SAT Persuasive Essay

Throughout high school and college we will go through a vast amount of testing but why? Testing is used to show a person’s amount of knowledge on a particular subject. Usually it’s for one specific subject and not a majority of them, the standardized tests include all testable subjects as in English, math, science, writing, and reading. However, before we can all begin our college careers we have to take one of two tests, the ACT or the SAT. These two tests determine the college you get into, the amount of scholarships you will receive, and even whether or not your will be accepted into any college.

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.

The ACT is the only fair way to compare students from all across the country that come from different educational backgrounds. The ACT shows how you rank among other students, however, if you are a bad test taker, this will not be an accurate ranking. The ACT is the single most important thing that colleges look at before giving acceptance, but why is that, when studies have shown that GPA is a better indicator of how successful students can be in college?

All of you at one point had to take either the ACT, SAT, or even both, and then had to wait nervously until you received your scores back which ultimately decided the rest of your educational career.

In addition, the SAT and ACT can be considered inaccurate because they are often biased toward certain ethnicities, social classes and genders. Those in favor of these standardized test argue that they are an equal opportunity for all to demonstrate their knowledge and capability, however, this is not the case(“Do Standardized Test” par 10). The ACT is known for being biased toward certain groups of people. “According to ACT research, when all factors are equal, such as course work, grades and family income, Whites still outscore all other groups. If the ACT

Throughout high school and college we will go through a vast amount of testing but why? Testing is used to show a person’s amount of knowledge on a particular subject. Usually it’s for one specific subject and not a majority of them, standardized tests administered in schools today include all testable subjects as in English, Math, Science, Writing, and Reading. However, before we can all take the next step and begin our college careers, we have to take one of two tests, the ACT or the SAT. These two exams demine the college you get into, the amount of scholarships you will receive, and even whether or not your will be accepted into said college, all determined by the score you receive.

The ACT is one of the most important tools that colleges use to evaluate students and helps determine if they are going to allow that student to enroll in their school. ACT scores determine a student’s strong and weak points and can help some students determine what career path is most suitable for them. For many students in Missouri the ACT is their only way at getting into college due to financial difficulties that they might have home. Students who

The ACT standardized test measures what students have learned while in high school is an achievement test. The SAT standardized test with testing for students verbal abilities and reasoning is more of an aptitude test. While guessing is not recommended during the SAT for wrong answers are penalized. The ACT does not penalize and its score is

                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

Thoughts about the ACT or SAT give most students sleepless nights. Well, it is an important test but getting overwhelmed by it is not going to help. These few fun facts about the ACT/SAT are just what you need when you are looking for a short, refreshing distraction from the intense studying. The ACT/SAT should be the main factor in college acceptance because it gives minorities an equal chance of admission, it provides a standard for all students of all high school backgrounds to achieve, and test you on the basic skills you need to know after leaving high school anyway.

ACT vs SAT. Many Illinois high schools have decided to continue with the ACT for this year,

Let’s now focus specifically on what these dreaded tests value: rapid cognition. Malcolm Gladwell points out something many people don’t realize, “Snap judgements and rapid cognition take place behind a locked door” (Blink 51). In other words, Gladwell says you don’t know why your body tells you to do something or not to do something because those decisions are made “behind a locked door.” The ACT and SAT force their contenders to make numerous, rapid decisions because of their time constraint, which increases the amount of silly mistakes students could avoid if the tests allotted more time. Further, what the tests value frustrates many students because they deny the importance of practical intelligence, something psychologist Robert Sternberg defines as “the particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap, or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section” (Gladwell Outliers 101). Tying this into the pop culture aspect, how do you think unknown people suddenly become celebrities? Although most attain popularity from sheer talent, lots of them possess this practical intelligence,

What’s your ACT score? Students are branded with their ACT and SAT scores in society. Today’s education is heavily leaning on standardized tests. An average students takes over one hundred standardized tests in his or her school years. Standardized tests are used to measure and test the knowledge of students in a particular subject in a quick and easy way. These tests are also used to see the extend and skill of students for qualifications of certain colleges and scholarships. Some of these standardized tests include the ACT and the SAT. But do these test fully measure the strength of knowledge these students have practiced for their whole lives? Standardized testing does not allow students to fully and completely show their strength in education and instead results in breaking down students mentally and physically.