Hi Classes, this one's available for 1 point of extra credit-- the topic was inspired by a classmate's post on a public blog, and this is an interesting issue in education today. Are the SATs necessary? Are they a fair measure of intelligence? Of potential?
http://www.nysun.com/opinion/long-live-the-sats/86574/
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11 comments:
I do not think that to get a good grade in a SAT exam makes people smarter than others. What im Trying to say is that people are most of the time smart in differen things. For example if you wan to be an excellent athlete you have to be smart as well if you want to be an spectacular actor. And probanly these people are not going to be able to do an exercise in an SAT TEST.
There are many different forms to show how smart a person can be and you can not judge a person of how smart he or she is just because of how he or she solves a math exercise in an SAT test.
I, in a way, am experiencing mixed emotions about the usefulness of SAT testing. I don’t believe that it truly tests an individual’s knowledge in specific areas. People may make top-notch grades in high school, and not be a top-notch tester, causing them to bomb the SAT’s. This could prevent them from getting into a college that in actuality they have the correct study habits to succeed at. Also, it’s not very fair, due to the fact that people can take classed in order to teach them test taking strategies in hopes to better their SAT score. However, this puts kids in wealthier families in an advantage over those in poorer families.
Despite my feelings about SAT taking, I think it is a useful test in determining who is accepted into different colleges. Without SAT scores acceptance would be based solely on high school GPA’s. This would be an unfair basis, due to several different difficulties as well as different required material to be taught from state to state. So even though I don’t agree that SAT scores demonstrate an individuals knowledge, I feel that some type of standardized test is necessary for admission into college.
Erin Moskos
I do not believe that the SAT is a fair predictor of your future performance in college or how smart you were in high school. For example, I graduated with honors and over a 3.5 GPA, but I do not test well. Therefore, my performance would be a lot less than my abilities that I am capable of.
I agree with the article when it states that the SAT is a mild perspective of a person’s college performance. Some people decide when they get to college it’s time to be serious and the joking and fooling around with grades is over, therefore, they may not score as well but their college performance is excellent. In contrast on may not do well on the SAT because they might suffer from test anxiety.
In conclusion, I do not believe that any test is a fair or accurate judge of anyone’s performance. They might have had an “off” day, suffered a life changing event, or just not a good test taker.
Jill Feimster
I do not think that to get a good grade in SAT exam makes people smarter than others. What im trying to say is that people are most of the time smart in different things. For example if you wan to be an excellent athlete you have to be smart as well if you eant to be an spectacular actor. And probably these people are not going to be able to do an exercise in a SAT TEST.
There are many different forms to show how smart a person can be and you can not judge a person of how smart he or she is based of how he or she performs in a math exercise in an SAT test.
Jorge Villanueva
I feel I have to disagree with everyone on this one. I haven't personally taken the SAT but I think most would consider the two similar enough. I feel like everyone on here is saying that colleges ONLY look at your test scores to "judge a person of how smart he or she is" but they don't. Many scholarships are given out not only on an ACT/SAT basis but a coinciding GPA basis. Most universities are looking for the all-around student because that tends to be the successful student. Many classes in college only have two tests and that determines the grade for the class and so if a student is not a good test taker or has test anxiety but is good at turning in straight out of the book homework, what would they do then?
As for the ACT/SAT test not being fair to those with less amount of money, anyone heard of a public library? I myself would go to the public library to use their study guides, or internet sources to look-up free study guides. I went to my school counselors and asked for their help with study tips. There is an unlimited amount of free resources out there to be used. If a student really wants to do well, nothing can stop them, only give them a few obstacles to overcome and make them stronger because life is going to be the same way. I think the ACT/SAT is a great resource to colleges to use to determine students test taking skills.
This article almost annoyed me, but not because I disagree. I do agree that maybe the SATs should not be the most important score looked at when applying to colleges; however, I also agree that it is a good indicator of how well we have prepared for the next step in our education. The SATs make us learn to prepare for tests, many classes are given on test anxiety, and they also can show that some of us have been studying for years. I do feel that more focus should be given to your grades because I understand that some times test make you so nervous you cannot perform well. Our grades show how we have performed over a period of time.
