The SAT is just a number BY VIVIAN KREVOR Opinion Editor Society has a habit of making people define themselves by numbers; how much money you have, your weight, how many friends you have, how old you are, your grades, and your SAT score. It is undeniable that some students live in an environment putting them at an automatic disadvantage-or advantage-for the SAT, a test that uses academic language to ask questions separated into three topics: writing, reading comprehension, and math. There is a strong correlation between SAT scores, familyâs income, and race, according to several sources including The Washington Post. When studentsâ self perception of intelligence depends on a testing number- that isnât even fair-there can be negative impacts on confidence. As the SATs have become a more controversial topic, the College Board has diminished the value placed on studentâs test scores in their application. Now, over half of U.S. colleges will be âtest optionalâ for 2022 applicants, further diminishing its importance âI fully disagree with standardized testing, I think itâs the worst way to show someoneâs capability of learning, and I think that the College Board, honestly shouldnât even look at it,â said Junior Kate Burnett. âItâs too much in too little time, thereâs not enough breaks, and thereâs a lot of pressure on it, so of course everyone is going to get all in their head and stressed out. Especially when theyâre in the middle of taking it.â Burnett acknowledges that scores donât necessarily translate to intelligence, especially
âI think that the general population thinks that youâre smart if you can do well in general on standardized tests...I canât actually imagine an educator that thinks standardized tests actually show true intelligence...I would wager a guess that most parents, not knowing a lot about education... probably put more weight on standardized tests than is necessary.â Jasmine Schimek, English teacher when considering how stress can impact performance. While I recognize that the SAT can measure some form of intelligence, environmental factors and learning styles influence SAT scores too much to be considered an accurate depiction. âEveryone is sorta different in their own way. Everyone learns at their own pace. Like teachers expect you to use one algorithm, and then when you use a different one, they donât freak out, but they sorta expect you to follow in their footsteps,â said sophomore Juan Chavez. In addition to differences of learning styles, home situations are very impactful
on test scores. Certain families place a lot more pressure on their children to do well on tests. Wealthier school districts tend to have more SAT prep courses available, and be more advertised. As a result, how well a student does on the SAT corresponds to how affluent their area is. SAT prep is expensive in general, for example Princeton Review with the program âSAT 1500+ Guarantee Tutoringâ has a rate of $233 an hour. And get this-this is the starting price that also happens to be on sale. Claiming to guarantee its students above a 99th percentile SAT score, this is a prime example of an extremely advantageous program only available to the affluent. âThe SAT is a business. Itâs not like itâs a nonprofit, you pay for the test, you pay for the prep, itâs money that goes to a company. And so, itâs literally profiting off of students, and sometimes students take it five times because they want to get a good score on it,â English teacher Jasmine Schimek said. âTheyâre profiting off of students âneedingâ to take this test to get into a good school, to spend more money...Thatâs another reason why I just like donât like [the SAT] in general.â Shimeck brought a new perspective that I hadnât thought of before. Last year, my sister constantly studied and took plane flights on two separate occasions to different states to take the SAT. While I commend her for working extremely hard to get a score that she wanted, this raised a question for me: how can the SATs be fair when not all students have family that raised them with more academic language, put a lot of emphasis on standardized tests, and are affluent enough to pay for taking the test multiple times?
Statistics from The Wall Street Journal, infographic by Vivian Krevor.
RAVEN REPORT | NOVEMBER 2021
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