Standardized Testing

Over the years I have learned that I tend to buckle under pressure. Yes, it is extremely sad that I do not allow myself to complete a standardized test to the best of my abilities. I honestly do not think that these tests measure a students academic readiness for the future. In fact it does the exact opposite.

Annually high school juniors and seniors sit in a class filled with twenty anxious and terrified adolescents. With each student possibly taking your coveted spot at your first choice school. The anxiety fills you and soon enough it’s the only thing you can think of. Not focusing on the this test you just spent fifty dollars on that decides where you end up. But focusing on all the horrifying truths that lye before you if you don’t score as high as you have hoped. For me, I probably stopped five times during the SATs to just give myself a little extra push...a little self motivation if you will. When I test I get more terrified than sitting in the front row of a roller coaster waiting for the ride to start. And if you know me, well then you know I absolutely hate roller coasters. So why do you think I would want to spend my Saturday morning in a room full of strangers? 

By our unwillingness to be there mixed with our anxiety and so very obvious fear I think that a students grades should be judged instead of a test. Sure you might get lucky on a test or two and do fairly well for yourself. But keeping up with the pace of your class. All the while retaining the necessary information you need for your other six classes and getting roughly a 3.6 average show just how capable you are as a student. Granted college is made up of tests and lengthy essays, but you showcasing all your potential, hard work and discipline that you placed into the regular school year, rather than 4 hours on a Saturday, should not go unlooked. Maintaining a rather decent grade point average while being in sports, holding down a job and other various extra circulars you kill yourself to do just you get glanced at by a college rep is ridiculous. 

Forget about all the weekends you’ve lost studying, going to sporting events, volunteering in the community because if you base all of it on a test. None of your hard work means anything. A college should want a well rounded and diverse student that will show case themselves as well as their future college in the brightest of lights. A student should not get into college just because they score higher than most on a standardized test. In fact these tests should be taken out of the equation as a whole. 

To find out who is actually applying their school admission reps should look at your personal statements and essays first. Then move their way into your academic accomplishments. I can assure you that I am not the strongest student out there, but with everything that I do to get a fraction of a test score that my classmates may achieve so easily, the schools aren’t in my favor at all. In fact their in favor of the minority not the majority. So the next time colleges try to recruit more students, they should think about everything that brought the student to this very moment. And should stop focusing on a drowsy and caffeine filled morning.