My sister was planning to finish school with excellent grades. Preparations for UNT made her study all day long and forget about everything else. Pressure from parents, pressure from teachers and even whole world`s expectations did affect on her. Although being memorizing dozens of tests, she could not reach the score she was aiming. How come? How could such a talented girl fail the easiest test she was preparing that much? It is obvious that if she had a chance to show her outstanding abilities, she would not be left without opportunity to study at university. It is thought to be that standardized testing is the most sufficient way to evaluate students` academic achievements. However, it still has many disadvantages. It cannot point out students specific abilities. Moreover, students who are required to take UNT do nothing but memorize thousands of tests, concentrating only in limited fields of whole education world.How could adequate evaluation be possible in these conditions? I am convinced that standardized tests should be replaced with alternative exams that can point out students` abilities.
Talking about standardized testing disadvantages, the first thing which comes to mind is wrong evaluation of knowledge. As in the example I stated before, it is not possible to point out students` individual abilities by this fixed test. Standardized test is not about showing your knowledge but about choosing right one between given answers. No critical thinking or deep knowledge