Meyer, 1

Bryce Meyer

Hamby

ENG111_70

10/6/16

I SAT Through All of Those for Nothing

STOP, put your pencil down and close your test booklet If you have ever taken a

standardized test before, you are all too familiar with this phrase. Most, have taken more than a

few. Washington Post found that students take an average of 112 standardized tests between pre-

school and senior year (Layton, Standardized Testing, Washington Post). So maybe more than

just a few. They are taken for a variety of reasons, but they all revolve around one goal; Judging

students and their potential success. Many are even used for admission to college. No college

would want someone with bad SAT, right? If you dont score high on the ACT you must be

unintelligent, right? No. Even though they judge student readiness and test taking skills,

Standardized tests do not accurately forecast student achievement.

To be able to see if standardized tests accurately predict student success, there must first

be some insight to what a standardized test really is. Per the glossary of education reform A

standardized test is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions,

or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is

scored in a standard or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative

performance of individual students or groups of students ("Standardized Test Definition").

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Standardized tests are generally linked to large scale tests like the ACT or SAT, but by this

definition there are many more that fall under this category. Like I said, these tests are given for a

wide variety of reasons, but they are generally used to determine a students future success.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, tests like the SAT and ACT are

designed to predict how well a student will do in college. By providing questions that cover a

large amount of information and test a students critical thinking and test taking skills they aim to

predict the success of a student beyond the structure of the high school classroom. But, these

tests cannot really provide an accurate insight into student accomplishment

The problem with standardized tests is in the name. Standardized. This meaning that all

the tests are structured very similarly. Most contain around 50 questions per each subject. There

is simply no way that 50 questions can encompass 12 years of learning to provide an accurate

outlook on student success. This test can't in any way, shape, or form measure all the information

and skills a student was taught, or is relied upon to learn, in a certain subject. At the same time, if

a student is taught in a manner that only the score matters and not the general knowledge on the

subject, then how are they expected to succeed? Prominent education expert, Dr. Karen R.

Zittleman, states that teaching is being redefined as test preparation. Is there success in learning

just the test strategies for a test that you will never have to take again? Standardized tests lack in

their ability to test a students long term efficiency or their strengths outside of multiple choice

questions. The LSAT is an exam similar to the SAT, but is required for entrance into law school.

They both are designed in the same way just as all standardized test, to determine your future

success in school. Graeme Abraham, a Penn State Dickinson School of Law student describes the

LSAT in a way that fits with all standardized testing. He says Testing in law school is fairly

different from the LSAT that I really dont think you could apply the preparation tactics of one to
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the other. The LSAT is like a sprint that you trained months for, but a law school final is the

sprint at the end of a long marathon ("Standardized Tests Not Always Best Indicator of

Success"). Similarly, Jessica Weaver, a student studying joint law/MBA at Smeal College of

Business addresses standardized tests in that They may test whether or not you remember

geometry from 10th grade, but they dont have any real bearing on someones success in

school. ("Standardized Tests Not Always Best Indicator of Success").

One large fault found in testing similar to the ACT and SAT is the inconsistency in

scoring. The majority of students taking these tests for entrance into college take them more than

once. Everyone hoping for a better score. An increase in score is what would be expected after a

test is taken more than once, right? However, this is not always the case. Statistics put forward

by ACT report that of the students who took the ACT more than once 22 percent received a

decrease in their overall score ("Retake the Test"). How can this be? Because of these types of

tests are designed it is possible for students to receive an array of results. There are some that

receive harder questions their second time around and others that simply got lucky on their first

swing of the bat. Can we count on a test to accurately predict a students future if the results can

be so inconstant?

Among all this, there still is support for Standardized testing. According to Oxford

learning standardized tests Give students a picture of their progress (or lack of) over a number

of years in significant areas (math, reading, writing) ("Pros & Cons of Standardized Tests |

Oxford Learning"). By testing students over topics that can span from many years of knowledge,

these tests judge the true knowledge and skills of a student. One of the largest claims is that it is

the only way to fairly judge students. Standardized testing, by nature, is objective. All students
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take similar questions, in the same testing environment, and graded by an unbiased source. It is

thought to be the only way to test raw knowledge and critical thinking, fairly.

However, this is faulted because of the essence of the questions. Again, as stated

previously, the test is more about the test strategies rather than informational knowledge. A

journal published in 2001 discusses that "These tests are not exact measures of what individual

students can and cannot do, or of everything students learn (Dobbins 100).

A study published in 2005 by the National Association for college admission counseling

supported this claim. The study, led by William C. Hiss-- involving 123,000 students at 33

different colleges and universities, found that high school grades do predict student success while

standardized test scores showed otherwise. So, those with high grades in high school, but low

test scores, generally receive high grades in college, while those students with low high school

grades but high test scores generally receive low college grades.

If the accuracy of standardized tests cannot be relied on, then what is the alternative? The

research of William Hiss suggests that high school GPA and class rank are the best bet when

predicting a students success (Hiss, No Differences). When given more thought, this makes

complete sense. Much of a students success is based on their drive and work ethic. The other

part of it would be intellect. GPA does a accurate job coordinating these by balancing out the two

for display. While yes, it is still not completely accurate, it offers a much better prediction than

standardized tests. But, this begs the question, is there an accurate way to predict student

success?
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Standardized testing can be looked at as a key pillar in the structure that is American

Learning and education. According to research, a student takes an average of 8 standardized tests

per year. All of them aiming to determine the future success of a student. However, these tests

are inaccurate and fail to provide a precise foresight into student success. By providing scoring

inconstancy and failing to accurately depict future situations, Standardized tests lose any

credibility as to their predicting capabilities. But hey, as long as we know how to take that one

test!
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Works Cited

Layton, Lyndsey. "Study Says Standardized Testing Is Overwhelming Nation's Public Schools." The

Washington Post. WP Company, 24 Oct. 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.

Popham, W. James. "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality." Educational

Leadership:Using Standards and Assessments:Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure

Educational Quality. ASCD, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

"Standardized Test Definition." The Glossary of Education Reform. N.p., 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 20 Nov.

2016.

"Standardized Tests Not Always Best Indicator of Success." Phys.org. Pennsylvania State University,

24 Aug. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.

Dobbins, Donald B. "Standardized Test-not Standardized Education." Tooling & Production 66.12

(2001): 100. Print. CPCC Research Database

"What's Wrong With Standardized Tests?" What's Wrong With Standardized Tests? The National

Center for Fair and Open Testing, 22 May 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Popham, James. "Ten "Must-Know" Facts About Educational Testing." Ten "Must-Know" Facts About

Educational Testing. National PTA, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

"Pros & Cons of Standardized Tests | Oxford Learning." Oxford Learning. Oxford Learning, 23 Sept.

2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

"Retake the Test." Registration | Retake the Test | ACT Student. ACT, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

News, Bates. "20-year Bates College Study of Optional SATs Finds No Differences." News 20year

Bates College Study of Optional SATs Finds No Differences Comments. N.p., 11 Jan. 2016.

Web. 01 Dec. 2016.