Five minutes left with fifteen questions remaining. The heart rate increases by twenty beats per minute. “A, C, B, B, B, B, B---” five of the same answer choices in a row, and the heart rate increases by ten more beats per minute. Realization that this test score could cause numerous desirable colleges to decide denial of an application occurs, which causes the heart to race as if the body is running twenty miles per an hour on a treadmill. Having to resort to filling the remaining answer choices with the infamous “Letter of the Day” follows with only thirty seconds left until potential self-destruction. Congratulations, a full-blown panic attack has been incited. Fortunately, not everyone experiences the dread associated with taking the outrageously …show more content…
“Research shows that a fast-paced, multiple-choice format favors males over females. Guessing, a risk males are more likely to take, is rewarded. Since multiple-choice items do not allow for shades of meaning they work against the most typical female thinking style” (“The ACT: Biased, Inaccurate, and Misused”), which makes such assessments unfair. One huge misconception is that these standardized tests set all students on an equal field for evaluation. There is a positive correlation between a student’s performance on ACT and SAT tests and their socioeconomic status. Basically, those that already have an advantage in education are given another advantage in college admissions. Those that can afford preparation material for these assessments are also placed at an advantage against those who cannot afford them. Furthermore, the scoring on these assessments are imprecise, since there are margins of error in the individual tests according to data from the ACT and SAT. “The margins of error, while appearing to be small at 1.43 - 2.20, can actually have significant consequences for applicants when admissions offices or financial aid programs require minimum scores” (“The ACT: Biased, Inaccurate, and Misused”), and a single point can be a crucial deciding factor whether a student is …show more content…
Students already have an idea on how well they need to score depending on what college they plan on applying, which can spur nervousness and stress. It is emphasized that if they fail to attain a certain score they will more than likely be denied entrance into their desired college or program, thus fostering a negative aura of the assessment. Furthermore, the fact that these assessments are timed does not help the cause. Not everyone can achieve an optimal performance on a timed test, especially one that provides only forty-five minutes to answer seventy-five questions. Students often feel rushed and do not have as much time as they need to correctly analyze the problem and choose the answer that they are most confident about. Everyone works at a different pace and have different mental capabilities, so those that generally are slower test takers are at an extreme disadvantage. Plus, the majority of the problems are multiple choice and some individuals are great at guessing answers, which does not actually demonstrate that they understand the material. The stress placed on performance and time restraint often hinder most students from performing at their full potential, and does not properly depict their complete