Standardized Testing

Every year students across our American nation are forced to take these tests. And, every year, students across our American nation decide that these tests are unimportant, bland, and in some respects, pointless. Let me explain why they are not.

The ACT, SAT, and ITBS are all tests that measure your intelligence and knowledge. They, however pointless they may sound, are actually one of the most important things in one's life. With the results from these tests, colleges and work-places can truly have an understanding of the intelligence/knowledge that a person actually has. This is opposed to a student's grades. Grades seem to consist of a student's work-ethic and caring rather than their true intelligence, and abilities.

Some may say that they would rather be measured on their grades rather than their standardized testing. These are the people that can read and write, and not actually have any sense of intelligence or general knowledge. These are the people that assume that they can not do well on these standardized tests, but however smart their grades might tell them they are, they are absolutely wrong. There are many, many ways to increase your scores on these tests. Many, many study guides and example tests have been published for the knowledge of our youth, yet so very few of these have actually been put to the use that the creators of these expected when they wrote them. There are even some online:

http://www.actstudent.org/sampletest/index.html
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/test.html

Now, with that covered, there should really be no reason for students to believe that Standardized Testing is a waste of time, or an impossible feat that the government puts on them. Actually, they should think of it as a way to overcome the impossibilites they have created in their mind, overcome the other students who have the same thoughts, and eventually obtain a life filled with scholarships and good work. It is time to take these tests seriously.