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(Last Name and page number here)

(Your Name)

Mr. Walden

English III

(Due Date)

Senior Paper

As a junior in high school I have begun the arduous task of finding the right college/university for me. I have read the description of schools in the Princeton Book of Colleges, listened as seniors tell me about their experiences applying to schools and visited a few campuses. I am reminded over and over again that it isn’t just how hard I have worked in high school on academics or how many services hours I have accumulated or how many clubs I have participated in or how many sports I have played or even my leadership abilities that will help the college know my capabilities . The college admission discussion almost always goes back to what did you score on the SAT? It is frustrating to me that after spending hours on coursework and after taking the hardest courses available, I may or may not be able to go to the school of my choice based on a test taken on one day. That single test seems to have more weight than it should in the college application process. Applying to college is a huge stress for the high school student planning to attend college. I believe the process is too heavily based on standardized tests such as the SAT.

The SAT was originally based on trying to predict aptitude. The test was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The test has changed over the years to be less about aptitude and more about predicting a student’s success in the first year of college. In reality, “ the SAT measures only about 18%, [an] estimate range from 7 to 25% of the things it takes to do well in school” (Steele). As a matter of fact, in this day in age the SAT is no longer an acronym. It has no meaning what so ever. The test itself has evolved over the years but it is still similar in that the controversy on accuracy lingers. “Society likes to think that the SAT measures people’s ability or merit, but no one in college admissions who visits the range of secondary schools we visit, and goes to communities we visit-where you see the contrast between opportunities and fancy suburbs and some of the high schools that aren’t so fancy-can come away thinking that standardized tests can be a measure of someone’s true worth or ability” (Firzsimmons). This is exactly my point. A test with no personal interview and background of a person’s accomplishments can show a person’s readiness or goals as a college student. A students motivation and communication skills are what a leader in society needs. The kids who can communicate face to face and work hard will be better employees than those who can score high on an “intelligence test”. People still believe the SAT measures a person’s intelligence but they are mistaken. The SAT is not nor has ever been about measuring IQ. There are many factors that lead to a person’s successful adjustment and completion of college. I believe the SAT is not a good predictor of success in college. Likewise, success in life isn’t easily measured by a standardized test. The SAT cannot measure factors such as motivation, personality, maturity, leadership, thoughtfulness and hard work. Even the nature of the SAT, a timed test which encourages guessing, isn’t the best measure of student’s ability. The student who thoughtfully answers every question and takes their time may not do as well as someone who answers the questions quickly and strategically to “outsmart” the test. “”Successful intelligence” is the setting and attainment of personally meaningful goals. It involves creative skills in coming up with new ideas, analytical skills in determining whether the ideas are good ones, and practical skills in implementing those ideas and convincing others of their value. Successfully intelligent people capitalize on their strengths with regard to these skills and correct or compensate for their weaknesses” (Sternberg). Just as I said before, a person may do really well on the test but the college cannot see their motivation and creativity skills through a standardized test.

The SAT developed by Carl Brigham in post-World War I, “was used to screen out Southern Europeans, Jews, and other groups who did not score well on tests at that particular time. So it has, as a tool, a very, very racist past.” (Steele) Students who have test anxiety, different learning styles and are economically disadvantaged are more likely to score poorly. Historically, minority students, lower class students and economically disadvantaged students perform at levels below their more advantaged peers on standardized tests. "Selective colleges give blacks a 310-point bonus and Hispanics a 130-point bonus on the SAT test in order to achieve a measure of diversity. But that practice has not changed colleges' overall reliance on the SAT test as a guide to admissions” (Espenshade). It seems even college’s believe that it is necessary to balance the scale for minority students. The test itself is designed for the white majority, therefore the minority students appear to be at a disadvantage. There are many intelligent people who are applying to colleges and to discriminate people by giving certain groups of people more points is not a reliable way to base college admissions. If colleges feel they need to add points for certain students and not others then what is the value of the test? The reliability of the test is called into question.

Supporters of the SAT feel the test has been developed to keep bias out of the test. They say the test isn’t an intelligence test but rather a tool to predict success. Because college applicants come from a wide variety of high schools and home school environments proponents say the SAT is one way to give everyone equal footing in the application process. They feel that grades are not the best indicator because we don’t know how to judge grade point averages across the variety of schools. Additionally, they argue that even the course descriptions do not give a clear indication of the difficulty or quality of the work each student has done. The SAT then becomes the tool which seeks to give the college admission staff a point of reference for admission. The SAT score allows the college to stack students on a “common playing field.” Advocates of the SAT also contend that you can’t study for the test so every student has equal chance.

However, if a student cannot prepare for the test then why are classes and courses available to help students “beat” the test? There is a huge industry of SAT preparations classes that costs thousands of dollars to give students, whose parents can afford it, a possible advantage. Students learn tricks and strategies to increase their scores. There are hundreds of books in the local bookstore devoted to SAT and ACT test preparation. I even prepared for the recent ACT by reading strategies and information to help me understand the test and then hopefully to perform better. However, I still do not believe a test taken on one day for several hours is a good predictor of how well I am going to do in college.“The cheating scandal reflects the tyranny that standardized testing has come to exercise over higher education in America…They bear a huge responsibility for the degree to which a high score on a standardized test has become disproportionately important for college admission” (Mills). This is what it has come to. The test has caused students to go to extremes to do well on the tests. Students are paying other students to take the tests for them. Now how reliable can the test really be now?Shouldn’t the years of hard work, course difficulty and determination to do well count more than scores on a standardized test? I also think we all know people who are just good test takers. They do not work hard or take hard courses but then ace the SAT. Though fortunate for them, is it really sound judgment to place so much emphasis on that one test as a predictor of success as a freshman in college?

