When colleges imagine the perfect applicant, their first thought is most likely a student who has earned straight A’s, is in the top of his or her class, with several extracurricular activities, and has held at least one leadership position. The person that meets all of these criteria may seem like a great choice for any university of their choice. However, there is one factor that separates this student from his or her dream of attending an Ivy League school- the American College Test. Better known as the ACT, this two hour and 55 minute long test, can potentially be the difference between a student attending the school they have been dreaming of, and going to their second or third choice universities. There are several reasons why the ACT in its current form should not be …show more content…
That is why scholarships are available to people who meet the requirements. For many people deciding on where they are going to attend college depends a lot on how much money they are offered in scholarship from each school. When admissions officers are figuring out who they are going to grant money to, the decision is dependent on what the scholarship is for, but for most the ACT score is a main factor. Many families cannot afford to send their children to a good college without the help of a scholarship or loans of some sort, but if their child’s ACT score does not reflect them as a student, which it does not most of the time, then they may be denied the privilege of a scholarship from one of their top choice universities. Students do have the option of retaking the ACT, but if you are not skilled in test taking, often times retaking the test does not change your score by much. If your score does go up a good amount, then more often than not you have learned more strategies in how to take the test rather than learning more about the material that is on
Should The SAT Determine Your Future Throughout the years there have been many questions regarding the reliability of the SAT. Should an aptitude test be such a large factor in college acceptance. I firmly believe The SAT should not be a factor in college admissions because it has proven to be biased , unreliable, and overall unjust. The Scholastic Aptitude test, or SAT is no stranger to high school students across America. The test is divided into two sections of math and verbal language skills, a total of 138 questions with a point scale ranging from 200-800.
In a country that promotes the ideas of grit, innovation, resourcefulness, and growth, I find it curious that American universities are still using standardized tests as an indicator of future success in college. Although standardized tests are only one factor in admissions to many colleges, they should not be used at all because they do not accurately predict the success of students in higher educational environments. Instead of using the SAT and ACT, admissions officers should put more weight on written essays, cumulative high school grade point average, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation when deciding admissions. Although some may argue that the SAT and ACT offer a way of ranking students without factoring in grade point average, their ability to predict the future success of college students has not been demonstrated.
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.
There have been an increasing number of students who are misrepresented by a single score, yet academically succeed in college nonetheless. That is the primary reason why standardized tests should not be as highly regarded as other factors such as high-school GPA.
The tests are scored in 21 different centers across the country. ACTs and SATs aren’t graded by hand, so therefore it makes it easier to grade. The way the state grades the ACT and SAT is that they send the answer sheet through a machine that marks the correct or incorrect
Standardized tests are one of the biggest challenges I have faced since my junior year in high school. This challenge has affected my goals due to the fact that since I have an average score, when colleges compare my application to others, I may have a less likely chance to be accepted compared to
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.
In the scholarly journal “Brave New World: How Test-Optional Policies Could (And Should) Change College Admissions,” written by William C. Hiss and Valerie W. Franks, Hiss and Franks concluded that students who do not send test scores to institutions tend to perform just as well as student’s that send test scores. Hiss and Franks shares their research from a total of 37,000 students from public and private institutions that were accepted to college without sending any test scores. These students were then studied closely by their high school grade point average (GPA), cumulative college GPA, and standardized test scores. The end results explained that there was a very small difference between submitters and non-submitters. Standardized test
Applying to colleges can be one of the most stressful things a young adult will ever have to do, but all of the parts leading up to applying for colleges can be even more stressful. High schoolers are constantly worried about all of the things they need to perfect and get done before they apply, such as taking the SATs. Standardized tests affect students much more than anyone would think. There have been several cases over the years where students paid a “smarter” student to take the SATs for them and even went through the trouble to create a fake identity for their test taker just to earn a nearly perfect score because “[o]ne of the most pressure-packed tests a young adult can take, the SAT brings back memories of stress and anxiety for many students” (Page). Students are convinced that this one test impacts their whole future; how good of a college they can get into or how successful they will be when they grow up.
College admissions ignite deep anxieties particularly for Asian families, who spend more than any other demographic on education. Asian Americans, by percentage, “make up more of the student body at elite universities than they do of the population as a whole” (Shyong). Thus, many have criticized affirmative action policies for discriminating against Asian American applicants to alter these ratios in favor of underrepresented minorities. Many college experts have tried to quantify this “reverse discrimination” that supposedly takes place against Asians. In a presentation to rising high school seniors, admissions counselor Ann Lee, shows three columns of numbers that “try to measure how race and ethnicity affect acceptances by using the term ‘bonus’ to describe how many extra SAT points an applicant 's race is worth.”
What this means is that if a student does take either test again, he or she can easily get a different score in that given area again. Behind closed doors, the reliability of the SAT and ACT scores affects and influences more than just the students. Both the SAT and ACT are tests that decides whether an university will strive or fail to operate, but as well determine the amount of funds an university will receive from the federal government. A retired collegiate professor, Dr. Audrey Edawards experienced this when she a visited a public high school and observed some of the struggles the teachers faced. Dr. Edwards stated, "A single test score cannot
College students have a great amount of activities going on in their life: work, homework, exams, family, friends, and sports. Parents can help push their kid to be the best they are capable of being, sometimes everyone needs a push in life to get the wheels turning the right direction. Some college students are fortunate enough to get an academic scholarship or specific scholarships. Not all students are that fortunate enough to pay for the college experience. We know that college can be an expensive bill to pay, that is why parents may feel that they should help their child with the debts, but these parents should have the right to know what classes their children are taking because students may begin to not attend class, may be doing poorly, and they should not have to pay for their lack of work unknowing of their success.
The scores that you receive on those tests also matter. The scores students receive on those tests don’t necessarily determine their intelligence or that if they get a low score they can 't get in college. The purpose of these tests is to determine how ready a student is for college. The Highest score a student can get on the SAT is a 1600, and a 21 on the ACT however, Different school requires different scores on different tests. Students have to make sure they get the scores the college they want to get into
College admission based tests have been around for centuries, they are used to measure the levels of intellectual and academic potential of students transitioning from high school to college. These test are the “make it or break it” point for students applying for intercollegiate college programs. There has been an ongoing debates as to whether college admissions based test help measure educational quality, but I personally believe that they do not, because these exams are culturally biased and discriminatory for non-English speaking students and students with disabilities. Not only that but these test do not measure the accurate educational effectiveness of students rather just an inference.
That thing is COLLEGE RANKINGS No matter how diverse this situation is, there has been at least one instance where you check out the top colleges you can get into if you ace that particular exam. No one has ever skipped or ignored this part. Why? Because we aim for the elite in the pack, we dream of studying in the institution that represents that particular field.