Act, Sat Standardized Testing

When a student takes the SAT or ACT, he or she tries to boost the scores that determine if they get into college or not. There are two sides in my opinion of how these test indicate a student’s academic abilities. These standardized tests can be important in determining the academic strength of a student, but students who don’t put forth their best effort can also underestimate them.

Advanced placement tests are given to AP students in order to judge how much that student has grown over the year in a particular subject. Few students pass the AP exam as a result of their rigorous subjects, but I truly believe that these tests determine how much the student has learned because of the number that pass them. The teacher has a lot to do with the outcome of the scores, in my opinion. If the material is not taught properly, AP students are at a downfall.

SAT tests are given to challenge the knowledge of reading, writing, and mathematics skills, while ACT tests add science to the mix. ACT tests are usually taken more than SAT because it can help with the admissions process. SAT tests require problem solving and critical thinking, whereas the ACT is just content-based. I believe that the ACT is more related to the curriculum that is taught in a high school classroom, which is why students score higher. Personally, the ACT evaluates academic abilities further because I was familiar with the subjects that were given.

These academic experiments can indicate what students actually learn if the students try their best and use all of their knowledge that they have acquired while in high school. Students who take their time and work each problem out are prime examples of well-tested individuals. On the contrary, the time-wasters are the students who show up for the test and skip over multiple questions, hoping the answer will just appear on the paper. I believe these people are the majority of test takers that show up on that early, unwanted Saturday morning. In reality,...