The Importance of Standardize Tests Essay Example

“Sometimes we're tested. Not to show our weaknesses but to discover our strengths” - Unknown. Standardized testing provides students with fair opportunities because it does not vary from each school like a GPA and helps teachers indicate what academic levels their students are at. However, while standardized testing like the SAT, only measures students' testing ability, it should be taken seriously since it is a great indicator of a student's academic prowess.

Standardized testing is a reliable measurement for college and job success. Because of the standardized questions on the SAT and ACT, it provides a fair chance for each student to show their worth in front of colleges and businesses no matter the background. It does this by comparing the student to the country instead of the school like a GPA which eliminates outside factors which can alter the worth of a GPA. As stated in an article written by Veritas Prep, it “allows measurement of intellectual aptitude and serves as a positive indicator of academic potential to handle the curriculum at the college level”. The article also discloses the reason why colleges and universities prioritize an SAT score over a GPA. It goes into detail about the inconsistent and subjective GPA standards. This makes the value of a GPA decrease because of its unreliability. To solve this problem administrators implemented tests like the SAT to grasp the academic proficiency of each applicant. Although this method of testing is not fair and disregards studentsʻ four thousand hours of hard work with a four-hour test, it solves the problem of varying GPAʻs and allows administrators to recognize each applicant's mathematical and literary abilities.

Standardized testing produces a clear way for teachers to gauge the academic progress and comprehension of each student which makes it easier for teachers to support the students in need. In the article “How Students And Teachers Can Benefit From Testing '' written by American Writer Natalie Wexler. In this article, she claims that standardized testing helps both the students and faculty achieve their best results. There are many pros to standardized testing including uncovering baseline knowledge, progression and comprehension of a subject, and analyzing what material is retained. By using these tests, teachers can provide individualized instruction and help to the students who are struggling and support their academic journey. Other information that backs this theme comes from William James, an American philosopher. He states that “A curious peculiarity of our memory is that things are impressed better by active than by passive repetition”. This means that when taking a test the contents are easier to retain compared to restudying the material. Overall, standardized tests are proven to help faculty and students with their comprehension and understanding of the material which prevents students from falling behind.

Considering how stressful standardized testing is, it is reasonable to assume that test scores will differ from their academic knowledge. These testʻs aren't preparing studentsʻ for the real world. One four-hour test shouldn't be able to “shape” a student's future. Because of the amount of value, stress, and anxiety placed on this test, it causes test scores to not truly show an applicant's potential and sometimes corners them to suicidal actions and thoughts. However, standardized testing like the SAT is not made to be this stressful. For example, to summarize an article written by SoFlo Tutors, it talks about how students can retake the SATʻs as much as they want if they don't feel satisfied with their score. After retaking the SATʻs, the college board chooses the highest score from each section thus creating another benefit of being able to focus on studying a few subjects. Studies have shown that retaking a standardized test like SAT has proven to increase your score by an average of 40 points. Hence, standardized tests like SAT shouldn't be as stressful as students think due to the number of factors that can support the applicant outside of the test.

In conclusion, standardized tests are vital to students and staff and should be taken seriously. As demonstrated, standardized testing provides useful and reliable information about an individualʻs academic performance. This gives numerous opportunities to the students and applicants by providing everyone with a fair chance of success. Therefore, although standardized tests have their setbacks, they should be taken seriously because it is an important asset for instructors to measure students' academic prowess and progress.