ipl-logo

Should Standardized Tests Play In College Admissions Essay

1767 Words8 Pages

My topic revolves around the type of role standardized tests should play in college admissions. I plan to argue that colleges should put less emphasis on standardized tests when choosing the best applicants to attend their universities. Many colleges are taking the approach of ignoring standardized tests results, and either implementing new tasks or stressing other factors when considering the best applicants. Test-optional schools may require additional essays and personality tests, or examine the applicant’s coursework to determine academic excellence and degree of difficulty. The research I collected suggests that standardized tests are biased against various races and classes, GPA is a better indicator of college success, and test-optional universities lessen barriers and increase diversity within their institutions. There have been an increasing number of students who are misrepresented by a single score, yet academically succeed in college nonetheless. That is the primary reason why standardized tests should not be as highly regarded as other factors such as high-school GPA. …show more content…

Because this source was published in a newspaper, I received the most current information on my topic compared to any other source I’ve collected so far. Based on the article, I learned that more than 850 out of 3,000 four-year universities have taken the test-optional approach, many universities are requiring a personality test to be taken by applicants in place of standardized tests, and standardized tests have been criticized for being bias, primarily because white, Asian students, and wealthier families on average perform better than African-Americans, Latinos, and poorer families (Belkin,

Show More
Related

Test Scores In Brave New World

349 Words | 2 Pages

In the scholarly journal “Brave New World: How Test-Optional Policies Could (And Should) Change College Admissions,” written by William C. Hiss and Valerie W. Franks, Hiss and Franks concluded that students who do not send test scores to institutions tend to perform just as well as student’s that send test scores. Hiss and Franks shares their research from a total of 37,000 students from public and private institutions that were accepted to college without sending any test scores. These students were then studied closely by their high school grade point average (GPA), cumulative college GPA, and standardized test scores. The end results explained that there was a very small difference between submitters and non-submitters. Standardized test

Read More

Summary Of Standardized Testing By David Coleman

1013 Words | 5 Pages

Leonhardt examines both sides of the debate, providing research from several different universities such as Brown University, Harvard, University of California, and more. He dissects the education system in these schools regarding standardized testing and discusses why certain universities favor standardized testing and why others do not. To prove his point, the author utilizes citations and statistics. To support his ideas about the debate, he refers to claims made by universities that illustrate standardized tests as a fine predictor of academic success while also describing them as meaningless and counterproductive. This article strongly demonstrates the author’s point and seeks understanding of both sides of the debate concerning standardized testing without choosing a side.

Read More

Summary Of No The SAT Is Not Required By Justin Peligri

1398 Words | 6 Pages

Justin Peligri, in his article, “No, the SAT Is Not Required. More Colleges Join Test-Optional Train,” published in USA Today on July 7, 2014, writes that students spend great deals of time studying for what many believe is the most important test of their life, the SAT. The SAT test is a standardized test used by colleges in the college admissions process. Students are overly stressed for the SAT, hurting their health and wellbeing, even though the usefulness of this test is questionable. In nearly all colleges across the country, SAT scores are a major part of the admissions process, but the major flaws of this test are going unacknowledged by these schools, therefore keeping many qualified students out of colleges, and all but destroying

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of SAT

267 Words | 2 Pages

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is an impelling test to get admission in most of the U.S colleges. All high school seniors during the time of December are actively preparing for victory against the four hour strenuous exam, the SAT. The reason is that SAT score determines the fate and dreams of students. Standardized test scores play a crucial role in student’s future as it is believed to address student’s ability to think, reason, and act so that they can be successful in college life. However, SAT is a huge burden to students and is a biased test.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

1507 Words | 7 Pages

Since 2006, overall SAT scores have dropped by 21 points. It is safe to say that the increase in standardized testing has done more bad than good. When standardized testing became more prominent, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) saw a plateau in reading and math scores. Additionally, the NAEP saw no further closure in the test score gap. The test score gap affects all minorities.

