Standardized Tests

Standardized Test Measuring One’s Abilities

Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the ACT and many more exams are given out to measure a student's “educational level”, but does it really? I strongly disagree that it measures how smart an individual is, instead it only measures how good of a test taker they are. In addition these tests are also used to give schools their rankings on how well the students and teachers are doing.

The school systems would make preparations for these exams and tests. The school agenda is to prepare the teachers to teach the material that will be on the standardized tests. These tests that are given out to categorize if a student is considered as an “intelligent”. I do not think intelligence can be measured with a long exams and wordy questions and numbers. Yes, it does prove one thing that the student is good at memorization and is a great test taker, but will this skill actually help you in the real world if you want to be an artist?

SAT scores based on family income Source: Washington Post

There is a common saying where one can be book smart, but not street smart. In this case the saying fits perfectly, being able to score a 1500 or higher will rank you as an average to advance student or should we call it “intelligent”. Test scores are also tied to the financial income of an individual. If the individual is in the higher class they can afford SAT prep while the lower classes do not have the money for these unnecessary classes. So, the higher class individuals have an advantage over the lower class individuals. According to Zwick, "Thirty-two percent of students from a high socio-economic background earned a score of 1100 or greater on the SAT, while only 9 percent of students from a low socio-economic status achieved the same score,"  

Based on CollegeBoard, the scores of the class of 2013 was 1498 and this is not a high or low score it evens out, due to a spike of high and low scores, but the lower scores drag down the average.  speaking, can you really use these test taking skills in the real world? If you were to want to pursue a dancing career would you use the material you were taught to ace the exams to dance? I highly doubt the exam questions would appear during a dance recital. If a person wanted to be a doctor would they use the SAT questions to diagnose the patient?

In my opinion some people are great test takers, but there are also people who are just as intelligent in different aspects, but when it comes to test taking they get nervous and forget the material and fumble during the testing period. These standardized tests are sometimes used as a college acceptance and job employments. The Georgia Political Review made a claim about the correlation between performance and SAT scores, they stated that "While there may be academic support for the argument that cognitive ability can predict job performance, the evidence linking high SAT scores to workplace success is lacking."

These standardized test can not accurately measure how smart a person is. There are people who learn better when they are given more time to actually get the material down rather than study and memorize the answers in order to get a high score on the exams or tests. It’s not just colleges that look at these test scores some employers judge their applicants because of their score. These employers are discriminating their applicants based on a test they took when they were only 17, a person's brain is constantly growing and obtaining more knowledge each day. They will be applying for jobs at the age of 22, their minds have matured so their high school scores do not give a good representation of their knowledge and skills.

Some employers turn away the lower score individuals not knowing they might excel in other ways. Some people have social skills that are not taught from books but acquired by personal experiences. If this person is put into a business company, he or she may be a great member and tool towards their company, but due to the scores if they get dismissed by that the employer can not see the full potential of the individual.

Standardized test are a horrible and inaccurate ways to measure a person’s future and

potential abilities. Instead of judging one harshly on their scores employers should be more open

minded. For institutions or companies they should provide other alternatives, such as tests that are

based on the job description/position.