SAT creates unnecessary stress
Run! Hide! There on the horizon line, another ghastly Standardized Assess- ment Test revision approaches! Here comes a fresh Standardized Assessment Test, or commonly known as the SAT, which promises to shower students in yet another heavy storm of immense pressure, excessive funding and it’s inaccuracy in testing student’s capability.
Along with the several, separate factors that make up the model student the SAT contributes a distinctive cutout to the already unbearable mold students are required to stretch themselves into to achieve an impossible student standard and ultimately appease college administrators.
The student standard at Plant is nothing short of utmost excellence and out- standing achievements. Naturally, this standard is nearly impossible to fulfill when one considers the energy consuming factors that compromise this standard. The components that each require perfecting to reach the godly standard of Plant, are as follows: Athletics, academics, club involvement paired with the essential leadership roles, and, of course, the SAT.
Alone, the first three parts of the standard are enough to drive anxiety straight into the hearts and minds of students. Balancing a schedule that consists of a rigorous sport that practices one to two hours daily, efficiently completing homework and understanding corresponding material for later tests and taking on the responsibility of managing a club or being an active member is a recipe for the richest stress one will ever taste. Sounds horrible. But, for some abstract reason, colleges have come to the conclusion that though these components alone are only mildly important and yet another test is essential to the already grueling process of crafting a transcript that is impressive and unbelievably accomplished.
Not only do students now face the mountainous challenge of mastering material that traces back from middle school, but now finances make an appearance. See these tests don’t come cheap. Each SAT is about $50 per test.
The SAT doesn’t only absorb your money, but it also fails to represent student’s actual capability and intelligence. The truth is that a majority of students just aren’t excellent test takers, but they maintain stellar academics. While the vice versa is also true, where some individuals are excellent at standardized testing, but lack a strong academic base.
This paradox questions why colleges have generalized the entirety of high school students everywhere and lead them to falsely believe students competency can be accurately measured by a standardized test.
Because really this test is at its core a test of memorization. Can you recall the steps to solving for x? Do you remember your higher level vocabulary? This test lacks the capability of gaging an individual’s true intelligence and their potential of doing pro ciently at a university. How could it when all one has to do is memorize how a problem is done to get the question correct? With no need for true comprehension of the material, this test misses the basic foundations of testing learned material. Comparable to high school classes even.
However, the SAT does have some merit in its inspiring qualities that challenge students to perform excellently for consideration of scholarships and full rides to college.
But when does one draw the line between keeping one’s sanity and over exhorting themselves?
College’s across the board need to comprehend that unnecessary stan- dardized tests in addition to the whole process of college admissions is stressful and extraneous.