Standardized tests tend to all fall around the same time of the year and cause lots of problems mentally and academically for both students and teachers when the time comes around. They are proven to put lots of unnecessary pressure on students to succeed in a singular test that can decide a student’s future. The question is, are all these tests necessary?
For tests such as End of Course exams (EOCs), students tend to work themselves up about these tests and focus on nothing but studying for that one test and lose track of the work they have for all their other classes. This causes them to get behind in important academic classes and grades to drop all because of one cumulative assessment the teachers have been working students up about. The stress and pressure that comes out of these big tests, which people often say there isn’t reason for, still affects lots of students.
As a current junior in high school, I find myself stressing about the AP exams, EOCs, ACTs and SATs that are all coming up in the next two months. With all this happening so close together, the stress that arises and the pressure to do well is sometimes very overwhelming.
As for teachers, they are doing their best to prepare students for a cumulative test, which includes scores that reflect their teaching. This is a stressful time for teachers and very hard to try and prepare everyone to be successful on these exams.
In addition, one cumulative test on everything you learned throughout the whole year does not really show your knowledge on the subject. Some students are better test takers than others, and everyone has different strengths and weaknesses that should be shown in much better ways than one test at the end of the year. These tests often favor certain learning styles that some people are better at than others, which isn’t fair to the rest.
Standardized tests are all about the right or wrong answers to a certain question, and don’t even give a chance to show your creativity outside of filling in a bubble on an answer sheet. The scores that come out of these tests are nowhere near accurate information of what a person can do. Combined, the pressure and anxiety for these tests is not worth the results that come out of them. It feels like there are better ways to prove a student’s knowledge than just this one test.
These tests are more hurtful than helpful, and don’t prove an accurate reflection of what a student is capable of and are not an accurate indicator of your overall academic abilities.
