SwaggaLikeANerd

Hey, I want you guys to check out the following links: 10 Myths about the SAT | FairTest , The ACT: Biased, Inaccurate, and Misused | FairTest , FairTest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The former two discuss why the ACT and SAT are unreliable; the latter discusses criticism towards FairTest (author of the the first two links).

So, anyways, what do you guys think? Do you agree or disagree? Do you think FairTest is full of bull or not?


Please try to keep this thread civil. No bashing of any races/ethnicities whatsoever.

SerenityJade

I don't like multiple choice tests. They don't involve innovative, creative, or conceptual thinking but instead reward memorization. How does that help anyone in life?

sylvan8798

Kind of difficult to support the idea that women are not getting access to higher education given the current female/male imbalance at many schools.

cc123sb

They provide some points to consider, but they cant offer a viable alternative to standardized testing.

Based on my experience, GPA can't be considered alone because:

Within a single school, teacher grading policies and subjectivity can cause irregularities of grades.

Different schools have different grading policies and cultures (inflation/deflation)

Fairtest argues that this doesn't matter because of rank, but the valedictorians at some schools may be less qualified than someone in the top 10-20% of another school.

Colleges don't have time to sort through 20,000 apps and look at each GPA uniquely. The SAT provides a STANDARDIZED way to "rank" all of these applicants.

I don't feel like going through everything they said but IMO it's bull.

Divy1234

I think a SAT should still be given but each college should look at them at a base composite. The ivies should place that bar at 2100, same with other elite schools, and work it down there. After this initial screening the applicants scores should be of little weight.

kittycatwindow

I have always agreed that standardized tests aren't an accurate representation of a student's academic skills. However, a simple article on FairTest saying that they are useless won't drive every college to say, "Hey! They're right! Let's stop accepting the SAT and ACT!"

As sucky as they are, we have yet to find another way to represent academic skill. GPAs can't be counted on because every school weights differently, every school adds its own rigor to their curriculum, and every school has teachers who may or may not curve grades and/or offer extra credit. Class ranks can't be counted on because of the aforementioned reasons, plus the quality of students varies with every class and every school. Additionally, some schools don't even count class rank.

Sadly, standardized tests are the only unbiased and reliable way to assess students' academic abilities in comparison to other students. Whether or not they are considered "unnecessary" can't change that. What can change that would be much stronger government regulation of curricula in each school so that GPA could be more reliable, but that would take a way a lot of the states' rights in their own education systems. Reading someone else's opinion that states the opposite isn't going to change this.