SAT Argument Analysis

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.

     The SAT are standardized tests, formally called the Scholastic Aptitude Tests and are used by most colleges

Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Likewise, if a poor test-taker is judged by their SAT score, they could be forced to attend an inadequate institute of higher education. For decades, the SAT has been “the test” that makes or breaks a student's chances of getting into their top college. Generally, the privileged populace do well, but minorities and women do not come out as strong and are therefore limited to college choice. The SAT has proven to be an unsuitable, biased method for predicting success of students in college.

Testing has been used for centuries in many different ways, not just to test student intelligence levels. According to an article written in Time, the earliest form of a standardized test comes from China where government leaders would be tested on their knowledge of Confucius and poetry. The article continues with the inclusion of testing during the Industrial Revolution. The testing during this period took children who were not in school and measured their knowledge of subjects that students in schools learned. As time went on, more and more advances came to the testing scene. New products included a revised version of the test, called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, and professionals developed the test scanner by 1936. These inventions improved the time necessary to receive results from an IQ test. Today, tests, like the

Although students may have enough time to prepare for the SAT/ACT, there are many distractions that could prevent the student from getting a good score. The SAT/ACT both require students to answer a load of questions in little time; the student would be more focused on trying to answer all questions rather than getting as many right as they can. One other distraction could be the student’s testing environment. The student may have

Most top-tier universities use SAT and/or ACT test scores as an important factor when considering students for admissions. A perfect score is a great aid in helping an applicate standout in a highly competitive arena. Because the test scores are so important, many students begin preparation in the 8th or 9th grade and continue it throughout their high school years. Today, that prep is even more significant due to redesigned SAT, which many consider a harder test than its predecessor.

In America, a child is expected, as early as the age of five years old, to start taking tests that will measure their skills and determine if they are ready to move on to the next level of their education. This concept of testing in the United States is not new or uncommon. Standardized achievement tests have been used since the 1800s. In the beginning of the 20th century, there were many acclaimed colleges, and a few universities, all across the nation. Unfortunately during this time there was no systematic assessment to test the abilities or knowledge of the possible incoming students, because of this the College Board was created. Soon after the SAT or the Scholastic Aptitude Test came about. Before this type of standardized testing, individual

This is meshes with the whole real life situation-scenario. The new SAT is not trying to trick you it is trying to test ones knowledge. Atkinson and Geiser add, “the exam will be a more straightforward test of material that students encounter in the classroom(Atkinson and Geiser). The college Boards focus is more curriculum-based more than it ever was in the past. This is more fair for students to test on than tricky puzzle-like questions. Not only is the test more fair but it shows students true potential through their work displayed on the test.

When you take a standardized test, you can show colleges what you are capable of. If you were taking a test that decided whether or not you went to your dream college, you would want to do the best you could, right? Showing what you can do on these tests are very important because it can determine whether or not you get into the school you want. Having said this, in order for you to show colleges what you can do, you have to do your best on the tests. Colleges use the test scores to award scholarships to students with a high enough score. Not only is your

The following category discusses the reliability and validity of the SAT. Firstly, the reliability measures the consistency and steadiness of the SAT scores and validity measures how the test is being consumed. The SAT is a reliable test for the reason that if an individual takes the SAT multiple times he or she would receive comparable or higher scores each time the test is given to the individual due to the culture of the test. The SAT is valid since the test is designed to measure an individual cognitive ability and the achievement of students. Research has proved that cognitive test validities are generalizable and predictive of academic performance (Shen, Sackett, Kuncel, Beatty, Rigdon & Kiger, 2012). The SAT shows that more selective

In 1926, the SAT was originally created to give a standard to understand who was intelligent enough to be accepted into what colleges. It was an aptitude test then, and it closely resembled the IQ test, with lots of analogies and number relation problems. Back then, it created a more level playing field for many minority groups that wanted to enter college, even letting so many Jewish students to enter college that they had to put “quotas” on them. Since then, the test has changed dramatically, becoming more of a test meant to be studied for, where scores increase dramatically with practice. However, throughout its entire existence, a question still remains. Does the SAT accurately gauge a test taker’s intelligence?

The SAT’s have been around for quite some time, to be exact, the SAT’s have been around since 1926. First introduced as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, then later renamed several times until it became known as merely the SAT. The SAT’s is a standardized test that is used to determine the skill level and intelligence of a student by compiling questions that involve math, critical reading, and writing. Then with the help of your SAT scores you attempt to move onto a higher level of education such as college. The main concern is that SAT’s may not judge a person’s intelligence correctly, resulting in a lower score and causing future problems for someone when they attempt to reach a higher level of education.

This article is very important because they are trying to make the SAT even harder than it was originally. When I took the SAT I remember how stressful and nerve racking it was, how after spending my Saturdays for weeks on end studying. I still never got the perfect score I wanted. I feel like the test is designed to not show a student’s strengths but to only

The SAT is a universal test that is required by most colleges in the United States. Taking such a widespread and well-known exam makes more sense

The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college and university admissions in the United States. It was first introduced in 1926, and its name and scoring system have changed several times throughout the years. Many students around the world that want to pursue post-secondary institutions in the US make it a point to write the SAT at least once in their high school career to better their chances of getting a higher score. This test has three parts to it – one reading, writing and one math. In order to achieve the best score that they can possibly get and be placed in the highest possible percentile, students may decide to attend SAT preparation classes starting from the early years of High/Middle School. The unfortunate reality of these extra preparation courses is that they are quite expensive, and due to this, they mostly cater towards to higher or higher-middle class families. Courses that provide extra preparation such as Ivy Global are not very affordable to many families and so students. According to many statistics and news reports, the higher the test taker’s family income, the higher their scores in the test. This has been a topic of great controversy as we have grown in the modern society