Standarized Testing

Say Nay to the SAT

The SAT was introduced in 1901 and has become a standard in a young student's high school career. Millions of students worldwide take the SAT to distinguish themselves from others who may be applying to a similar college. Ever since, colleges have decided to use the SAT to determine a student's possible potential at their college. However, recent evidence shows that it is possible that the SAT is not enough to determine how a student will perform. The SAT should be abolished due to its lack of ability to determine a student's abilities, and it is incapable of distinguishing the differences between students.

The SAT's goal, rather the CollegeBoard's goal, is to distinguish differences among students. The SAT has been used for years and has allowed for many bright, but socially inept students to attend elite schools. The SAT is comprised of three sections: math, reading, and writing. The first apparent flaw of this exam is what it tests. It only focuses on the aforementioned topics. What happens to the student who decides that they want to have a biology major in college? These unfortunate students are forced to take an exam that may not measure their strongest areas. Yet, colleges continue to use the SAT as an indicator even though the skills that are tested on the SAT will never be used by these students who focus on other subjects. The second apparent flaw in the exam is the types of questions asked throughout the exam. Many of the questions are biased against certain groups of people. The math section is biased against females, even with the modified version of the exam. Apart from the gender bias, the exam is also biased against particular social classes. Studies have shown that students who are in the poorer classes score lower than the upper class students. These poorer students have a huge disadvantage at being chosen to attend an upscale university. They also lose opportunities for scholarships because their SAT scores were lower than others. The test is also regionally biased. There are several questions that refer to ethnic cultures. The students that are not aware of these cultures and cannot understand why a certain culture is the way it is lose opportunities to get those questions right. This will result in a lower score, and colleges will fail to select bright students who could not get those questions right.

The argument stated above should be enough to persuade colleges to change their policies on accepting students. There are countless