The Importance Of Standardized Testing In Education

When I first started high school, all of my teachers told me that the next four years of my life would fly by. Now that I am a senior, I realize that high school has flown by, but my time here has been stressful. It is not the classes here that make my brain want to explode; instead, it is a standardized test called the American College Testing (ACT) that does. In seven months, I will be in college, but I will not have mountains of scholarships or be placed in honors classes. The reason for this is because of my score on the ACT. Nowadays, colleges are so dependent on the ACT that getting an equal chance at college in nearly impossible for students that are horrible at standardized testing. Also, the ACT has the most unrealistic time limit

It is unfair for colleges to be so dependent on a standardized test that does not predict how the student will succeed in college. The ACT is a test that is based on information that has either been taught since elementary school or not taught at all. First of all, I do not have a brain that can hold useless information forever. However, my brain is able to effectively absorb the lectures that are taught in a classroom and use that knowledge gained in order to pass that class. Likewise, in college, I will also be tested on the information that was taught in a class, instead of random information that I do not know. In addition, once my major is decided, I will indeed be taught information that is pertinent not only to my success in college, but also to my future in the real world. Memorizing facts, formulas, people, and other information that is supposed to be drilled into me from kindergarten will not likely help me succeed in college. In a majority of my classes in high school, I typically make "A 's", but since I cannot make over a 30 on my ACT, I am immediately less worthy than the ones that do. This way of thinking and categorizing students is extremely unfair. Most of the people who do exceptionally well on the ACT are the teenagers that are known as the gifted geniuses. Some of these

In college, I am positive that there will be professors with outrageous time limits for exams, but the ACT test makers or rule creators take their time limitation to a whole new level. For example, on the math portion of this standardized test, everyone has 60 minutes in order to complete 60 questions. This is unjust because math is a subject that requires working out problems with many formulas that I have trouble remembering. Some problems on the test require multiple formulas and take at least a couple of minutes to work out. Even if a student knew how to work out these problems, the time limit would either prevent them from answering correctly, or rush them to the point of messing up. In my opinion, the presence of a rushed, anxious mind, sweaty palms, and racing heart rate is not the greatest time to judge a person 's abilities. Now, if I was doing simple addition on this test, I would finish it in no time. Instead, the ACT gives questions that take an eternity to solve. This results in me having to put the most aesthetically pleasing answer for the last 20 questions that I never have the time to do. To solve problems, correct grammar, or even comprehend a passage quickly and effectively, the ACT demands that students remember every skill they have been taught in order to do so. In high school alone, students spend thousands of