<p>It is a fact that some people can handle taking tests and others can’t. Some people do badly on testes because they don’t study enough or just don’t know what is going on. Other get nervous and their mind goes blank. My trick for taking tests in college was to grab a bag of M&M’s to nibble on through the whole test. I think it helped me to focus because of the adrenaline rush from the chocolate and the sugar. The small size of the pieces of chocolate make it last throughout the whole test.</p>
<p>Unfortunately our whole school system is stuck on the idea that taking tests is the only way to judge how someone has taken in the knowledge. There has to be a better way to see how much people know and understand besides a test. </p>
<p>The thing about a test is that it is a judgement, a personal judgement. You are offering yourself up to be graded by another person and that is pretty hard. You are also offering yourself up to be compared to other people, and found less in many instances. I can’t imagine a cure for test taking anxiety simply because of what they mean to people.</p>
<p>I certainly believe that there are poor test takers, myself being one of them. I have dyslexia which I was diagnosed when I was 8 and my family sought little in lieu of help following testing. Shooting forward, I did dismal on my LSATs last June, I MEAN DISMAL I figured since I was able to maintain a 3.67 throughout undergrad I was able to help myself cope with dyslexia. Anyways, I was tested again for learning disabilities and again was diagnosed with dyslexia and upon taking an IQ test I received a score in the 98th percentile, so obviously there is a discrepancy. I am currently attempting to get testing accommodations from LSAC so I have my fingers crossed. </p>
<p>Anyways, those who don’t test well but tend to have excellent grades or genuine intellectual ability outside of standardized tests certainly display a discrepancy which is worthy of testing, so any accommodations can be made if need be. Standardized tests are made for “normal” people. I’m certain a number of the bad test takers out there are considerably more intelligent than most people. Just my opinion. ( :</p>
<p>I believe it…I get all A’s, but if there’s anything that drags down my percentage it is the test scores. I don’t use it as an excuse though. Instead I just recognize that I need to study extra hard and figure out what I need to do to succeed. But I do believe that a lot of people are poor test takers… I don’t think they are using it as an excuse. I think that they just haven’t found the correct and best way for them to process the information they are learning and to study and prepare for the upcoming tests.</p>
<p>One can obtain a sky-high GPA without ever having touched a multi-choice test in class. Or have time constraints that are far more loose in class than on the SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>I think time constraints are the biggest problem. A typical person can barely finish a test like the SAT in the allocated time. If you are 20% slower than the typical person, you will leave 20% of the problems unanswered, and will have a poor score. Yet you could be very smart – tests like the SAT reward quick but superficial thought. Heaven help a test taker who actually starts to think about a question on the SAT!</p>
<p>In my opinion, standardized tests like the SAT and ACT test your ability to work under pressure and within a time limit more than evaluate any kind of academic skill. SoCalDad is absolutely right. There’s no time to actually think about anything!</p>
<p>People who can remember a lot of information, detect patterns well, and work quickly tend to do very well on standardized tests. People who can’t do one or more of those things tend to not do so well. There are a variety of reasons why someone might lack one of those qualities (disabilities, anxiety, not so smart to start with, bad day on the date of the test due to illness or other immediate stress). That makes them a “poor test taker”, at least for that given test. Some of those are “repeatable” and will bite them on every test, so then they are “poor test takers” all the time. </p>
<p>I also believe most people can improve their scores with adequate prep. That does not mean a prep class, both of my kids prepped only with the SAT book available from College Board and one of them used Grubers for math as well. I think their scores were as high as they could be given limitations each had on those three factors.</p>
<p>I’m reading a book called “Choke” by Sian Beilock, and from this book, I think that there is such thing as the “poor test taker” excuse. Stress can cause test-takers who would score high to take shortcuts and make silly mistakes. Personally, I have fallen victim to this, bombing several tests just because I neglected to go through my work when I otherwise would have done so.</p>
yessss there is such a thing !!! there are people who are actually bad test takers , some students have learning disabilities, like me … i have to study 4 hours then the adv-age person and still get a 60…65 or 70.
Just an experience:
When I took the SAT and it “didn’t count,” I got a near perfect score. In math, we took a test we were told would be “thrown away.” Well, it wasn’t and I got the second highest score.
When I took the SAT and my score mattered, I froze and even second guessed how to spell my name. MY NAME. I’m fairly decent at math. I can grasp most concepts in a matter of minutes, but when a test roles around I remember that it’ll harm my GPA if I do poorly. If my GPA goes down so do my chances of going to a good college. If I don’t get into a good college then I wouldn’t have achieved a goal, and so on. The people who really aren’t good test takers just have anxiety about taking them. Yeah, I bet there are a few who cheat their way along until the test, but that doesn’t mean they’re just “not good test takers.” Same applies to those who needed help and didn’t get it. There is such thing as a person who just isn’t a good test taker, but it’s not a person who does’ put forth an effort and/or cheats their way through.