queenofcontrariety
March 11th, 2015, 05:58 PM
I'm fed up with standardized testing. My state is one of the only ones which went through with parcc testing, a controversial standardized test given to students in 3rd-11th grades. I only have to take it this year but there are two installments, one of which happens to be during AP testing.
AP Courses, for those not in the US or in schools that don't offer it, are classes which a student can take in high school and receive college credit for. Scoring is on a scale from 1-5 and tests are administered every May. My school district implemented a new policy involving these courses. Given the rigor of these classes there was always a GPA boost for taking these classes, this year they decided that in order to get the weighting you need to sit for the test, not get a 3, just sit for it. I AM BEING FORCED TO PAY $96 PER TEST FOR MY GPA. This year I only have 2 APs, but next year I'll be taking about 4, one of which has 2 AP tests. It's awful, my school is non-ranking so in terms of college admissions that's one less thing for me to have in my application, which makes my GPA that much important.
Now to my most recent issue. Geographically I am expected to take the SAT. It doesn't matter if I hate the reading passages or have other strengths, I have to take the SAT. It doesn't matter to anyone that I'm better equipped for the ACT, because it's focus is on math and science. Or that most of the schools I'm interested in are traditionally ACT schools, though they'll accept either. My future major is focused in math and science, so why am I being forced to take the entrance exam that doesn't pertain to that? The northeast sucks. That's why. The only good thing about the SAT is super-scoring but that involves taking it multiple times. I barely want to take it once.
So that's my rant on standardized tests. Feel free to share thoughts or concerns on tests like this
AP Courses, for those not in the US or in schools that don't offer it, are classes which a student can take in high school and receive college credit for. Scoring is on a scale from 1-5 and tests are administered every May. My school district implemented a new policy involving these courses. Given the rigor of these classes there was always a GPA boost for taking these classes, this year they decided that in order to get the weighting you need to sit for the test, not get a 3, just sit for it. I AM BEING FORCED TO PAY $96 PER TEST FOR MY GPA. This year I only have 2 APs, but next year I'll be taking about 4, one of which has 2 AP tests. It's awful, my school is non-ranking so in terms of college admissions that's one less thing for me to have in my application, which makes my GPA that much important.
Now to my most recent issue. Geographically I am expected to take the SAT. It doesn't matter if I hate the reading passages or have other strengths, I have to take the SAT. It doesn't matter to anyone that I'm better equipped for the ACT, because it's focus is on math and science. Or that most of the schools I'm interested in are traditionally ACT schools, though they'll accept either. My future major is focused in math and science, so why am I being forced to take the entrance exam that doesn't pertain to that? The northeast sucks. That's why. The only good thing about the SAT is super-scoring but that involves taking it multiple times. I barely want to take it once.
So that's my rant on standardized tests. Feel free to share thoughts or concerns on tests like this