Are College Entrance Exams Fair and Effective?

1459 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of learning styles

A pervasive issue in education today is the college entrance exams. There are several college exams used in the United States and around the world. These include the SAT, the ACT and many other various versions of those tests. These tests are an unfair and ineffective measure to determine a student’s acceptance into college. These tests to do not measure a student’s ability to master a subject rather they measure aptitude which is ineffective. Not only do students need to achieve academically, but they are also advised to have extracurricular activities outside of the classroom. Race and gender also play a huge role in acceptance letters to universities forcing the acceptances to be unfair.

College entrance exams do not identify whether a student has mastered a subject, rather they show a student’s inborn abilities. In Seoul, South Korea students take a test like the SAT’s. The Koreans go to different lengths to study and prepare for these tests. Korean students, “will take the nine-hour test, which consists mostly of multiple-choice questions” (Park, 2008) .To some students a nine hour test might be a little too outrageous. By the fourth hour mark students are most likely to be getting tired and agitated and they are not even at the half way mark yet. In London, England they take what is called the Key Stage 2 test which is similar to the SAT. These tests are for students who are in their last year of primary school. “the results may look fairly innocuous… Yet they are anything but, because both the data itself, and the way it is used, have become the focus of an increasingly bitter argument.” (Guardian, 2007) These children have so much ahead of them they should not be thinking of college at this point; they still need to lear...

... middle of paper ...

...n.co.uk/education/2007/dec/06/schools.primaryeducation

Zuman, J. P. (1988, April). The effectiveness o£ special preparation for the SAT: An evaluation of a commercial coaching school. . Retrieved from(http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED294900&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED294900)

Wise, T. W. (2002, August 12).Failing the test of fairness: Institutional racism and the SAT. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/13826/?page=1

Finkel, R. F. (2011, September 26).Sat remains for Penn applicants despite potential unfairness. Retrieved from http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/09/sat_remains_for_penn_applicants_despite_potential_unfairness

Weiss, K. W. (2001, February 18).UC faculty chief backs dropping sat as unfair. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/18/local/me-27050

Show More
Related

  • Racial Segregation and Prejudice in ZZ Packer's Brownies

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wilkins, Roger. “Racism.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 572 (2000): 159. Sage Publications, Inc. Web. 25 Mar. 2014

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Standardized Testing

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    A scholarly journal written by an anonymous author sheds light on the importance of standardized testing by showing its efficiency in higher level education. This article provides a solid counterargument for the use of standardized tests which is standardized tests being a good source of predicting grades throughout college as well as whether students will stay long enough to graduate. It is also able to establish that the SAT is effective in forecasting a grade-point average through the fourth year as well as predicting students study habits. The

    Read More

  • It’s Time to Abolish the ACT and SAT

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.

    Read More

  • Reverse Discrimination In College Admissions

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action: Giving Preferential Admissions to Minority Students

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    Connerly, Ward. "My Fight Against Race Preferences: A Quest Toward `Creating Equal'." Chronicle of Higher Education 46.27 (2000): B6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 17 Aug. 2011.

    Read More

  • Why the Format of the SAT's is Changing

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to statistics published by Finley (2002), of the results from the 2001 SAT's, the average verbal score for African Americans and Hispanics was 433, while for whites it was 529, and the average math score for African Americans and Hispanics was 426, while for whites it was 531. This is a big difference by about 200 points. The comparison between African American and Hispanic scores with white scores can make a big difference in the student body of colleges who place a big emphasis on SAT scores. In 1997, the dean of Berkeley said, "We have evidence that the SAT lost us two thousand Latino students this year alone." (Zwick, 1999). This shows that even in 1997, just three years after the SAT was revised, educators were still seeing problems with it.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students are compared with one another or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned throughout the semester or year. Consequently, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and higher education evaluation. Various numbers of students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded with the credits that may have been well-earned. Some standardized testing such as the SAT, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background and do not retain information as their fellow peers. Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, which is a condition that many students suffer from “a feeling someone might have in a situation where performance really counts or when the pressure's on to do well” (Test Anxiety). Standardized tests give a false pretense of objectivity and consequently of equal opportunity. However, "the only goal of standardized tests is the scoring, which is done by machine" (Facts on Standardized Tests and Assessment Alternatives). It is made clear that the purpose of testing is to provide information to be used in conjunction with, not in pl...

    Read More

  • Education

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Goldstein, Andrew and Ann Blackman. “No SAT Scores Required (Education).” Time 11 Sep. 2000: 52-53.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The SAT

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    Standardized testing has been proven to be biased towards those of ethnic and socioeconomic disadvantaged groups. Wealthy students become more prepared for standardized tests through better life experiences, such as top-quality schools and test prep tutors. Steven Syverson implies that students with high SAT scores are presumed to be “bright” and encouraged to consider the most selective colleges, with no regard to their academic performance in high school (57). Those students that were considered elite, but did not perform well their parents suggested to admission counselors that they were “not challenged” in high school (Syverson 57). According to Marchant and Paulson, race, parent education, and family income were found to account as much as 94% of the variance in scores among states (85:62). Students that belong to multiple disadvantage categories suffered greatly in the scoring criteria. The majority of students with socioeconomic disadvantages are discouraged from attending college. However, those that choose to further their education are more than likely the first ones in their family to attend college. Due to the large debate involving the admissions process using the SAT score, more colleges have adopted the SAT Optional policy because it is “consistent with their institutional mission and

    Read More

  • The Case Against Standardized Tests

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .

    Read More

  • High-Stakes Tests are Detrimental to the Future of Our Children

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Almost every person who has graduated from high school has taken the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), which is generally used for college admissions. We all remember the stress of taking a test that could affect our future educational plans. Now due to the “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001, this kind of test is now being administered to children from the 3rd to 8th grades as a way to determine if the school or teachers are educating them properly. High-stakes standardized tests of this nature should not be used to determine the educational abilities of either schools or the teachers.

    Read More

  • Racial Bias in College Admission

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sacks, David, and Peter Thiel. "The Case Against Affirmative Action." Stanford Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.

    Read More

  • The SAT and Its Role in Public Policy

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, in the United States, standardized tests are administered every year by states to their Kindergarten-12th grade public school students. Different states place different weight on their standardized testing results where some states differ their funding based on results and annual improvement, whereas other states allow schools to simply gauge where their students are scoring relative to other schools in the state. These tests, however, are only standardized within one state. One of the few tests standardized throughout the entire country is the SAT, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, administered by College Board and required by, “More than 800 of the nation’s colleges and universities,” (Comras, 1984). This test will be the standardized test focused on in this paper. While standardized testing is that, standardized, and enables the comparison of one student to another, the meaning of the score does not equate to a test of intelligence. Therefore, while standardized testing should be applied in the education system, it needs to be more indicative of the material learned in school and should hold less weight than it currently does in the college admissions process.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action and Higher Education Admissions

    1665 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jossey-Bass. Tanabe, C. (2009). From the courtroom to the voting booth: Defending affirmative action in higher education. Philosophy of Education Yearbook, 291–300.

    Read More

  • The portrayal of young people in the media.

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baker, M (2010) Are Exams Really Getting Easier? [Internet], UK, BBC. Available from: [Accessed 2nd January 2012]

    Read More

More about Are College Entrance Exams Fair and Effective?

Open Document