In their junior or senior year of high school, all students at the University of Minnesota were faced with a task: what test to take. By test, I mean the ACT or SAT; the two most popular college admissions test that causes students across the country, stress, pain, and a Saturday morning that they would rather spend sleeping. Following the test, many students feel like either a winner or a looser based on the score they receive and worry about success in college or even just getting accepted to the college of their choice. Chapter 9 addresses Intelligence test and specifically College Admissions tests in relation to future predicted success.
As it turns out, both the book and ABC News say the same thing: tests scores really don't matter as much as they do. ABC News looked at grades and found only a 10-20% of grades can be explained in a correlation to SAT. The book also explains when looking at specific ranges the effect of SAT predictions decreases even more. For those who believe that taking preparatory classes will increase their scores by leaps and bounds, they're riding on false hope. An average increase is 30 points which is equivalent to about 1 ACT Point, but practice tests can help too.
With the new information surrounding test taking some are calling into question the emphasis placed on exams, including the president of the California University System calling for their elimination.
SAT: A) Accurate or B) Bogus
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Do you think that there is another alternative for admissions? Are grades comparable across schools? Recommendation letters? What would you use if you were doing admissions?
I agree with the opinion although tests like SAT's and ACT's can help a college know how well a student study, test scores don't mean everything. Especially for some student who study very hard but not good at taking tests. An admission officer may also know more about a student from his essays, own experience and activities he has taken part in.
In an ideal world there would be a way for colleges to look at each individual applicant on the many levels that make up a successful student, but such a system doesn't exist. I will agree the test are stressful and don't always accurately depict a students abilities and intelligence. They do however provide a solid base for colleges to analysis potential applicants due to the standardization of the test. Our only hope is that admissions use the tools presented to make as accurate and constant decisions as possible.
This post does a good job capturing how most students feel their junior/senior year. I agree with the comments above that taking this test to measure your intelligence and test taking capabilities shouldn't be what colleges look at to accept potential students. It is true that another system doesn't exist, however, I don't think that it should hold as much weight as a persons GPA or extracurricular activities which now a days it seems to.
I still think that admission tests like that ACT or SAT a do a reasonably good job at what they are supposed to do. There is really no other way to judge students between different schools and states. Then again, those tests look at intelligence and not overall work ethic or study habits which make a big difference in getting good grades in college. Overall, I don't think they will be getting rid of these types of tests any time soon.
I agree with you. SAT's and ACT's should definitely not be the only thing that measures a person's intelligence when admissions is considering accepting a person into a university. However, I do believe that these type of "intelligence" tests measure something important: test taking skills. It is about how much you can answer and comprehend in a shorter period of time, which will be beneficial to a person in the long run. For example, when faced with a problem at work, we must be able to think of a solution almost immediately to keep the work day going at a reasonable pace.
Your blog had a lot of interesting information on it and it was fun to read. Thanks!