Mythbuster2000

I am so surprised at this thread. First, keep in my mind, I do decent-well on standardized tests, but I know some people who are genuinely bad test takers. They study more than I do, do more work, and sometimes try much harder, but on the test, I still do better. Now what we need to understand here is the definition of a "bad test taker." A bad test taker may be someone who finds it hard to retain information or moves at a slower pace (aka different type of learner or whatever). Now I'm not saying that these people are more prepared for college. In fact, I 100% agree that the higher your scores are, the more prepared you are for college. BUT there are bad test takers out there. People who are extremely smart, but for one reason or another seem to do poorly on tests.

Now there are people who claim to be bad test takers who are really not and are probably just lazy and don't understand the test itself, but this does not take away the fact there are some bad test takers.

mowmow721

So in that case, you are either
A) Slow
B) Not a good learner.

And like I said, tough luck, but that's life. "Bad test taker" is an excuse for not knowing enough, or knowing enough but not being fast enough to do it (Which generally means you didn't know it WELL enough). Whatever the reason for not being able to work out that math problem, you didn't work out that math problem, and that's that- No one's fault but your own.

I find it ludicrous that colleges are downplaying standardized testing in general because of people claiming to be "bad test takers".

I don't claim to have amazing scores either, but I take my failures with a grain of salt.

112358

Not to offend anyone... but that doesn't mean you're a "different type of learner." It just means you're not as smart. Isn't the ability to retain a lot of information and reason with it efficiently essentially what smartness is?

OHKID

Yeah, I don't get the bad test taker BS either. I have easily beat each year's valedictorian for porbably the past 5 years or so on ALL standardized tests, yet I am only in the top 20%, and many colleges would prefer to take them over me. I guess I had better start learning how to cheat in class to keep up with them (because some of the past ones were INSANELY good at cheating).

J'adoube

Haven't you noticed that the harder the test the worst people become at test taking?

rmadden15

Hmm, I guess I will be the only one to disagree. Timed tests used to scare me, and I did very badly on all of them. However, though practice, I have overcome that fear and have been doing better on each test, going from an 1810 to a 2110. Now, I am still not the greatest test taker, for in the time limit I make many careless mistakes and incorrect assumptions, but it is something one can become better at without a doubt.

Conversely, I find generalizing all the students who don't do as well on the SATs as unintelligent is ignorant and close-minded, but I will agree that while some people are not as amazing at timed tests, it is something that one can atleast fix a bit.

kiterunner18

I disagree with most people here. Some people, like myself, suffer from anxiety. Though, with practice, I got my act together and scored well.

collegebound91

I used to suffer anxiety attacks when faced with a timed writing assignment. I'm actually very skilled at reading and writing; it's my writing skills that are basically paying my way through college. However, when the teacher would say, "Alright, you have 30 minutes to write this essay," I would just freak out. It would take me half of that allotted time just to write the opening paragraph! (Granted, I would rewrite this opening paragraph twelve times before moving on.) It had nothing to do with me not understanding the prompt or not being a good writer, but just the real mental stress I suffered during these tests. I've managed to figure out a way to deal with, but it took quite some time.

dshinka

I'm a "good" test taker and do well under pressure, and I used to have no pity on people who were bad test takers.

The number one fear in America is public speaking. Have you ever had to give a speech in front of an audience? Even if you knew the speech verbatim - everything from the intonations to the choreography to your body motions, perhaps you started sweating. Maybe you developed a head ache or a stomach ache. You probably even forgot where you were in your speech at some point and had to momentarily pause.

What was really going on is you were having a mild panic attack. There are some people that have bad anxiety, perhaps worse than you've ever experienced and it's a psychological problem. It's all in their head, too, but I don't think it can be helped. There are certain exercises like deep breathing that people can perform to help calm themselves down when they're having a panic attack but the truth is this a real medical condition that some people suffer when they're taking a test.

That being said, many people who claim to be bad test takers do not have this problem, so this does not apply to everyone, but some people, are indeed "bad test takers" medically and it can't be helped. Give them more time though, and they don't panic, which is why their grades are often better than their test scores.

