Preview

Eliminating the SATS

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1174 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Eliminating the SATS
Eliminating the SATS
Sydney Muntone
Warren Hills High School

Abstract The SAT’s: the dreaded test that's supposed to determine the future of a nervous, impressionable high school student. The much-anticipated test has no place in our society anymore, though. The SAT is a terrible, overstressed measurement for college admission and it is totally ineffective in actually analyzing the students themselves. Scrapping this test from the college admission process is crucial in creating a better-fit educational system for our youth. As a student actually experiencing the SAT in this time period, my opinion is that the test is horribly uncalled for in our growing, advanced society today.

Eliminating the SATS In high school, it always seems that multiple-choice tests determine our futures but it doesn’t seem that a choice between A, B, C, D (and sometimes E) can give colleges an accurate description of who we are as a person. Students, parents, and teachers alike have debated whether or not the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is a valid assessment of students’ abilities and capacity to learn in college and have successful careers. But whether it is or isn’t, high school juniors and seniors must take it if they wish to apply to a four-year university. The much-anticipated test has no place in our society anymore, though. The SAT is a terrible, overstressed measurement for college admission and it is totally ineffective in actually analyzing the students themselves. Scrapping this test from the college admission process is crucial in creating a better-fit educational system for our youth. As a student actually experiencing the SAT in this time period, my opinion is that the test is horribly uncalled for in our growing, advanced society today. Probably the number one most common SAT problem critics complain about is the lack of student test taking abilities. As Tom Porshay, a former graduate from

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Do you hate staring at a computer/ piece of paper for more than two hours and answering questions? I am sure most people would answer “no”, and that is why standardized testing puts more harm than good in today’s world. Standardized testing causes a lot more problems than usual. It used to be a part of life, but now it’s causing kids not to go to college, and it’s causing kids to have a level of stress that shouldn’t even be allowed. People all over are stating that they give a false overview of who the student actually is, and in the end, these tests won’t get you anywhere in life. It’s important to many people including students who are taking the tests, teachers who are preparing the students for these tests, and of course the parents who have to deal with all the complaints from their child about these tests. This is a pretty important issue today, because so much is riding on these tests. If you do poorly you won’t get accepted to the university you want, or your teacher could get fired because of your performance. Although some people think standardized testing is just a part of life and it teaches students that it’s not okay to fail, these tests give a false interpretation of who the student actually is. One score does not tell you if that person is an outstanding individual or not. These scores might help you get into a better university, but when it comes to a career later on down the road, employers don’t look at what you got on your SAT, they look to see if you are best fit for the job, and whether you are a hard worker and would bring the company many positives, and I think colleges should focus on that same idea.…

    • 2569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her op-ed piece, It Doesn’t Test For Success, (Creighton), Joanne V Creighton, PHD asserts that standardized test scores such as the SAT’s are no longer useful in predicting the potential successes of today’s students. Dr. Creighton, who at the time was President of Mount Holyoke College, cited the errors in scoring on the SAT for approximately 4,000 students. She further stated that while the test may have made sense when first developed, it no longer presents an accurate portrait of the potential of today’s college-bound students. While Dr. Creighton presents some valid points, I do not believe we should completely disregard the value of the SAT’s. This is a complex issue with many things to consider and, as the saying goes, let’s not…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since being implemented into school curriculum more than fifty years ago, standardized testing has become the most prevalent form of comparing and ranking students across the nation and around the globe. Although standardized testing occurs in the majority of first-world countries around the world, The United States has received the brunt of public criticism for their overuse and excessive difficulty of the tests. Most American students begin state-wide or nation-wide assessments in elementary school and continue all the way through junior high and high school, culminating with perhaps two of the most well-known standardized tests, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing (ACT). The tests can cause severe stress and…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abolish Sat

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In “Abolish the SAT” by Charles Murray, Murray argues that there's no benefit in keeping SAT test, thus it should be demolished. The author supports this point by comparing and analyzing the relationship between high school grades, SAT scores, and freshman grades in college, stating how the meaning of “SAT” has changed over time, and stating that wealthy kids have advantages of getting high scores on SAT than those who are poor.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A. The SAT test applicants who score higher tend to be the students who are in upper class families because they can afford to pay for the expensive tutoring that is extremely beneficial.…

    • 1821 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    SAT Argument Analysis

