Note: This article was written for the New York Times 10th Annual Student Editorial Contest. The contest was to “make an argument in 450 words or fewer about something that matters to you, and persuade us that we should care, too.” This entry is from Finn Coffee, a rising senior at Don Bosco Prep.
As the name suggests, standardized testing has become a standard part of all college applications, as well as of the lives of students. Though testing is a prominent way to assess and quantify a student’s logical intelligence, it is not always accurate. According to Shawn Hubler in an article from the New York Times titled “Why Is the SAT Falling Out of Favor?”, exams such as the SAT and ACT are inherently unfair. It has been shown that the exam is biased toward whites and Asian Americans, both of whom receive the majority of standardized testing prep. The test is not a measure of intelligence, it is a measure of which students “can pay thousands of dollars for private coaching and test prep” (Hubler). Standardized tests are strategy-based and predictable, making them easy to prepare for with the correct preparation, but the best preparation often comes at a hefty price. For example, a popular test preparation program Princeton Review offers SAT prep that guarantees a 1400, a high score, but at a grand price of $2,200 (SAT® Prep). Due to this unfair advantage, many low-income family students, often minorities, do not receive the same preparation. As a result, only a small percentage of Black and Hispanic students receive a grade higher than 1200.
Not only is standardized testing biased in favor of the wealthy, but it is also an inaccurate measure of IQ. The SAT and ACT both are prepared by mastering test strategies, and it is a matter of learning how to beat the test; therefore, one does not just have to be naturally smart to receive a high score. According to Natalie Wexler in a Forbes article, the test is not designed to test intelligence, but rather to “trip up careless test-takers”. Not everyone has a logic-based mindset, one that is ideal for standardized testing, so putting students in percentiles based on scores puts students who may align with a more creative mindset at a disadvantage.
Finally, there is no correlation between college success and high test scores. Students with lower test scores can be just as competent. It is unfair to reject a student from a college just because his/her scores do not reflect the standard. Standardized testing provides unfair advantages for logical thinkers as well as the wealthy, and should lose its title as the standard of intelligence.