Read More

Optional Standardized Testing

1304 Words | 6 Pages

Currently, there are 850 test optional colleges in the USA and this number is slowly growing (Sheffer). William Hiss believes making standardized tests optional will allow more people to get a higher education (Sheffer). Optional testing creates a more equal opportunity for everyone. A Wake Forest study showed that the “average high school GPA of incoming freshman increased after the school stopped using standardized test scores as a factor in admissions” (Balf). It was also found that higher GPAs were maintained in college (Jaschik).

Read More

Unfair Standardized Testing

1776 Words | 8 Pages

Standardized Testing: Making College Admissions “Fair” Every year , the daunting prospect of undergoing standardized testing brings anxiety to thousands of high school students, and for good reason: a student’s performance on standardized college admission exams - most importantly, the ACT and SAT - is a major determinant in deciding where they will go to college. For decades, such standardized tests have been universally accepted as part of the admissions process: proponents argue, as Syverson (2007) explains, that such tests are the only way of standardizing college admissions when students from different schools have such widely varying profiles. However, in the past several decades a growing anti-testing movement has begun to poke holes

Read More

Thesis Statement: The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

1749 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas

Read More

Why The SAT Should Not Be Abolished

935 Words | 4 Pages

In the history of modern colleges, the SAT has been the most widely accepted standardized test by students. The SAT was first introduced in 1926, and since then it has been used by millions of college applicants to demonstrate their academic prowess. Following the creation of the SAT, there have been countless debates on whether it should be scrapped or kept due to its potential to unfairly discriminate against students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and its possible lack of correlation with academic success. Every year, more schools begin to shift toward test-optional, while many schools continue to use mandatory standardized testing. To fully understand and agree on an answer to this debate, extensive research must be done, and students

Read More

Should Colleges Put Less Emphasis On Standardized Testing Essay

1562 Words | 7 Pages

Should colleges put less emphasis on standardized tests? Standardized testing is something that all high school students rave about and is a hot topic among many members of the College Admission Boards and critics alike. Standardized testing has been in use since the mid 1800’s, and colleges continue to accept thousands of high-school students into their schools based on their standardized testing scores(Pro/Con). Some think the emphasis on SAT scores is the correct approach for admission processes with a view that standardized aptitude test results and their relative scoring provide an insight into the relative knowledge and/or skills of a student.

Read More

Standardized Testing Research Paper

895 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests are very common in today’s modern society. They are used as a tool to measure a person’s performance and indicate how their estimated performance will be in a college class. Every year hundreds of students take the ACT or SAT in order to get accepted into their college of choice and to receive scholarships, but they fail to see the problems with these standardized tests. As more and more people take these tests, the national average score falls causing doubt in the extremely important system. This is leading people to question whether or not the ACT and SATs are accomplishing what they were created to do.

Read More

Effects Of Standardized Testing On Students

174 Words | 1 Pages

Standardized testing brings an added stress on students to score high. If students do not score high on standardized tests it lowers their self esteem. Teachers have to spend plenty of time telling their students how to take a test and not teaching them material that they need to learn for the class. When they are being taught how to take the test they could be learning more information about material in the class. Some people say that standardized testing can

Read More

Standardized Testing And Unrealistic Considerations

1158 Words | 5 Pages

Colleges require standardized tests like the ACT and SAT for a student to be accepted into the school, they do this because they have standards and want that potential student of their school to reach those standards. There are pros and cons to standardized testing but more cons than

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

199 Words | 1 Pages

When it comes to Standardized testing such as the SAT's, ACT"s and GRE I strongly believed that these type of tests no longer measured how ready or smart students are for college. Each student is different and standardized tests should not measured how smart of knowledgeable a students is towards a subject. SAT's and ACT's do not prepare a student for college. They are no longer good indicators of college success as one thought. One of my biggest believes towards Standardized testing is they are biased against certain groups of students.

Read More

Standardized Testing In Public Schools

1191 Words | 5 Pages

School’s are using standardized testing for the wrong reason. “A standardized test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests” (Popham, 1999). The most common examples of aptitude tests are the SAT and the

Read More

More about Should Standardized Tests Play In College Admissions Essay

Related Topics

Open Document