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page

    There is a lot of buzz about the new SAT test. It has been created to test common core curriculum, and align with it’s standards. It will be released in March of 2016. Some administrators say that it will be fantastic, and will help test states’ accountability. Others do not believe that this test will be beneficial at all. Valerie Strauss, a writer for The Washington Post, wrote about one dad’s position on the new SAT. Strauss said:…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Should the SAT be used for college admissions? The SAT has been a huge controversy for a long time, however, it wasn’t until several months after getting into college that I began to really question why it’s used for admission. The only answers I really got from the college board was that it is “designed to assess your academic readiness for college and provides a path to opportunities, financial support and scholarships, in a way that's fair to all students. It also keeps pace with what colleges are looking for today, measuring the skills required for success in the 21st century.” I still was not convinced because not all those answers seemed right to me.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Abolish the SAT

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The SAT is also well known for being a rich kid game. It is believed that rich parents can buy their children SAT scores, through the best tutoring. However, this is not necessarily true. Statistically, tutoring only ups your scores by 13 or so points, which is not enough to make this point. However, smarter parents tend to be richer, leading to smarter students. So these richer kids tend to do better simply because of genetics. Getting rid of the SAT would help the students who have not had the best of luck in the genetics department. Aptitude tests require studying and hard work regardless of your natural ability and…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    SAT Testing Fair Essay

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a test designed for students of any age, but draws a large amount of juniors and seniors in high school. This test measures students’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics. The test is out of 2400 points, 800 points from reading, 800 from writing, and 800 from mathematics. If good test scores come from wealth, then the most important issue to consider is, the poorest families having a disadvantage because they cannot afford private elite tutoring to increase their kids score. Many sources say this elite tutoring is a huge problem, but other sources say the tutoring is not what gets you a high score. This is a nationwide test that is often used to help students’ chances…

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The SAT is a similar test that test a student’s academic skills used for admission to United States’ colleges. Neither the SAT nor the ACT should be a requirement, because they do not test a person’s intelligence, but test how well students can study, and take tests. The SAT and ACT takes up a lot of time of a student’s senior year. The year that they are supposed to enjoy the most because after they graduate, they have officially entered the real world.…

    • 2024 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American College Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, commonly known as the ACT and SAT, are both standardized tests used to determine a student's academic knowledge and skills in order to identify which level of colleges and universities they can handle. The ACT Inc. calls their test an indicator of "college and career readiness" and college boards trust their numbers to reflect just that. Although it is known that college admission boards take into consideration many other factors, such as grade point average, extracurricular involvement and class rank when accepting and rejecting applicants, it in inevitable that students are still turned down because their standardized tests reflect that they are not "ready." As a result, high schools all over the nation put great emphasis on these college admissions tests that are administered nationwide to each high school junior. It is true that standardized testing is a method for colleges to rank and then select students by expressing each student's capability as a number. This number is useful because otherwise it would be very difficult to rank such a diverse group of people, each with his or her own strengths and achievements in different fields. Although this solves the problem of having to weigh the significance and precedence of each individual's past…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    SAT testing is not an appropriate method of measuring a student’s overall intelligence. This popular standardized test is offered in over 176 countries, including the United States. The SATs can be the deciding factor of college acceptance, making the exam itself too influential on a student’s future. Additionally, the test has been taken advantage of numerous times for higher scores. The legitimacy of the SATs is also questioned with the issue of income inequality. Most students in the 21st century are striving to achieve acceptance into elite colleges; henceforth, a single exam having the power to change one’s future is irrational. Despite these inconsistencies, some argue the SATs provide a cornerstone for the strengths and weaknesses of a student that can be compared to…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    SAT Persuasive Essay

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In my persuasive essay I want to explain why SATs should not exist anymore. As we know SAT are tests that juniors and seniors have to take in high school. The higher the score, the better chance they have to get accepted into their college of choice. The only problem is that these tests are really hard. They require hours of studying and a lot of sleep. It's a four hour test that is hard to focus. I think these tests should be banned because they take away a sense personality. As us Americans present students with the SAT, students make an assumption that college is only about hard test. College is about creating a personality, not about who gets this question right.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized tests have become a recent controversial topic across the nation. Americans strive for a great education system, but fail to realize that testing is the main issue. They are believed to be a simple way to evaluate students from all different areas. However, there are countless faults that cannot show truly show students’ ability. Standardized tests in the United States do not accurately measure intelligence and should be modified to prevent issues in academics.…

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized testing takes a toll on the mental health of teenagers. At most North American universities, one cannot even go about applying without either the ACT or SAT in tow. Thus, comes the massive amounts of preparation that comes along with College Application Season that High School seniors know all too well. This causes a scramble as students feverishly take test after test hoping for drastic improvement in scores. One such University High School senior, Tom Poulis, goes in depth on the subject;…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays