As college students, we all know that before we come to college, we are most likely need to take several standardized testing. The tests might include SAT, ACT, or Toefl. One consideration is that it could cost a student a lot if they didn’t have their ideal score for the first time. SAT cost 55 dollars, ACT cost 88 dollars, and Toefl can cost around 200 dollars. In a lot of cases, students will take more than one attempt for these tests in order to receive a better grade or at least try to get a better grade so they will have a better chance to get into the college they want to. Since standardized testing is one of the most important categories for colleges to select students. We barely have a chance to not do it.
However, the testing fee isn’t the biggest issue on the table. The issue of having standardized testing is that it basically use one or two exam score to determine your future four years of the academic career. Despite the four years of hard work of high school, if you are not a test-taking kind of student, you will suffer. You could be working so hard for your four years of high school getting a high GPA, taking lots of AP courses to challenge and improve yourself, and taking lots of extra curriculum through 4 years. Still go to the school of your 5th choice because your SAT score is not ideal enough. Is it fair for students? I don’t think so, college shouldn’t just use the standardized test as a bar to filter students. A student could have everything the college wants but stuck with a 1300 SAT because he having a hard time to still focusing for 4 hours straight. This student could lose the opportunity for him to have a place that could make him better.
But this doesn’t mean having standardized testing, I understand that every high school has its own grading system. It could be hard for the college to verify their grade and class throughout the world. That being said, standardized will help the college to see how students’ level is compared to others. However, the score of the test shouldn’t weigh this much. Instead of that, it should just be a reference. As long as the student passes a certain score like 1200 in SAT for example. The college will know that the student has the base ability of English and Maths. That should be the only thing that matters. Because in the end, we are here to learn. Most of the classes we take in college are not covered in high school. Why don’t we let the student have a chance to learn and don’t block them out for an unfriendly testing score.
This is so true! One test is determining so much of your future, and you can work so hard in high school just to not do well and have it negatively impact the rest of your life. It’s definitely a huge issue that needs a better solution than what we currently have.
The SAT is an outdated way to measure a student’s academic success, and I think that the education system should start to move away from standardized testing. Students can miss out on the college or program of their choice just because of one test score, which can negatively impact their entire future.
I think that there are so many things wrong with the SAT, and I definitely agree that we have to stop putting so much emphasis on them. I think colleges have started to move away from this practice, and I know I was really happy with their decision to go test optional during COVID.
I agree with everything you’ve said. If something like a test score is mandatory for a student’s higher education, then there should be a method for students to take these tests free of charge. The fee also adds another layer of stress unto low income students as they feel as if they can’t mess up or it will cost their parents an unnecessary amount of money to retry.
I totally agree with you that standardized testing comes with many issues. I particularly agree with you when you noted that it is simply unfair to have one exam score determine your future regarding what colleges you get accepted to. I think, as a country, we need to find a better solution and do away with standardized testing.
I definitely agree with all of the issues presented by the SAT. I do like your idea though of implementing a sort of base line score just so people can see that students have the basic knowledge required of them for higher education.