Additionally, students, who have the economic means, are able take the SAT as many times as they want without penalty. Students who are economically disadvantaged are able to take the SAT test free but only two times. This disparity is another reason the SAT is not a fair measure to compare students for admission. “Research has indicated that one of the major reasons equal opportunity is lacking is universities reliance on standardized tests, such as the SAT. Analyses show clearly that performance on the SAT is closely correlated with family income.” (Hatch)

In the past few years a number of colleges have decided to make a bold move to drop SAT scores as a requirement for admission. “A growing number of colleges and universities like Bates College in Maine, Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Smith College in Massachusetts have made the SAT and ACT optional” (Rimer). This way the students can focus more on their school work and less on worrying about a single test. “It would be much better for the country to have students focusing on high school courses, that based on evidence, will prepare them well for college and prepare them well for the real world beyond college”(Fitzsimmon).

As a person who is applying to colleges as we speak and working with a tutor for the SAT I understand the process very well. Even though I do not support the way college admissions is handled, I have to go through the process in order to get where I want to go. For the people down the road who are going to apply to colleges I have a solution. I believe the United States should create the exact same grading scale across the country. People of the College Admissions offices from across the country say they cannot look at the GPA of a student as much as they look at the SAT because there is no common ground. For example, at my high school in North Carolina our grading scale is a 7-point scale but in Arkansas the grading scale is a 10-point scale. This means that if I were to get a 91% at my school this would be a B. However, if I were to get a 91% in Arkansas this is an A. Supposedly the SAT is a way to equally evaluate the millions of applicants but I believe GPA should be the basis for applications. GPA shows the rigor of a person’s studies, hard work, and motivation. If a person has a low GPA with no difference in weighted GPA then college admissions can tell they did not take AP classes, which reflects their motivation to apply themselves in high school. If we were to take the SAT away completely, students would focus more on their studies and hopefully apply themselves during high school. Less money would be spent on preparing for this test and the money could go to paying for college. This SAT is not only a test but it is an industry. The industry is honestly not trying to see students succeed. It is trying to see students struggle so they pay thousands of dollars for tutoring and take the test multiple times. The test itself is not cheap. So, the more times a student takes the test the more money the industry is making. I think this is wrong. We should want to see students succeed and do well but this industry makes its money on failure. Finally, I think another reliable indicator to judging success would be writing essays. An essay, I believe, is a good indicator of a student’s success in college because as a freshman in college you will be asked to write many papers. College admissions should have essays be a main factor to the application process because then the school can see how well of a writer the student is before coming to the school. Many may think the admissions offices’ do not have to time and people to review these lengthy applications coming from millions of students. Well if this is the case, then why don’t colleges/universities hire more people to work in an admissions office? The more people helping in the process, the faster more efficient the process will be. In order to make College Admissions more reliable, the SAT should be taken away, the grading scale should be universal, writing should be factored in, and more people need to be hired in the admission’s offices.

Works Cited

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Atkinson, Richard, and Saul Geiser."Reflections on a Century of College Admissions Tests."Educational Researcher.N.p., 04 Aug 2009. Web. 28 Feb 2013. <

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Hambrick, David. "A Good Intelligence Test."The New York Times The Opinion Room. The New York Times, 16 Dec 2011. Web. 17 Mar 2013. <

Hatch, Nathan. "A Better Measure Than the SAT."Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 29 Jun 2008. Web. 24 Mar 2013. <

Jaschik, Scott. "How They Really Get In." Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed, 09 Apr 2012. Web. 10 Mar 2013. <

Jaschik, Scott. "The Evolving SAT Debates."Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed, 23 Jun 2008. Web. 24 Mar 2013. <

Kaplan, David ."Death to the SAT."CNN Money.Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company, 21 Oct 2010. Web. 1 Mar 2013. <

Katzman, John, Bob Schaeffer, Wayne Camara, Caude Steele, LaniGuinier, and Christopher Jencks."Views o Authorities on Intelligence & Testing."Frontline Secrets of the SAT.WGBH Educational Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 Mar 2013. <

Mills, Nicholaus. "SAT Scandal shows Tyranny of Standardized Testing."CNN. Cable News Network, Turner Broadcasting System Inc., 26 Nov 2011. Web. 24 Mar 2013. <

Rimer, Sara. "College Panel Calls for Less Focus on SATs."The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Sep 2008. Web. 24 Mar 2013. <

Sternberg, Robert. "College Admissions: Beyond Conventional Testing." Change The Magazine of Higher Learning. Taylor and Francis Group, n.d. Web. 27 Feb 2013. < Issues/2012/September-October 2012/admissions_full.html>.