Julia DiBiase
Issue Brief Intro
Testing: A Students’ Biggest Nightmare
Every student within America has experienced test taking in some way or another. Starting off in the earlier days of academics students were faced with simple spelling quizzes and eventually have made it to the point where they were faced with the most nerve racking test of all: the SAT. The SAT can be defined as a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States, and indeed this test is widely used (site). This test is greatly stressed and seems as though receiving a high score is the sole factor that will get a student into college. High school juniors and seniors preparing to take this test typically spend hours trying to remember tactics to do well, while trying to relearn basic math and english skills that were learned years back. So much time, effort, and money goes into the SAT when in reality, is it necessary at all? It can be argued that the SAT is a way for colleges and universities to select students to accept, but selecting students based off a test score from an exam that is not an accurate representation of one’s academic ability is not fair. With that being said, colleges and universities should focus more on a students’ official high school transcript as well as their extracurricular activities. It is understood that too many students apply to certain colleges, way more than they can select to accept, but that is not the case for every college. For the schools that have an abundance of students applying, they should come up with an exam to select which students they can accept, rather than having every student applying to college take the SAT, when in reality, the college that they want can accept them based off their high school grades, activities, and the fact that the school is not receiving as many applications to fill up their enrollment total.
1). Comment on the title. How does it offer a way forward on the issue? Does it hint at or echo the paper’s thesis? Make suggestions.
– The title is simple but it is effective in the way it is presented. with the title, the reader knows that they will be reading about testing and also it points the reader into thinking the issue brief isn’t going to glorify testing.
2). Does this piece’s title and introduction respond to an exigence?-Does it make the issue pressing or connect to other pressing needs and issues? Make suggestions.
– With the topic, it seems as though the piece is going in the direction of changing the way that colleges look at standardized testing, this could respond to exigence since high schoolers are constantly worrying about their test scores and applying to colleges
3). Comment on the thesis. Does it set up a clear argumentative claim? Is it advancing a specific policy or practice? Can you imagine how the rest of the argument will unfold?
– I think that the idea of the thesis makes sense, the wording may sound a little confusing right now because it blends in with the rest of the intro but overall I understand the idea that you have in mind. Then throughout the issue brief, you can just have different topic areas where you can discuss issues with standardized tests, the SAT, how schools are looking at it along with the new idea for big schools to send out their own type of test for students to take.
Overall, I liked your topic and introduction but I have some points that you could consider. I think your title is interesting but doesn’t bring up any sense of change and resolution. Maybe you could do something like “Testing: A Students’ Biggest Nightmare and how America should fix it.” I didn’t really see a thesis point about policies for the rest of your essay. I see potential for exigence, but the SAT has been around since early 1900’s, so why is now the time to change it?