Changes to College Admissions Testing

By Danny P.

I find it interesting that college admissions tests are seeing some major changes now. In some instances it can be seen as both good and bad. The content of the assigned article mainly focused on the SAT. For years, students have struggled with the SAT for a multitude of different reasons. A lot of the struggle comes from students trying to reincorporate aspects of their high school education into the process of preparation for such tests.

One of the factors that led to a need for change is that academic skills of students aren’t given the opportunity to be fully utilized. Students are being penalized for guessing wrong answers as opposed to the ACT which doesn’t penalize it. More and more students are also being tricked or somewhat confused by the use of unnecessary vocabulary. In many cases, the test takers are bright students but they are having obstacles thrown at them for no good reason. Some might argue that tests such as the SAT and even the ACT have too much of a bias attached to their persona.

For years we have heard of the folklore that comes with standardized testing and its favorability among certain demographics. The students that are more affluent tend to have more success when it comes to taking the SAT or ACT. Many students that are minorities or come from lower income families have more of a struggle taking these tests. This is not always a one sided battle, and in some cases, the letter mentioned students do very well on these tests. Overall, these tests have certain biases that could easily be eliminated with different guidelines in accordance with the tests.

Some believe that college admissions tests should put further emphasis on the skills learned throughout high school. Others might argue that these tests should just be eliminated completely. It’s easy to say that when students are applying for colleges and wanting to major in something average, but what about students that want to get into medical or law schools? It’s important to take tests that will record your strengths and weaknesses in the classroom, but doing away with these tests completely doesn’t exactly help everyone. This is why subtle changes are slowly being incorporated into this test taking structure.

In conclusion, college admissions are beginning to see some more changes. These changes may or may not be in the best interest of all students. Some of these changes will be aimed towards more of the students that are bright but just not the best at standardized testing. Only time will tell if the changes to the SAT will even the field for all students