Three hours into the exam, students across the nation are blazing through math problems one after the other, looking up and down from their paper to a clock that ticks incessantly, a reminder of the time that, like sand, slips through their fingers.
A few dire moments later, a voice abruptly pierces the tension.
“Pencils down. Time’s up.”
Their fate sealed, students turn in the answer packet they’ve toiled with for the past three hours, the culmination of months of stress and preparation.
“My dad likes to call [the SAT] a rite of passage,” said junior Sarah Kaplan. “[There’s a] pressure that you have to do well so that you can go to the schools that you want to go to. The schools that are [in] the top 25 expect you to have those high SAT scores in order to even be considered.”
For almost a century, standardized tests have been used by colleges and universities to evaluate student capabilities in order to make admission decisions. However, in recent years, more and more universities are shifting away from standardized testing, going either test-blind or test-optional. While partially due to COVID-19, this shift also stems from the myriad critiques that standardized tests have received lately.
Many students wonder whether or not standardized tests reflect socioeconomic disparities. The major concern lies in access to resources, which, students worry, can prevent the exam from being fair.
“I know that quite a few of my friends in high school and college prepared for their tests with extensive amounts of preparation … like one-on-one tutoring, months of SAT or ACT boot camp or just purchasing a lot of those practice books,” said junior Ashley Cheng. “All of these things added up to quite a bit [of money], and so, these people certainly have resources that others maybe don’t have access to because they simply can’t afford it.”
“I think the definition of working hard is seeing progress over a long period of time”
While students can study using free resources like Khan Academy, a greater variety of study tools can improve one’s chances of succeeding on a standardized test.
“To a significant point, you could argue that if you do work hard to study the ACT or SAT [on your own], you could get a good score,” said junior Erik Dodge. “But then again, you just have to work that much harder than someone who is getting help.”
Students question the relevance of standardized tests when other metrics like AP tests and a high school GPA for colleges to evaluate students.
“I think the definition of working hard is seeing progress over a long period of time, like [over] a whole school year, for example,” said senior Calissa Leong. “But an SAT is only two or three hours. I feel like it doesn’t really accurately measure how well students can perform.”
However, some worry that non-standardized metrics lead to more inequalities.
“GPA and APs and other metrics are dependent on the resources that your school has and what kinds of teachers you’ve had,” said senior Emily Du. “It’s still good to have one exam [such as the SAT or ACT] that’s the same for everyone.”
Undecided on whether or not standardized tests should still be considered for college admissions, many students view the test-optional route as the best of both worlds.
“Some people don’t need to take the SAT, and they shouldn’t be forced to,” said junior Behruz Azimov. “But [colleges] shouldn’t go test-blind because people who excel at the SAT [should be able to] use [their score] as a good indicator [of their capabilities], boosting their chances. They should have that ability to put it on their transcript.”
Overall, many welcome the shift away from standardized testing.
“If we start to [reduce] the importance of standardized test scores, it can be a healthier transition from high school to higher level education, in that people feel more comfortable with their self worth in the grading systems of schools,” said junior Andrea San Miguel.
Standardized tests as they currently stand are criticized for not accurately and fairly evaluating a student’s abilities, causing colleges and universities to redesign their approach to the admissions process.
