On a sunny Saturday morning during the spring of my junior year, I was not sleeping in like most teenagers my age but rather sitting anxiously at a desk waiting for my SAT to be handed out. Test anxiety was consuming me as I was thinking about how this test was going to determine which colleges would accept me and which would not. Regardless, I ended up powering through and finishing my test. It was not until I received my test score two weeks later where I found myself looking at a number and feeling complete disappointment. I received an average score but could not help comparing myself to my other friends who had receive scores significantly higher than mine. I felt discouraged, but no matter how many times I retook these tests or how much I prepared, my score remained pretty consistent. I went through a period where these test scores damaged my self-esteem and it took me a long time to realize that a test score means nothing to me, and that my work ethic shines in the A’s I earned and all the extra-curricular activities I thrived in. …show more content…
But what happens when the only way knowledge can be used outside of the classroom is through standardized testing? Standardized testing measures a student’s abilities where they are given a score that is deemed to reflect the knowledge they have supposedly learned in the classroom. However, with the existence of learning disabilities, test anxiety, and lack of preparation, it is unfair for standardized testing to be the core in measuring a student’s achievement. Should students be defined by their test scores, and should teachers and schools be held accountable for what the students earn? Standardized testing holds too much weight in assessing a student’s achievement which overall leads to a depleting curriculum in education