The Inaccuracies of the SAT and ACT
The college admissions process each year has been rapidly increasing in difficulty as the number of students who want to attend college has augmented. While a good education is ideal in today’s society, the college admissions process has been becoming more and more stressful and tedious for students. Trying to manage doing well in high school, performing in extracurricular activities, writing the college supplements and essays, and studying to get high scores on the ACT/SAT all contribute to the large amount of stress that students have during high school. But which aspect of the college admissions to students feel should not be included in the process? Which part do colleges feel is most important? While high school GPA is a huge factor in being accepted into college, without those high SAT/ACT scores, there is a very little chance you will get into the school of your choice. In recent years, the question of whether or not the ACT/SAT are valid assessments that show your readiness for college has made colleges, high school students, and parents all question the legitimacy of these long, rigorous exams. While colleges value high performing students, students value a more holistic view of themselves when they are applying to schools (McCarthy).
Why did the SAT/ACT come to be such an important part of the college admissions process? Starting out as an IQ test made by Robert Yerkes, a Harvard professor, the SAT was created for very different reasons compared to its use today. During World War I, the Harvard professor, Yerkes, wanted to find the most intelligent people in society to recruit into the army, and therefor persuaded the army to allow these exams to be held. More towards the 1950’s, over half a million people in the United States used the SAT to be able to get scholarships to schools such as Harvard and Princeton. In 1959 the American College Testing (ACT) group was formed as a rival to the SAT. The SAT began to gain more and more popularity and started to grow all over the United States, becoming a common, national step in applying to college, as well as the ACT (The History of the SAT). Now, almost all colleges in the United States require these exams to be sent to them when applying to their school.
Over the course of this paper, I plan to address this issue in a way that will show administrators here at the University of Minnesota why the ACT and SAT effect students in America and students from different countries that come here for college in a negative and demeaning way. Students and families in the United States are discriminated against and put at a disadvantage with their incomes by these exams that most colleges require. Students are stressed and overwhelmed with everything they have to accomplish before the end of high school and these tests make our lives more stressful then needed. Foreign students not only have to learn the English language to take these exams, but they read English phrases that are placed in these exams and are immediately at a disadvantage to other students whether they know it or not (Roychoudhury). These tests are inaccurate, time consuming, financially damaging, and ineffective in measuring any student’s readiness for college as many students, parents, and educational organizations would say (FairTest). Also, the fact that private schools are moving towards becoming ACT and SAT optional provides a new solution to this issue that has been dragged on year after year. This should be a signal to big, public universities such as the University of Minnesota to begin to adopt to the new, efficient trend that is arising in the college world today (OShaughnessy). The inaccuracies, inefficiencies, financial costs, stress, and time commitment that is pushed on a variety students by the standardized tests shows that there needs to be more effective action to solve this issue. While some colleges have already become SAT and ACT optional, I argue that more colleges should adopt and change to the new, growing movement of being SAT and ACT optional.
The most important stakeholder, in my opinion, are American students aiming to go to college in the United States. Being an American student and in fact a freshman here at the University of Minnesota, I have first-hand experience of what it is like to go through the obstacles presented by these rigorously long exams that most colleges require. For example, I am from a middle class to wealthy area, and the cost of not only physically taking the exam, but the tutors and preparation I went through to try and do well was around $800-$1200 dollars. Now, given that amount you would expect that I would have gotten a very notable score but I had received a 27 on my ACT; the highest of the overall six times I had taken either the SAT or the ACT. With the national average being a 24 on the ACT, you would expect that I was in the clear to go to any college I wanted but that was certainly not the case (Edwards). In fact, I was below the average at the University of Minnesota, which was a 29-31 for my 2019 class (Powerscore). Not only were students like me, who had an ACT three points higher than the national score, a 3.6 GPA in high school, and overall holistic background barely admitted into this state school, but also other students who received a score lower than me on the exams or did not have the financials to prepare were at a disadvantage of being admitted as well.
