<p>I am somewhat of a try-hard in school. I'm one of those students who does not take notes in class, but reads the textbook instead. I actually enjoy learning and applying what I learn. I do ALL the homework and extra credit in my classes. My teachers think I am an above average intelligent student. They all encouraged me (despite I did not want to and knew it would not happen) to apply to top 20 schools because my grades and extra curricular abided . Everyone at my school thinks I am a genius because I can comprehend very difficult material quickly and tend to get perfect scores on tests that the whole class fails. My tenet is that my grades and "intelligence" only come from what I read and hard-work. I feel like such a disgrace when people ask me what my ACT score is like. I got a 23. The sad thing is I actually studied hard for it. On practice tests, I was roughly scoring 27-29 (not bad, but not good). My ACT score did inhibit me from going to my dream school. And it constantly meeks me. So, does that make me one of those try-hard, skill-less people?</p>
<p>I hate to bring up this futile, weak excuse, but I am a first generation student that grew up in the ghetto. However, we eventually moved to a rich neighborhood....</p>
<p>Longer answer- (but still short)
tests mean very little. They are one measure of a persons ability to do well in college. They do not really measure intelligence, aptitude, or potential in and of themselves. And some of the skill of test taking is luck, honestly. How you feel the morning of the test, recently studied topics on the test, and areas covered on the test that your teachers taught well. All of those things may happen on a test in October, but November’s test may cover other topics. </p>
<p>Some colleges put too much weight on the ability of the tests to make predictions about student success. Some students that do well on the ACT/SAT fail out of college…
You have something better than the ability to do well on a standardized test, you have a thirst for knowledge and perserverence. And a desire to do well. </p>
<p>Go to college, find your place, and do great things. It’s all about what you do in college, not where you go to college.</p>
<p>I felt like you did when I was in school. I did very well but had to work HARD. My boyfriend (who eventually got a PhD in astrophysics) and my best friend (who got a PhD in history) did almost as well as I did with very little effort.</p>
<p>I can’t remember how the subject came up, but I told this to my college astronomy prof. He told me he PREFERRED students like me, because of our work ethic. He said the naturally gifted students often did not live up to their potential because everything came easily to them.</p>
<p>That made me feel much better! I ended up getting a fellowship to grad school in engineering, so I didn’t do too badly.</p>
<p>pokemonfan A true try hard would take notes about anything that the teacher says in class, lest their lack of notes leads to failure due to their poorly developed intellectual processes.</p>
<p>Dude we’re in the same boat. I got a 23 ACT like you, but I have a 3.8 UW GPA, 4.6 W, top 5% class rank and all. I work really hard, study when I know I need to, pay attention in class and all of that, but those intangibles (probably the most important thing to have in college) don’t translate over to standardized tests. That’s why just about any school will tell you the #1 predictor on how well a student will do in college is their GPA. But don’t be discouraged from applying to top schools when you’re in the bottom 25% range of their test scores, they could be students like yourself. Worse thing that can happen is they say no.</p>
<p>lol did you even read the topic post? OP’s acing tests everyone else is failing/doing poorly on…</p>
<p>and what’s wrong with hard work? This kind of attitude towards hard work is what’s causing America to fall globally. So much arrogance when we can’t even compare with other nations. I miss the days when hard work was the “cool.”</p>
<p>I have the same exact problem. I am #1 in my class, 4.0 UW GPA, 4.5 W, and yet I made a 1600 on the SAT my first try. I knock all of my tests in school out of the park and average a 96+ in all of my classes. I really don’t know why I can’t do well on the SAT. Thank God Wake Forest doesn’t require standardized test scores in their admissions or I wouldn’t have a chance at any of the top schools.</p>
<p>OP, have you tried the SAT? You may excel at the SAT since the ACT is more about time constraint and familiarizing yourself with the test than studying. If your a hard worker, top scores are definitely attainable on the SAT.</p>
<p>@HArveyMuddLove Sure OP is acing tests but he is doing so at a high school that is probably not very competitive. And sure the plebeians can work hard but in the end their intelligence is the greatest measure of their success that is commonly sued.</p>
<p>@Etuck24 I don’t believe that the SAT determines a person’s worth in society. I do believe that there must exist an intelligence test or the aggregate of several intelligence tests that will accurately determine a person’s typical expected benefit to society granting normal circumstances.</p>
<p>You HAVE to be doing something right in order to be in the top 5% of your class in any high school. The SAT is a REASONING test (not intelligence) to attempt to predict your success in the first year of college, nothing more, nothing less. You can not sanely tell me that a 4 hour bubble test will tell more about someone than three years worth of academics and extracurricular participation. So what you’re saying is you think students should have to take an IQ test to go to school.</p>
<p>What I am saying is that students should have to take an intelligence test that can predict their ability to learn new information and apply it to varying situations with high accuracy and precision(if such a test is ever invented) and a test that measures the amount of knowledge the currently have. The results from both tests would be placed into a mathematical model and along with other pieces of information such as major awards and ECs(I don’t really believe in the usefulness of teacher recommendations in the “perfect” world that I am describing) the student would either be accepted or rejected.</p>
<p>In that situation the usefulness of high school transcripts are almost nonexistent. A series of tests can not demonstrate a students ability to learn in a classroom setting, something that they will be doing for at least 4 more years in college. There will never be a test which can fairly and accurately show what a student has learned. The closest thing to that will be high school. Standardized tests like the SAT and ACT fail on multiple levels, which is why it’s a new trend to make test scores optional. The writing section is completely dependent on the readers you get, and when in actuality will you be required to write an essay on an unknown prompt in under an hour? These tests favor those who have the time and money to go to SAT boot camps and simply learn how to take the test, which does not reflect what the test is trying to achieve. The test taker is completely at the mercy of whatever questions happen to be on the test at any given time, which means a sizable factor of your score is luck. The ability to study is one of the most important things any college student can have, and that is not able to be demonstrated on the SAT, but it can in high school.</p>
<p>One might argue that high school transcripts are an inaccurate representation of a student because many of the students who get into top universities often “game” the system by doing things such as taking harder classes junior year and then easier ones senior, but once they get to college they may not be as motivated due to the fact that their “dream” has been accomplished and working in the real world seems so far off to them. Hence I believe that no measure exists today to truly measure the worth of a student, but that the best tools available to us are standardized testing with transcripts have a smaller role. You say that there is inequality in standardized testing and that is something that I agree with, but I believe that there is an even bigger inequality in the quality of high schools and their curriculum.</p>
<p>For clarification: my High School was ranked number two in my state two years ago. Also, only the top fifteen percent of students are completive. Our school does suffer from “grinders” who only try in school for the GPA, but they tend to get weeded out of the top fifteen percent. My graduating class had eight National Merit Finalist and a few who got commended. However, my school does have some grade inflation. Sometimes it is easier to pull off an A in an AP class than in an Honors/Regulars class. And the teachers who encouraged me to apply are alumnus of top 20 Universities.</p>
<p>I got a 1930 SAT score. I did well but not amazing. On practice test I was scoring in the 2000s. My gpa in high school was a 3.3. People with very high GPAs at my school scored much lower than me. My belief is that I have a different kind of intelligence that gives me an upperhand on the SAT. I have fast reflexes and am able to think quickly and calculate things in my head. However, I have little comprehension in classes such as calculus and physics while others with lower SAT scores excel in. I think the SAT test how fast you can think. Most of the questions are easy. Some people are very intelligent but they just take more time to think. Something about the synapses in the brain. </p>