I do not like that they are saying that students who have book lined homes are more likly to do better. Is that they parents fault or the kids? It seems like everyone is trying to use their home life as an excues, but I for one know that pretty much every school has a library for the students to use any time they would like. If a student wants to be well read, simply go to the library at your school. I feel that many times people try to make excuses for some thing they did to themselves.
Brooke South
I do not think that the SAT is a good measure of a person's intelligence. Very often, intelligent people do not score as well as they can and less intelligent people score better than it was thought they could. There are a large amount of factors that could affect someone's score on any particular day. A kid could have a sporting event the night before or be very ill while taking it. There are quite a few people who are just bad at taking those types of test. The SAT is not able to measure a person's willingness to work hard and determination to do well. It cannot determine how often a person will go to class or study.
With all that being said, there has to be some sort of standardized test to get into college. It should not be the only statistic that colleges look at for admittance, but there has to be a score that they can look at and say this kid can probably do well in college and this kid might not be able to. Perhaps every college application should require to take the SAT twice as opposed to once. That way colleges could see if it was just a fluke the first time around. This still would not solve the problem of bad test takers and nerves, but it is a start.
I do think the SAT's work, and I am a bad test taker. They work especially for upper tier schools because these students need to be good test takers. These tests they take will require a lot of pressure.
However I do not think that colleges should determine based on SAT only because some students may be smart but score horrible on the SAT's. They should take into extracurricular activities also. This is because they show that students are well rounded and will be able to handle to pressure that comes along with tests.
Bhavin Patel
I will have to agree with the majority. I do not think that SAT tests the true intelligence of a person and should not determine a person’s future schooling plans. But I would partially agree that future college students need to be prepared for taking on the pressures of tests, but the SAT tests aren’t the ticket to doing that. If you choose to “prepare” yourself, go to a test-taking class. Having to speed read and write, playing “multiple guess” with vocabulary words you’ve never seen in your life seems a little ridiculous that this could make or break your future. Some of the smartest people I know could write everything they have learned on paper and get an “A” but are simply not good multiple choice test-takers. So do these students just get cut from applying to colleges? Also, there are too many distractions on a Saturday morning, sitting with people you don’t know, and being anxious and nervous about this dumb test. While you sit in that room, you think “gosh, too much is on the line, this is it”. I propose that there should be a test that explores each individual and their best test-taking strategy. And then discuss what form of SAT should be taken. Not every student’s brain is the same. It is not fair that one single test is given to every person. The multiple-choice minds are lucky.
I think that it is time to face the facts. Some people are not good test takers. Whether you are or whether you are not is not the problem. The problem is that people continue to believe they are not, when in truth almost everything you have gotten yourself this far in life has in fact, been some sort of test. It could be as literal as taking the SAT or ACT or as simple as passing your driver's test. I think it is time to stop letting your test taking skills be an excuse.
I too, am a bad test taker, but that does not reflect that I am a bad student. That is why there is more emphasis put on the college application process as a whole rather than just getting a good score. Chances are though, if you have good grades in highschool you did not get them by failing every test - I think this is the theory behind assessments and therefore I believe them to be beneficial. It is also an easier and more effective way to put thousands of students on one grading scale, causing fairer comparisons.
There will always be tests in life, I believe that it is not how you score, but it is how you handle them and the first thing to do is stop believing you are a bad test taker.
I certainly do not feel that the ACT/SAT is a good measure of one's intelligence. The valedictorian of my high school received only a 20 on the ACT, while graduating with a GPA well above a 4.0. Theres no doubt in my mind that this person is intelligent. She was the valedictorian!! I do think that standardized tests are a good idea, but...
Who decided that these tests should be held on a Saturday? 8:00AM on a Saturday morning? That is practically setting up a student for failure. Also, why do these tests need to be 4 hours long? Each time I took the ACT, I was exhausted by the last section, which was science. I always started to guess, because I was too tired to think. And guess what subject I always did worse in? Science! Now, I am in a science based major, and I have a pretty good GPA. So, does the ACT/SAT accurately measure intelligence? I doubt it. However, it is a good tool. It just needs some tweaking.
Kelley Frost
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