By Se Jun Lee, Arnold O. Beckman Highschool
May 16, 2011
IRVINE- May is a truly well-named month. The may-hem of Advanced Placement testing and SAT testing in the early half of this month is much reason for concern for students across the nation. Prep books fly off the shelves, study groups take late-night coffee breaks more often, and stress levels test the boundaries of mental breaking points. However, there is growing concern that these types of standardized tests, provided largely by the notorious CollegeBoard, are not adequate measuring sticks for academic achievement.
The monopoly that CollegeBoard has secured on the standardized testing market has generated differing opinions amongst many Orange County students.
Junior Benjamin Vanderheyden, one of the more highly achieving academic members of his class, commented, “Standardized tests not only assess ones knowledge of the subject but also the ability to think analytically about that knowledge. Test-taking skills like time management and differentiating between ambiguous answer choices come down to that student’s confidence in his or her understanding of the material.”
Fellow classmate Amandeep Singh, who has taken several chemistry courses at Irvine Valley College, commented, “The SAT Subject Tests and AP exams are good measures of what students know, but the SAT I definitely is not – it’s an aptitude test that fails to highlight the truly college-ready students.” Senior Kevin Nguyen, who finished all of his college decisions, gave his input and stated, “The SAT is a test of how well a student can memorize factoids.” Sophomore Avissa Zomorrodian, who has yet to take an AP exam or SAT test felt, “The tests must be accurate. Otherwise why would so many people take them?”
The advent of the SAT’s, AP’s, and ACT’s has given everyone much food for thought. As rumors circulate about how colleges are considering these tests less in their admissions processes – a growing number of colleges have begun to make them optional for application purposes – doubts continue to grow concerning test difficulty. Will standardized tests lose relevance in our high school academic system? According to the current trend, this may soon become a reality.
