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SAT Testing Persuasive

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Carl Brigham, Ted McCarrel, and E. F. Lindquist are, without a doubt, the enemy of millions of high school juniors and seniors down on their luck this year. Why exactly? Well they created this “little” test called the SAT and ACT. Carl Brigham in particular, introduced the SAT in 1926. Formally known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, this test was instilled in the education system to measure the aptitude, or mental ability of a student. But, of course one test is never enough; The ACT made its way to the runway in 1959. Invented by Ted McCarrel and E. F. Lindquist, and formally known as the American College Testing. What was once used to “help” a students’ in their education has just become a determent in many of their lives. The SAT and ACT …show more content…

The purpose of this test was to assist in the evaluation of an individual students’ ability to excel in college, which of course, hasn’t been doing a great job. And to make matters worse, the same students that are earning A’s of B’s in their AP, honors, or duel enrolled classes, are having their fate determined because their test scores aren’t deemed worthy for recognition. Thousands of colleges and universities are missing out on the opportunity of having excellent and well-determined students at their school, because there too gung ho about the “cut-off” (or minimum) score. Colleges that are too focused on the cut-off score are subliminally reminding students that good grades do not matter; volunteer hours aren’t really a big deal; receiving awards isn’t anything special; unless they have the high SAT or ACT score to validate it. This can make a student feel like everything they worked so hard to accomplish was a complete waste of time. This “cut-off” score for many colleges, are unrealistically high for an innumerable amount high school students; especially when the national ACT average is 21, but a majority of colleges and universities require a minimum 26 to 30. And even then, a student still isn’t guaranteed admission because that is just the “minimum” …show more content…

They are inaccurate in evaluating a student’s performance and intelligence. The test ignores other talents a student possesses, and just focuses on reading, math, and writing. It takes out the creativity and forces students to think inside the box. Every student is different and special in their own way; when a whole nation of students’ have to take the same exact test, results are going to be skewed and biased, because everyone isn’t taught the same nor think the same. Education across America is unequal; there are students who have the resources, opportunities, and teachers by their side to succeed. On the other hand, there are also students who don’t have the teachers that care or the resources that will help them excel. Inevitably, they are doomed to limited opportunities and hope from higher institutions. Colleges and universities that are too meticulous on SAT and ACT scores, are forgetting that a student’s GPA, and the course load they took on, and the awards and recognition they’ve received, says more about them than their SAT or ACT score. Four years of hard work in high school, speaks more volumes than a four hour

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Many students either care too much about the tests, and therefore try to cheat, or they don’t care enough about the test, making the results worse than they normally would be. Ryan Deffenbaugh explains that one college, along with many others, no longer requires test scores for applicants because there were many arguments that “the scores are not a great indicator of future success in college, and that a billion-dollar-test prep industry creates an unfair playing field for students from families with lower incomes” (Deffenbaugh, 16). This college, Purchase College, is one of many that has the opinion of standardized tests being unreliable when accepting students. They don’t show true intelligence because anyone can get some luck when guessing. An article states, “Kids learn early on that they don 't have to think outside the box, they don 't have to be creative, collaborative or be critical thinkers.

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