College entrance exams....and my opinion

Applying to College
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<p>In spite of all of the chance threads with rising seniors posting their incredible stats, I'd like to start a thread by sharing my opinion with you all about college entrance exams and what I think of them.</p>

<p>I took the ACT twice and I scored poorly both times. Before you think I'm going to complain about how poorly the ACT is administered and set up, hear me out. Yes, I did poorly, and no, am I not ashamed of it. I'm not going to bash the ACT or say that it should be ended. I used to be angry, but I'm not anymore. Here's why.</p>

<p>The ACT is supposed to be an indicator of how well a student will preform in college on various subjects. For example, the benchmark score for the science section is 24; so, if a student got below that, they would "likely not be ready for entry level science courses" in college.</p>

<p>I can tell you that both times I took the test, my science score was below the benchmark of 24. Does this mean that I will do poorly in an entry-level science course this fall? I highly doubt it.</p>

<p>I don't know what the factor is that determines why some students do better than others. Speed, definitely. Being quick-witted is a plus, yes. Practice, maybe. I studied heavily for the test and none of those hours helped, however. </p>

<p>On the other hand, maybe it's aptitude. IQ. Maybe some people are just born "smarter" than others? I've never researched the link between IQ and test scores.</p>

<p>I just want a tactful discussion here. Nobody gets anywhere without considering both sides of the argument. :P</p>

<p>My point is this: why do people put so much emphasis on them, besides admissions, if they only determine "college readiness," whatever that means?</p>

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<p>The ACT’s college readiness benchmarks are absurd in the vast majority of applications. There seems to be an expectation for schools to get 100% of their students to be considered college-ready as defined by the ACT. That’s impossible. The test is graded on a bell curve and the benchmarks are defined using that bell curve.</p>

<p>As I understand it, there’s plenty of evidence of a strong correlation between ACT/SAT scores and IQ. I’d place that as one of the major factors in performance. Preparation is really only beneficial if your score is low enough to benefit from the tricks you’re taught in prep courses and books.</p>

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<p>[The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org)</p>

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<p>“As I understand it, there’s plenty of evidence of a strong correlation between ACT/SAT scores and IQ”</p>

<p>Yeah well, what it doesn’t tell you or show you is how hard of a worker someone is. You could be a genius but won’t get anywhere in life if you are lazy and don’t try very hard.</p>

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<p>^ One kid in my class was the laziest kid ever and he scored 4 points higher than I. And, you’re right. :)</p>

<p>And I know another kid who slept in class and never did homework who got a 32. He also got into UMich.</p>

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<p>^^if he “got into UMich”, I can guarantee it wasn’t a 32 on the ACT that got him in; he must have had a very good GPA while he was napping…they could care less about test scores…</p>

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<p>Since selective colleges can’t admit everyone, how SHOULD they choose?</p>

<p>Test scores? What about the hard worker who doesn’t test well?
GPA? What about the genius who was bored in HS?
AP classes taken? What about kids from a school that doesn’t offer them?
Essays? What about the dyslexic genius, or too much essay help?
ECs and rec letters? What about the academically unprepared model model citizen?
All factors? What about those with none of these qualities?</p>

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<p>rodney…my GPA was higher than his</p>

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<p>Standardized tests only exist because of large inconsistencies in high school courses and grades. If there were more consistency like in some other countries, colleges would not have to use standardized tests to compare applicants from different high schools.</p>

<p>If you do poorly on the ACT, perhaps you may do better on the SAT. Colleges tend to treat them as interchangeable, even though they are rather different tests.</p>