This is just my story, however, and there are many other factors along with the ones I had faced in my experience in taking the test that give reasons as to why colleges should become test optional. Another factor contributing to this issue presented is that the test discriminates against wealth and even race in some different aspects. One scholarly journal talks about how the SAT prevents some low income African Americans from continuing their education because they cannot get the proper preparation to do well on these exams. They explain how not only are low income African American students at a disadvantage of getting scholarships and getting into college because of these exams, but anyone who cannot get a good score and does not have efficient resources to get the proper preparation to do well on these exams (Toldson). In other words, these exams discriminate against the numerous low income families - who happen to be predominantly African American. The exams deny them their rights to a good education, or even college, if they cannot get above the score that the college requires a student to get to be eligible for scholarship and attendance there. Allowing worthy colleges, such as the University of Minnesota, to be test optional would give low income, African American families a lot of financial relief and offer students scholarships based on how well they perform in high school.
This issue also presents something students all around the world can agree on, which is how the ACT is inaccurate and does not measure your readiness for college. Students, overall, value more of a holistic view of themselves. Being a high school student only a short while ago, I know the lengths that some people will go to show how all-around they are as a person. This means a lot to students when they get those extra hours of community service, work a part time job, and play varsity sports. A lot of students and I were so busy and overwhelmed with keeping our GPA high and performing in all these extracurricular activities that we felt would help colleges see how well rounded of a person we were. Even a college student, “Saratoga alumnus Eric Jung, UCLA '14, believes that the SAT only measures test taking skills and not work ethic or knowledge” (Chadna). This article also states how alumni feel that not only are the ACT and SAT nothing like the tests given at college, but they felt that it was unnecessary time and stress wasted over an exam that does not match how ready you are for college. In fact, college students stated that “‘…people who did badly on the SAT but study and do well in college. But then there’s people who got a 2,400 that come to college and don’t know anything about working hard or time management’” (Chadna). This statement just further proves how there are so many more important aspects of a student. Students should not be at a disadvantage if they do not perform well on the exams because in reality, the exams do not measure student’s readiness for college.
One study that was conducted has proven that the tests do not measure high school student’s readiness for college. What the study found was that there are outside variables that effect college readiness and how well you are expected to do in college. It showed the correlation between GPA and SAT scores in the reading, writing, and math sections. The study proves that these variables have a higher correlation with GPA score compared to SAT and ACT scores, showing how student’s GPA are better representations of how well they will do in college (Coyle). Overall, this study further proves how the SAT and ACT are inaccurate representations of how students will perform in college, which further proves my point that it would be efficient for colleges such as the University of Minnesota to become test optional.
Of course, there are some American students who feel that the ACT and SAT should be a part of the admissions process, given that they achieve a high enough score where it would help them get into a better college. Also, students in general realize that big Universities, such as the University of Minnesota, rely on that extra academic component to help differentiate their applicants, says Saratoga alumni Tiffany Tsao (Chadna). Although both these counter arguments are valid when thinking about the issue that is presented, the proposal of making colleges ACT and SAT optional is still a suitable solution. Students who feel that their SAT or ACT is high enough that it could potentially help them get into certain colleges are still eligible to send their scores and have them looked at in hopefully a positive way. Colleges, on the other hand, also will benefit in a way that can potentially make there university more selective. By making the university ACT and SAT optional, you draw in a larger range of applicants and it attracts different groups of people to apply to your school. While you can only select a certain amount of students each year, the new group of applicants makes your college look more challenging to get into, given the amount of people you have to deny each year because of the large influx of new applicants (Bow). Controversial to what you would think, becoming an ACT and SAT optional school is not only benefiting your university, but the students who take these exams every year as well.
Another group who is largely affected by this issue is foreign students who come to the United States for college. Coming to the United States for college means that the students have to go through the same stressful steps when applying, including taking the ACT and SAT. While American students have a hard time taking these exams and doing well, foreign students not only have to take these exams as well, but they have to learn the English language well enough to know what is going on throughout the exam to get a higher score. On top of the stress of learning the English language and taking these exams, foreign students also have to worry about other aspects such as new teachers, new subjects, new assignments, and new people (Hopkins). Also, foreign students pay more for preparation and to take the exam because colleges and the board of the SAT and ACT know that they are willing to pay extra money to be able to come to the United States for college. The SAT and ACT is not offered in convenient areas, as it is here in the United States, therefor making it much more difficult to get to the testing sites. With the test being inconvenient and preparation being limited, foreign students have a very difficult time taking these exams and performing well enough to come to the United States for college (Roychoudhury).
