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Swayam Mehta 

Mr.Phillips 

English 3 

28 February 2019 

STANDARDIZED TESTING- Is it accurate? 

“Oh! I have an ACT next week and then an SAT the week after and then next month! 

Why are there so many standardized test! Do they even test my true learning abilities?” It is not 

uncommon for me to hear these complaints from a student. All students have to take a 

standardized test in their high school life to get into college as it is a requirement by all 

colleges. But why is an requirement? Do these test actually determine how good a student is? I 

feel that the answer is no. These test only determine a students english and math capabilities. 

Instead there should be a test that test more aspects of a student like a portfolio based 

assessment where a students progress can be traced over long period of time.  

These standardized test are all timed mostly as 1 question per minute. But not all 

students can answer questions at that speed. Some require a longer time to read and interpret 

questions. Hence this might result in the student knowing the answer but not being able to 

select it. Also some students might not be going at English and math but better at science's. 

Also with so much riding on the results, teachers often feel compelled to teach to the tests. In 

some schools, less time is being spent on the sciences, social studies, and the arts to prepare 

students to take the tests in math, reading and writing. This results in depriving students to 

study subjects that they have actual interest and could be a possible career and instead 

studying subjects that they don't have a particular interest in. 

Standardized tests feature multiple-choice or open-ended questions; some tests 

combine both. Because answers are scored by machine, multiple-choice tests generally have 
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high reliability. Open-ended questions ask students to write a short answer or an extended 

response. I feel that multiple-choice tests are too simplistic, while advocates note that 

technology improvements feature items that demand more critical thinking before choosing a 

response. Open-ended questions allow students to display knowledge and apply critical 

thinking skills, but most require human readers. 

Now some supporters of standardized testing might say that as all students learn the 

same material in school at the same pace then there shouldn't be a problem answering the 

questions at the same pace as everyone else. But they are forgetting that even though 

everyone learns the syllabus at same pace but everyone does not grasp and understand the 

material at the same rate. Also countless students excel in art, music, foreign languages, and 

have many other skills that are not present on standardized tests. An exam cannot correctly 

measure a student’s intelligence by only testing certain parts of their education. A student who 

has a weak spot in science and math, but excels in many other subjects, will receive 

below-average scores and be perceived as below-standard, while truly being exceptionally 

bright. 

In conclusion every student is an individual, with his or her own talents and skills. For this 

reason, not all students excel in the same subject. Every student is unique, and cannot be 

treated as a whole. A standardized test made for a student cannot accurately determine the 

intelligence and performance of an individual. Instead it should be replaced by a portfolio 

based assessment. Which should test every subject that the student is good at and not only 

english and math.