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Should SAT Scores Play A Bigger Part Than High School GPA?

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Should SAT scores play a bigger part than high school GPA in admission to a college?
Since the early 1900s, the SAT test has been administered each year to high school students in the United States of America (College board 1). The SAT is a standardized test based on a students’ proficiency in math, reading and writing. In recent years questions has been raised about whether or not the SAT test can be used to measure any high school students’ skills. It have been argued that colleges should not use a simple four-hour test determine someone’s intelligence or future success in college over his/her high school curriculum. Many citizens along with colleges and universities across the United States has taken their sides in this debate. …show more content…

Preparation for the SAT are often said to be the best way to get a high score, but it consists of a student studying on their own and paying four- hundred dollars an hour for tutoring that starts in the seventh grade (Rimer 1). Some parents do not have the money to get a decent tutor for their children. Teenagers who have the money to afford a tutor have better chance of getting a higher score than teenagers who are less fortunate. Teenagers of public education are often limited to resources for the SAT test preparation. The SAT test consist of unrealistic reading questions and complex math problems.
The short essays are uninteresting and most of the time vague. Each section in the test has a time limit, therefore a student has limited time to comprehend what they read and answer the questions that follow.
As a student one can only imagine spending all four years in high school trying to get a good GPA and then having to take the SAT as a junior or senior. It becomes frustrating when one has to wait two months for the results, just to receive average scores that are not good enough to get into a college of choice. Students with bad SAT scores are limited to

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Less cramming, more context.” (Turner and Westervelt, A History Of The SAT). Also a few states are considering usage of the ACT or SAT as finals for high schoolers, more so 11th graders, instead of the standard finals.

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Over time, the SAT’s format has changed to better measure a student’s ability and potential. Excessive stress is put on students to do well on the SAT’s, and causes them unnecessary strain. As college admissions become more and more competitive, the need for higher test scores has increased, despite fatal flaws in the SAT test itself. Although the SAT is used by thousands of colleges and taken by millions of students, many students' scores do not reflect their true abilities, and therefore the SAT test is useless.

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Standardized Tests Should Be Banned Students, are you anxious about your future? Are you over thinking about what college you’ll go to after you graduate? Are you stressed out more than ever about SATs? Well congratulations, you’re a typical high-schooler. Students all over the world today are looking through college admissions to look at the requirements and details that are needed in order to get into that specific college of their choice.

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It is defining who students are and that is not what these tests should be scored on. The idea of these tests are being made to select students in a faster, easier scoring area. Thousands of students take these tests every year to determine what college or university they will go to, and for public schools, it determines whether or not they will pass their grade they have been in. These standardized testing like the SAT or ACT, make it easier to judge a student. These universities and colleges should look at the overall achievement of these students as a whole.

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As students start their senior year of high school there are many changes in their life. This is the time of a student’s life when they decide what they want to do after they graduate high school. Students can decide to join the military, work, or continue their education at a college or university. For the students who continue their education they have many things to do before they finally get accepted. A common step they take is taking the The American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

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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

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SATS and ACTS have been used for numerous years as a way to gauge a student’s academic success while in college. Students have the choice which test they would prefer to take and most colleges do not prefer one test over the other. There are a few key differences between the SAT and ACT, which may make one test more suitable than the other for those taking the tests. Many studies have proven that the SAT and ACT are not the best judge of future success, and that colleges should focus their applications more on past grades and accomplishments to decide which students should be accepted to their university. SATs and ACTs are not an effective measure of college readiness and future academic success.

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Ted Tran Ms. Yelton English III DC 11 April 2023 The SAT and ACT needs to be changed The SAT and ACT have made a considerable impact on students nowadays in society through college admissions. Although there are benefits to the test such as scholarships and ranking, some students have struggles and unfairness through the test, especially with low-income or minority backgrounds. In addition, students also have had test anxiety while taking the SAT and ACT which discourages them from the test.

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Henderson recommended that “students should [still] take the essay” and she worries that “they [the students] don’t realize that some colleges may require it.” The duration of the essay increases from 25 minutes to 50 minutes and the prompt style also changes. While the old SAT asks students to write about a wide and general topic, the new SAT requires students to read and analyze a given passage. “The new essay allows students to do better because they have something to base their essay on and back up their work,” stated Gonzalez. However, Garcia presents a different opinion.

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Lastly, as to why the SATS should be abolished in the college admissions process is because of timing issues, stress, and most importantly being simply overrated. A test like or similar to the SAT’s can be an unreliable indicator of how a student will perform inside a college classroom. In the article College Panel Urges Shift Away From SATs, Mr. Fitzsimmons say in an interview, that “It would be much better for the country, to have students focusing on high school courses, that based on evidence, will prepare them well for college and also prepare them for the real world beyond college” (Rimer 1). This quote points out the amount of talk and focus put into this exam, which can lead students to forget what is actually more important in the college admissions process, their grades.

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For instance, Shania Jagiah, the writer of the newspaper, “It’s Time to Abolish Standardized Testings” says the following, “Exams such as the SAT and the ACT have an even greater impact on students’ long-term futures. Many students spend countless hours and some spend thousands of dollars preparing for a single standardized test — a marathon exam that’s supposed to showcase their academic abilities”(Jagiah). Colleges have an over reliance on standardized testing as one test is a huge deciding factor of getting into the college. The pressure of getting a good score on the ACT/SAT test causes students to feel pressured, ultimately leading to stress. These students already have a lot on their hands with tests at their school, so a one time multiple choice test should not create extra, unnecessary stress.

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One of the authors of Research Finds that High School GPAs Are Stronger Predictors of College Graduation than ACT Scores, Elaine M. Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium, states, “GPAs measure a very wide variety of skills and behaviors that are needed for success in college, where students will encounter widely varying content and expectations. In contrast, standardized tests measure only a small set of the skills that students need to succeed in college, and students can prepare for these tests in narrow ways that may not translate into better preparation to succeed in college.” GPAs give a better perspective into who the students are as a person and not solely on their skill in taking specific tests. We could also start using portfolio assessments instead of standardized tests. Portfolio assessments are an accumulation of a student's work over time instead of analyzing their knowledge based on tests with only one answer.

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Standardized Tests Should not be Used as a Measurement of Student Capabilities. Thousands of schools among the United States mandate and enforce laws making students participate in standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, PSAT, NWEA, SSAT, MEAP, CAT, and many more. These tests determine the level of education a student is able to participate in, and this should not be the case, simply because there are many other factors that go into student intelligence that don’t fall under test scores.

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