What is Standardized Testing?

Merriam-Webster defines it as “a test (as of intelligence, achievement, or personality) whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison”.

Today, the most common tests in the United States are the SAT and ACT.

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Scoring

The SAT is scored on a 1600 scale. Students receive online score reports approximately two to three weeks after test administration. The report includes the total score (the sum of the two section scores, with each section graded on a scale of 200–800) and three subscores (in reading, writing, and analysis, each on a scale of 2–8) for the optional essay. It is run by the College Board, which makes access easier as students also take AP exams and the PSAT through this platform.

The ACT is scored out of 36. Each section gets a score of 1-36, and the section scores are averaged out to get a composite score. Additionally, there is a separate subscore for STEM that is a combination of the math and science.

With the new enhanced version, even if you take the science section, your composite only includes reading, English, and math, with the science still contributing to the STEM subsection score. Around 1.4 million people take this test.

Both tests can be superscored, in which you take your highest section scores from various dates and merge them to create one "superscore."

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Test Optional

When the pandemic began, most colleges and universities adopted a test-optional policy, where students who did not submit scores were not penalised at all in their admissions decisions to schools. Instead, they did not have this additional consideration. However, the main reason for this was access. Testing centers nationwide were limited, and many people could not take the exam.

However, as the year has passed, many top 50 colleges have again implemented test-requirement policies, as seen with MIT, UT Austin, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and more. This mandate should make sense, as access has improved significantly since the pandemic; however, when test-optional was more of the norm, people were significantly more satisfied with their applications and college results.

Now, with the requirements slowly coming back, there is a lot of debate and controversy about the future of testing in the admissions process for many reasons.

Controversy

Many people feel that standardized tests do not accurately represent their intelligence and who they are as students. One main complaint is: how can a 2-hour test on a random day be a significant indicator of your success in life and chances of getting into college? The tests are expensive, and while some qualify for a free waiver, a lot don’t, so paying 60+ dollars to take the test every time can add up, along with prep books and extra materials.

Also, something could be wrong that day, such as a student not feeling well or being in circumstances that could affect their performance. Additionally, wealthier people can afford expensive test prep resources such as experienced tutors, giving them an advantage. Statistically, affluent people tend to perform better on these. All these factors have made testing really controversial.

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What should we do?

While arguments in favor of test optionality or even test blindness have some validity, and some people’s intelligence cannot be measured in a single sitting, I do see them as valuable markers of basic knowledge.

Standardized tests are the only proper way to measure knowledge fairly to a certain extent when considering the national and international bodies of applicants.

With high school GPA scales fluctuating, different classes at different schools have various difficulty levels, including grade inflation and deflation. Standardized tests are designed to gather data and analyze it quantitatively. This helps schools benchmark their students’ educational outcomes. While other outlying factors like wealth and access might affect results, the scores are a good benchmark of students’ skills.

However, administering a test where wealth disparities tend to influence outcomes is also unfair, which is one of the primary concerns. There needs to be more options for students struggling with stress, nerves, or other issues to display their intelligence to the best of their ability. The platforms and colleges administering these tests should be held accountable for making access to materials and support more accessible.

So, while test-optional may benefit some, in the large scheme of things, colleges need a standardized view of where students are at, and testing is one of the best ways to do this. Ultimately, we should keep them, but work on expanding prep materials and making access more available to people of all economic backgrounds.