It’s been on my
to-do list for months. It’s been on my mind for even longer. It’s been the
subject of countless conversations with well-meaning relatives who mistakenly
see it as a stressless topic. Right now I have exactly three books sitting on
my desk to prepare me for it, taunting me with confusing math equations, supererogatory
vocabulary, and the reminder that a single test can completely change the next
five years of my life- maybe longer. Any student planning on going to college
will tell you how stressful the SATs are. We spend months studying and strategizing and
subjecting ourselves to painful prep classes for three hours and forty-five
minutes of variables and vocabulary that will determine our future. But are the
SATs really worth the stress students face? Recently it has become clear that they
aren’t.
At its birth in 1926, the SAT
stood for the Scholastic Aptitude Test, with the intention that the test would
measure natural intelligence among high school students. Today, however,
students are more often than not hiring tutors, buying books, and taking
classes to prepare themselves for the SATs. The test preparation industry rakes
in $861 million annually, according to ibisworld.com. And for good reason. For years, everyone who
can so much as spell SAT drill into our heads the importance of performing as
well as we possibly can on the SATs, so it only makes sense we take all the
help we can get. The only problem is that some students can get more help than
others. While some families can afford to hire private tutors who can condition
their child to know exactly what to do during the test, other families struggle
to afford the $30 SAT prep books. As a result, students with financially stable
families have an inherent advantage over those without. And this advantage
shows in the test scores. Maureen Downey, an education columnist for ajc.com
states that “every school with a poverty rate over 80 percent scored below 1400…
[and] every school with a poverty rate under 20 percent scored above 1500” with the average being 1452.
Wealth isn’t the only factor
that can play into SAT scores. A student could have a learning disability that
makes test taking more difficult even if he or she knows the material, or could
be more inclined towards subjects the SATs don’t prioritize, like science,
history, or the arts. He or she could not have English as their first language.
Maybe he or she is just “a bad test taker.” Because of the factors that make
the SATs imperfect judges of intelligence, the test is not a good indicator of
how well a student will do in college. Jill Tiefenthaler, a professor at Wake
Forest University, explains that since making SAT scores an optional part of
the university’s application process, Wake Forest has gotten more applications
from students “who are artists and
critical thinkers and not great test-takers, first-generation students with
fabulous high school records and no access to the test preparation industry”
who would perform better in college than some students who get near-perfect SAT
scores.
The SATs are set to change in 2016, making them more accessible
to different kinds of students, according to College Board. Will these changes
fix the faulty measurement of a student’s worth that is the SATs? Most likely
not. But will they a step in the right direction? I guess we’ll find out in
2016.
Sources:
Hey Audrey!
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome post! Your starting sentences were really engaging and it kept me wanting to read more, especially with the use of personification. I completely agree with your argument - are the SAT’s really worth it? I love the examples you give: such as wealth and stress upon students. I also like that you included the disabled and people whose first language isn’t English. It can totally interfere with their test-taking and it’s an unfair method to test an individual’s intelligence.
I barely have anything to say negatively about this, but just a few heads up. There are a couple sentences that are a little wordy. Such as in your second to last sentence in the first paragraph, “We spend months studying…”, you can make that into two sentences instead of one big run on. Also for the fifth sentence in the second paragraph, when you say “everyone who can so much as spell SAT drill” it’s kind of confusing. Try saying “SAT have drilled.” In addition, watch out for misplaced words, like the sentence “But will they a step in the right direction?” I think you forgot the “be” after “they”.
Besides these minor concerns, everything is great. Keep it up! I’m stressed about the SAT’s too!
Thanks Audrey, this post is very strong and fun to read - although I agree with Taylor that there are some uncharacteristically clunky sentences. You pick a very relevant topic and substantiate it with legitimate evidence. In addition, you write very well. I love the introduction and the adjective "supererogatory." I don't even know what that means. Is it a real word? I guess I'm not surprised I don't know it; I did poorly on the verbal section of my SATs. Seriously. I am proud that my alma mater, like Wake Forest, no longer requires the SAT.
ReplyDeleteProbably the most important part of your post is your argument about the inherent unfairness of the exam. In particular, it discriminates against students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds because those students can't afford prep classes. In addition, those students often cannot afford to take the PSAT to prepare for the SAT. This is why the Milton Public Schools have made the decision that it will pay for ALL students to take the PSAT. Not all school districts do this. It's expensive. The Milton Schools do this because they want to give all students an opportunity to do well.
Thanks for the great post. Here is a tidbit that I learned yesterday at our teacher professional development that happened after you were dismissed. I learned that the correlation between success in AP Language and success on the verbal portion of the SATs is greater than the correlation between any other class and the SAT. In other words, students who do well in AP Language are very likely to do well on the verbal portion of the SAT. That bodes well for you!