ACT And SAT Scores

Should ACT and SAT scores be considered when applying to college? The ACT and SAT are standardized test that are supposed to measure the intelligence of students. One of the two test are required for first year applicants applying to a university. There are a lot of huge problems when thinking about the ACT, formally known at the (American College Testing Program Assessment) and SAT formally known as the (Scholastic Aptitude Test). (Fairtest) A college can’t tell how smart someone is by a number, these tests are not accurate representations of the students. ACT and SAT scores should not be a huge deciding factor when applying to college because minorities tend to score lower on test, some students don’t speak English as there first language,

(Dean) For a child to succeed they must learn enough to learn the material and do all of the work. (ibid) Some children enter school and don’t know any English or have gotten little early support and not enough to get them to the level that they need to be at. (ibid) Then they not only have to learn to speak the language, but they have to read it, write it, and understand it. (ibid) They also have to try to keep up with students in math and science while getting use to the different culture, while the other students have been speaking English their whole lives. (ibid) Many students go through culture shock which can affect learning tremendously. (ibid) Culture shock occurs when someone is put into an environment that they are not use to. This doesn’t mean that the students are not smart, it might just mean that they don’t fully understand English. In addition to culture shock, many test takers may not be familiar with some of the saying on the test, especially students whose first language is not English. (Biased, Inaccurate, and misused) A lot of students only study English at school, if they don’t practice English at home it will be harder to maintain the English language because they have two different lives and their parents can’t help them at all. (Dean) If a parent is bilingual then it will help the student tremendously in all areas. (ibid)

Test anxiety is when the most challenging part of learning something is the test. One thing that causes test anxiety is the fear of failure, some students will put so much pressure on themselves that they will tie there self-worth too the outcome of the test which can be devastating for them. (ADAA) Lack of participation is another cause of test anxiety; a lot of students will procrastinate or wait until the last minute to do the work or study and some will not study at all which causes major stress and anxiety. (ibid) Another cause of test anxiety can be poor test history, if a student has done poorly on test in the past then it can influence how they do on the test in the future and lead to a negative mindset. (ibid) There are Physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of test anxiety. Some physical symptoms of test anxiety are headaches, nausea, diarrhea, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, light headedness, feeling faint, and can lead to panic attacks where individuals feel like they can’t breathe or are having a heart attack. (ibid) If ACTs and SATs where illuminated then it would eliminate the amount of test anxiety that students would experience. (ibid) Physical symptoms can be very uncomfortable or painful and scary at times. Some emotional symptoms of test anxiety are anger, fear, helplessness, and disappointment. (ibid)