Foreign students, along with American students, have similar, maybe even more challenging obstacles to be able to get into a college here in the United States. With the tests being a higher financial cost for foreigners, it puts them at a disadvantage over American students if they do not have the financials to pay for the test and its preparation, let alone paying for their children to come to America for school. With a growing amount of international students coming to the University of Minnesota, this is an important issue to think about. I feel that the implementation of being a test optional school would make our school more diverse and more attractive for international students to apply to. The University of Minnesota focus’s highly on diversity and in fact, diversity was one of the essay topics when applying to the school last year. Making this school test optional will attract more international applicants, making the school appear to be more diverse, prestigious, and difficult to get into.
The final stakeholder I will be addressing are other colleges who have already moved to the growing trend of becoming ACT and SAT optional. Analyzing the number of colleges and which colleges have joined in becoming test optional schools will help both admission workers at Minnesota and around the United States understand the benefits it obtains when they become a test optional school. First, let us look at the types of schools who have started to become test optional. Some of these include Wake Forest, Providence, Holy Cross, Loyola, Bryant, and many more worthy college (FairTest). These colleges becoming test optional has not degraded their school, in fact all the colleges listed are still today very respectable colleges to attend.
Of course, admission workers will say that they need that extra academic identifier to help separate their applicants out, especially at a large university such as the University of Minnesota. In fact, there have been studies that have shown how the SAT is effective in generating student’s readiness for college, as shown by the academic journal by Richard Atkinson. The study shows how the SAT and GPA are moderately correlated, therefor making the assumption that the SAT is a good source in determining students ability to perform in college (Atkinson). However, there is much more evidence to back up why the SAT is inaccurate and inefficient in determine student’s readiness for college. Although college GPA and standardized test scores are highly correlated in the first year of college, by the end of students fourth year of college there is almost no correlation with standardized tests and GPA (Westrick). With numerous other studies and idea’s to back my proposal of becoming SAT and ACT option, even the president of Mount Holyoke College states, “The results of the SAT indicate that one is good at taking the SAT. They do not indicate that one thinks creatively and has an expansive and sympathetic imagination. They do not signify motivation or passion or drive or give any idea why the student wants to be or should be in college in the first place,..” (Creighton). The backing of even some presidents of certain universities realizing that the test is inaccurate shows how the test optional movement is supported by not only families and students, but by college presidents and workers as well. Students value a more holistic view of themselves and colleges who become test optional show they care about this holistic value of their applicants, not just their academic performances.
Looking at the University of Minnesota specifically, you may believe that these ACT and SAT tests are so essential to the applicant’s application because the schools is so immense that it makes it easier for you, admission workers here, to select the top tear students that apply every year. However, this should not be the case. With the University of Minnesota having its own supplements and application separate from common app, this alone helps selective and find the students who really want to attend the University. I, personally, put a lot of time and effort into the supplements for Minnesota because I wanted to attend this school very badly. This alone can help show which students want to come here, considering every student has to put in more time and effort to complete the supplements. Minnesota can then focus on the more important things such as extra-curricular activities, supplements, GPA, and even what classes the students have taken in high school, comparing those classes to the hardest classes offered at the specific high school. The University of Minnesota becoming test optional would not only be beneficial for the students applying to the university every year, but also beneficial to the university by making the community here at Minnesota more diverse with more holistic students every year.
I believe that if the University of Minnesota becomes a test optional school, they will be joining the rising, beneficial movement for both colleges and students. Students are faced with inaccuracies, financial costs, time commitment, inefficiencies, and stress that all add up to the overall cost of taking standardizes test and shows that becoming a test optional school is the advantageous action. Both American and foreign students who go to college every year are faced with financial issues with the preparation for the test and the stress of accomplishing all the important parts needed for a good college application. Foreign student’s extra cost of learning English and trying to find a testing site near them is something that I am sure you have never thought of. Some colleges today have already started becoming test optional schools. In fact, the board of the SAT has since changed the SAT to be more like the ACT, which is appealing to students greatly (Bidwell). If the SAT can recognize and adapt to student values and needs, then so can we. Minnesota becoming a test optional school will not only improve the appearance of this university, but it will make out community a more holistic, valuable, and respectable place to live in with all around diverse and determined students who want to succeed.
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