I find it ludicrous that colleges are downplaying standardized testing in general because of people claiming to be "bad test takers".
--
I doubt that colleges would use that logic to downplay standardized tests... Could you cite a source for that claim?

pFNMCp

Yeah, it does

mowmow721

Anxiety attacks are a problem, but you need to be able to deal with them. Otherwise, tough luck- if you want to be a ER surgeon, and can't stop from having an anxiety attack on the SAT... or a big lawyer, in a heated courtroom. Then test anxiety is just another element of the test, and not a reason to excuse the test as invalid, like some people believe. If you have a personal severe anxiety disorder, and you can't get over it... unfortunately, that makes you unqualified for a lot of other things than just testing. But that's the cruelty of reality, and bad luck in the gene pool, because I don't see many autistic individuals becoming rocket scientists.

I see a LOT of people say "Oh, well how can 4 hours of a Saturday morning" demonstrate your intelligence/knowledge? What does your knowledge mean then, application-wise? It it just arbitrary junk you hold in your head for no purpose- For Christ's sake. Excusing the writing essay (We all know how that goes down...). Math questions are in front of you. Solve them in a decent amount of time. Read this scientific article, and answer some questions on them.

If you can't do it, does that make the "test" an invalid measure of your "ability"? Sorry to say, but you didn't have the ability in the first place. Maybe you're a famous athlete, or a star biologist. But you couldn't handle the test you were given, so you can't handle the material pertinent to that test.

Yet so many people give excuses for their sub-par scores on standardized testing. And colleges are starting to listen to those excuses.


Don't take my word verbatim, but I clearly remember many admissions officers stating "We know some people just aren't good test takers, so standardized testing has less and less importance with (insert name of college here)."


Let me get this straight- Doing well on the SAT/ACT (Pick your poison) either means you prepared very hard, or you are naturally intelligent. Those who are intelligent AND did both are your 2300+ scorers. Both qualities are looked highly upon in the academic environment. You do NOT do well on the SAT if you are both unintelligent AND did not work hard- barring insane streaks of random guessing luck.

PayFor

I mostly agree with the OP based on my own observations that the “bad test taker” excuse is overused.

When I hear parents use that excuse, I usually find that these kids have not read extensively and/or have not taken rigorous math courses in high school. Sometimes they’re glib slackers and sometimes they’re diligent students. It should be no surprise that they experience anxiety during these tests since most people would react that same way if they had to do something for which they’re not well prepared.

And I’ve lost much faith in the rigor of the typical grading standards in our public schools, since they seem to place disproportionate weight on the perceived effort of the students rather than on their actual academic achievement. I recently posted about the trend of GPAs rising while SAT scores are falling. GPAs rising while SAT scores falling

An0maly

You should also consider mathematics competitions. The USAMO is a 6 question 9 hour exam. One of it's qualifiers is a 25 question 75 minute exam. There are students who are excellent at USAMO, but fail to pass the qualifiers because they are not good at 'speed' math.

Northstarmom

"I don't understand it either. If the student does well in school, wouldn't it imply that they are a good test taker because they still have to take times tests under pressure at school.


I suspect what's going on is one of the 2:

1. The student is getting excellent grades in a school that isn't that rigorous.

2. The student is getting excellent grades because of classroom assignments such as outlines that that the student aces, bringing up the student's mediocre grades on tests. The students also make excellent use of extra credit opportunities, and are very nice people, meaning teachers give them the benefit of the doubt.

3. The student is having their teacher hold their hands on assignments and also is getting extra help from others such as tutors or highly educated parents. Example: One of the "poor test takers/high gpa" students I know had her scientist/professor dad help greatly with science/math courses and by revising her written assignments for other courses.

monstor344

I'd hardly call the AMC and AIME speed tests. I've only taken the AMC, but the questions are rather basic until the late teens. If one does the first 15-16 questions at a 1 minute per question pace, which I feel is reasonable given the nature of those questions, that person will have a whole hour to complete 10 of those challenging questions at the end. And mathematics is a different nature altogether. Part of the mathematics skill is being able to quickly perform calculations. Perhaps not all students who feel rushed on the SAT math are not good math students, but if a student does not feel that they are getting ample time on the AMC, it is because they simply don't know how to do some of the questions.