Pros and Cons of the Scholastic Aptitude Test
Why I chose this topic: Should the SAT be used for college admissions? The SAT has been a huge controversy for a long time, however, it wasn’t until several months after getting into college that I began to really question why it’s used for admission. The only answers I really got from the college board was that it is “designed to assess your academic readiness for college and provides a path to opportunities, financial support and scholarships, in a way that’s fair to all students. It also keeps pace with what colleges are looking for today, measuring the skills required for success in the 21st century. I still was not convinced because not all those answers seemed right to me. What is the SAT: So what is the SAT? The Scholastic Aptitude Test is a standardized test used by college admissions. It is a timed test featuring a Critical Reading, mathematics, and writing section. Pros vs Cons of the SAT: Proponents of the SAT claim that it is a great indicator to colleges as to how students will do in college since it assesses the critical thinking skills needed. Opponents of the SAT claim that it is a poor indicator of the intelligence of the student. Why it should not be used: Why should the SAT not be used?
Before even getting to the components of the test, first lets take into account the fact that a lot of people out there do not have enough money for tutors or books who really need them for preparation. A lot of other people hire tutors or get a lot of books to prepare them well and therefore the preparation itself just went through an unfair process. Secondly, the test is timed and we all work at different paces. There are those of us who can read really fast and get all the information down fast but there are those of us who cant read as fast but can still get down all the information very well.
There are those of us who can quickly think about how to format an essay but there are those of us who need more time are can still write a great essay. Therefore, the fact that it is timed definitely factors in to not being able to truly indicate how smart the student really is. The SAT is also very culturally biased in the way that there are many people out there who come to the United States late in their school career and barely know any English and are all of a sudden expected to have a great English vocabulary and great English reading skills just to have a chance to go to college.
Once again, another reason the SAT does not truly determine the intelligence of the student. Conclusion: The SAT shows how the student did on ONE test as opposed to grades, which show the student did overtime. There are many people out there who are not very good test takers and there were probably many who just did not feel themselves the day of their SAT and ended up doing worse than they were capable of. The SAT is a very biased test in a lot of aspects and should absolutely be abolished because it poorly indicates how smart the student really is and, in several cases, how the student can perform in college.
