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By Jessica Singh ('22)
SATs, ACTs, AP Exams, Regents…What's the point? The debate of whether standardized testing is really a necessity for high school students should come to an end: these tests aren’t very fair.
All students learn by different methods and think in different ways, so it is unfair that a number (your test score) is a main focus to admission counselors when reviewing applications. Alexandra MacAlpin (‘22), who recently took the SAT, feels that “it caters to those who are good test takers and isn't beneficial to people who aren't good at taking tests. It is also unfair to those who aren’t good at math and English.” What about students who excel in history? On the SAT, an application of historical knowledge is not accounted for; only reading comprehension, grammar, and math. In addition, we haven’t been taught grammar like we have with reading comprehension and/or math, so is it really fair to be tested on this topic we don’t know much about? With a test like this, it is more about learning the strategies of the test itself rather than knowing how to reach the correct answers, which doesn’t necessarily measure your preparedness for college.
"Requiring SAT/ACT scores hurts the competitiveness of our student body, and more concerningly, acts as a barrier to underserved students."
-Henry Dawson, The Brown Daily Herald
So, if we don’t like the existing SAT, what other option is there so that colleges can compare students from all over the country?
Well, what if the SAT was just redesigned to fit the education that high school students already receive in class? Right now, about half of the SAT is just math. That seems a bit excessive, considering the fact that not everyone needs to know how to solve a system of linear equations in their future career (My apologies to all of the math teachers out there.) What if there was a standardized test consisting of 4 short sections of 30 minutes each, testing reading comprehension, math, basic science concepts, and U.S. history? This would be a much more practical alternative as it is much shorter than the SAT we are used to. It would be more beneficial to our futures because it tests relevant information, and is more fair in terms of content because the four core subjects are covered.
Regardless of the specifics of a “redesigned SAT'', it should be focused on testing our college preparedness rather than mastering the ins and outs of an unfair, standardized exam.
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