and classes on top of the already expensive

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.

Standardized testing has been around since the early 1900’s. Today, it determines a high school student’s future. Every year juniors in high school start to prepare months in advance for the SAT’s and ACT’s. Along with the test itself, comes stress that is not necessary. The debate of standardized tests defining a student’s academic ability or not has become a recent popular controversial topic. Many colleges and universities are starting to have test optional applications because they are realizing that a single test score does not demonstrate the knowledge of a student. There is more value in a student that should rule an acceptance or rejection. In the article, “SAT Scores Help Colleges Make Better Decisions” Capterton states, “The SAT has proven to be valid, fair, and a reliable data tool for college admission” (Capterton). Capterton, president of the College Board, believes that the SAT’s and ACT’s should be used to determine a student’s acceptance because it is an accurate measure. What Capterton and deans of admissions of colleges and universities don’t know is the abundant amount of resources upper class families have for preparation, the creative talents a student has outside of taking tests, and the amount of stress they put on a 17 year old.

I agree with the idea to lessen the importance of any type of standardized test. Just as Stu Schmill, dean of admissions at MIT, stated, “’I do believe that most

Standardized testing has been ruling over the lives of students, making or breaking them in their education without fair judgement. Tests like the SAT and the ACT count for way too much when applying to colleges, which in turn limits the student 's capabilities to thrive in an environment that would benefit them. There are many problems within a standardized test that deems them to be unreliable as a true test of knowledge. Although designed to test groups of students on intelligence, standardized testing neglects to fairly acknowledge the abilities of each unique student which reflect their true capabilities.

Students are overwhelmed with school, work, extra-curricular activities, family, etc. Perhaps standardized tests are a major contributor to students’ stress. A standardized test is any test scored in a consistent manner and requires test-takers to answer identical questions. Among the most common include the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). According to the article “Standardized Testing Has Negatively Impacted Public Schools” from Opposing Viewpoints in Context, the beginnings of standardized tests occurred during World War I when the American Psychological Association developed a “ground-administered test” to eliminate inefficient recruits (Solley 3). Today, standardized tests are necessary for college admission. Just last month, in March of 2016, College Board, the non-profit organization responsible for administering the SAT, altered the format of the test. It is now formatted more similar to the ACT and includes an optional essay reducing the score from 2400 to 1600. Many advocates argue standardized tests accurately measure academic intelligence and hold teachers and schools accountable. In today’s society, standardized tests have become the norm, and unfortunately, people overlook their negative effects despite research substantiating arguments about their disadvantages. Standardized tests are disadvantageous because they hinder education and contain bias.

The ACT and SAT were created to accurately measure the knowledge of our children and make sure they are prepared for college, yet often times it seems to have the opposite effect. Due to the tests, some students are deciding not to go to college just to avoid paying so much money when they do not think they can do well in college courses. Even if students do decide to go to college, they may avoid taking classes with large tests due to test phobia developed from the ACT or SAT (Paul 42). Seeing such low scores in certain subjects can lower a student’s confidence and willingness to take those classes in college. By not taking certain classes, a student is limiting what major they can complete which will lowering their career options (Paul 42). We can’t let this happen to our students! We can’t let one stupid test destroy the careers and futures of hundreds of teenagers. The long term effects of the trauma created by the ACT and SAT are detrimental to today’s students.

For many years, standardized tests have been a pillar of college admissions. Students are persuaded to take the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT) because colleges believe the scores can predict an applicant’s academic success after high school. However, an increasing number of colleges have made reporting test scores optional due to inconsistencies with the tests, many of which have been emphasized by students. These inconsistencies and other problems with test distribution have led to increasing demands for standardized testing to be reformed or become optional in the admissions process. Standardized testing should be eliminated as a criterion for college applicants because the tests have made education less significant, have made scores vary among students with similar academic abilities, and have not contributed a noticeable improvement to children’s intelligence.

Many people go to college to get a further education to get the job they always dreamed of. However, deciding where to go can be tricky. Sometimes others' opinions may persuade you to decide to attend the college they want you to attend. Or the pressure of a loved one makes you decide to attend elsewhere. Perhaps though it’s the cost, but its possible to attend if you truly put your effort in. Regardless of the distance, pressure and cost, I believe you should go to the college you want.

Alarming is an understatement when it comes to the anxiety and stress standardized testing brings. Students are told how vital these tests can be to college acceptance, class placement, and school ranking, so it is no surprise that they lead students to become stressed out and anxious about taking the assessments. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek, "illustrating how testing... produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both" (2). The affect standardized testing has on students is unacceptable, no students should be anxious and uneasy about going to school due to a test. To continue, the Sacramento Bee reported that "test-related jitters, especially among young students,

Nearly half of Penn State freshman that may be seen on the first day, will not be there through the first semester. 46 percent of college freshmen drop out of college their first year (Higgins). Why are nearly half of all students dropping out, when in order to be accepted they had to meet ‘college readiness benchmarks’? One of the most well-known benchmarks is the SAT. In fact, 1.7 million students took the SAT in 2015, which is higher from the previous year of 1.67 million (Adams).  These numbers are very large due to the fact that most colleges and universities require students to send their scores as part of the application process. Although most require SAT scores to be admitted, SAT scores are unnecessary

                Our school system has taught us that we should be good at test taking, answering multiple questions, and how to write essays. For a lot of students during their high school career SAT or ACT was a really important part in their life. Many students rely on their test scores

“I was in trouble. The first analogies were pretty straightforward- along the lines of ‘leopard is to spotted as zebra is too striped’- but now I was in the tall weeds of nuance. Kangaroo is to marsupial as the giant squid is to- I don’t know, maybe D) cephalopod?” (Boylan). As we all know, tests vary from straightforward, to mildly difficult, to just unforgiving and torture for the mind, but this is life and whether people like it or not, everybody has to take a test in their academic career. In specific, the quote at the start of the paragraph shows the author of Save Us From the SAT, explaining to the reader her struggles when she took the SAT or Scholastic Assessment Test. But not to worry because College Board announced in late March that they will be redesigning the SAT to make it, as they say, more high school oriented. The way the SAT is being changed is by making the essay optional, taking out the odd and unusual vocabulary words and replacing them with words that people use day to day life, allowing it to be taken on a computer, and most importantly not penalizing the test taker for getting the wrong answer. This all sounds fantastic, but there is one problem and that is that the new exam will be put into use in 2016. That is my problem, why would they make people suffer and make the test only available until 2016. In my opinion, College Board should speed up the process of making the new SAT in order for other people to benefit from the changes.

I one hundred percent agree with this, we should stop caring about standardized testing as that just adds more pressure to those that care much more than others about their future. I for one care enough to be successful in my life but I don’t want to have to depend on a great testing grade to judge my success. The SAT and ACT, in my opinion before this article, useless to me.

American education should not just be about filling in the correct bubble. Perhaps one of the most crucial and critical tests in our education is the ACT. Students are given 175 minutes to complete 215 multiple choice questions in math, science, reading, and english. It's purpose being able to measure student’s college readiness. This one test can possibly make or break a student. According to the article, How Standardized Testing Damages