How do you feel about standardized test like the ACT or SAT?

[Sakura Michiko]

How do you feel from a personal experience? I personally do not like them.I didn't do the best on them. I was average. I don't really feel like they measure intelligence or measure it correctly. At my high school we were never prepared by the teachers for the test. They tried to cram information in our heads like one week before the test. That material was barely on the test and after the test we learn about the stuff that was actually on the test! I was always an honor roll student.I even graduated as the 3rd smartest in my class, but when I took the ACT two- three years ago I took it 8 times and I made a 19 all 8 times.I studied for that test like crazy and still got stuck at 19. Some people were making like 25's and what not and many teachers I knew were being bias towards them and saying how smart they were. My 11th grade math teacher was literally shaming people in front of the class and telling them that they needed to take a remedial math in the 12th grade because they didn't try hard enough on the ACT. When she told me that I told her that I was taking advance math because I can pass it.Like I had a B in my 11th grade math class. When I took adv.math I made an A. I'm in college now and I don't see how the ACT"prepared" me for college level stuff as some claimed it would. I have a 3.4 gpa currently and I'm a sophomore nursing major.

 

[Tennis Robot]

The SAT was fun Unfortunately I choked and lost 30 points because I forgot to fill in my answer for the last math question :/

 

[Sakura Michiko]

The SAT was fun Unfortunately I choked and lost 30 points because I forgot to fill in my answer for the last math question :/

Aww really? I heard that the SAT was nothing like the ACT.

 

[Tennis Robot]

Aww really? I heard that the SAT was nothing like the ACT.

I've heard the ACT is supposed to be easier But I never even considered taking it. I wanted to get the highest SAT score in my class haha (and I would have if I hadn't choked ).

 

[Sakura Michiko]

I've heard the ACT is supposed to be easier But I never even considered taking it. I wanted to get the highest SAT score in my class haha (and I would have if I hadn't choked ).

Lol I heard that the SAT was easier.

 

[Tennis Robot]

Lol I heard that the SAT was easier.

Oh really? What I was told is that a really high ACT score translates to about a 2350 on the SAT. And the person who got 35/36 (I think that's what the ACT is?) got like 2100 on the SAT lol.

 

[Sakura Michiko]

Oh really? What I was told is that a really high ACT score translates to about a 2350 on the SAT. And the person who got 35/36 (I think that's what the ACT is?) got like 2100 on the SAT lol.

One of the valedictorian in my class got a 32. The other one got a 28.

 

[Tennis Robot]

One of the valedictorian in my class got a 32. The other one got a 28.

lol wtf. That's strange...

 

[Mahesvara]

I had to take it with a broken hand and unfortunately it was my writing hand, so it took longer to fill in the bubbles on the scan tron because my left hand is terrible, which forced me to rush to finish each section and I ended up with a 19. I never retook it because my GPA was good enough to get me into the college I wanted to get into.

 

[Bakimono]

I received a 30 overall score but I'm a chef my friend received a 20 and he works as a Financial consultant for GE making twice what I make. So it doesn't matter what score you receive really just matters what u do with your life. I like cooking my friend loves ****ing with numbers lol

 

[Zzz]

I started preparing for SAT a month ago. I had a practice test to get to know how SAT is, and truth be told, I expected it to be harder. I took a 1500 without studying, not mentioning how many stupid mistakes I had made in Maths.
Hoping to get the real test next June. A score of 2100 would rock.

 

[Tennis Robot]

I started preparing for SAT a month ago. I had a practice test to get to know how SAT is, and truth be told, I expected it to be harder. I took a 1500 without studying, not mentioning how many stupid mistakes I had made in Maths.
Hoping to get the real test next June. A score of 2100 would rock.

That should be easy enough I got 2090 without preparation. When I was 15 lol. By far my lowest score

 

[Fuzzy Panda]

I've heard the ACT is supposed to be easier But I never even considered taking it. I wanted to get the highest SAT score in my class haha (and I would have if I hadn't choked ).

I think it really depends what you're good at. For example, I'm good at science and school subjects so ACT reading passages were far easier then getting a random difficult prose in SAT. Maths is harder in ACT since it also involves trig functions.

ACT is more relevant to students and I think is a better indicator of their level (although standardized tests are a little BS).

If you're taking the SAT in 2016, they're completely changing it. No more points being taken off for wrong answers, an average of the scores will be taken rather than sum and they're taking out on section I believe so it's back to 1600. Passages will be better related to school. So essentially they are making it more like ACT.

Essentially if you want to get a good score at either, you have to do practice tests. A lot. Unless you're a genius (I mean in terms of english, maths is pretty chill). Also, get some books which will go over all the different types of maths questions you get because they always repeat. I have a pdf of an online book I payed for which is really useful for writing. It gives basic and important 50 grammar tips, which gave me 800 on writing. I can send that to anyone if they want it.

 

[Cruciatus]

I personally don't think a single, standardized test should be so weighty in determining our futures. In other words, colleges shouldn't put so much emphasis on SAT scores for their acceptances.

 

[Hexuze]

Canadians don't need to do them Only our grade 12 (senior) grades matter.

 

[Jazzy Stardust]

It's actually simple, they just add a lot of pressure to the situation which makes it harder.

 

[Prometheus Beta]

Aptitude tests aren't supposed to prepare you for anything, they are simply the most convenient way to deal with oversubscription, or at least that is how we use them here in the UK. Medicine, for example, is very heavily oversubscribed, and yet still most of the people who apply have straight As in high-school and sixth form. How do you distinguish between all those academically capable applicants? Well, all those straight A applicants still end up on a nice normal distribution on the UKCAT aptitude test they take and medical schools then use a cut-off to interview only the top 20% scorers etc. Also believe it or not, though they may certainly not seem very relevant, those aptitude tests do in fact correlate quite significantly with academic performance in college/university.

 

[GhostProject]

I don't like tests in general. The winning strategy is always to attack the test format, with less actual emphasis on being knowledgeable over the subjects.

 

[Mille Ignis]

The SAT/ACT is not designed to measure a person's intelligence. If you want to measure your intelligence, then there are plenty of IQ tests available online; however, I do not think that a single test can measure someones intelligence, rather it is something that must be observed. Nevertheless, standardized tests are designed to measure how much you have learned -- how smart you are (do not confuse intelligence with smartness). The questions used are set up in a way to determine whether or not you understand important concepts regarding Math and English. If you do not have a firm understanding of these said concepts, then you will not do well. It is as simple as that. Additionally, standardized tests are also used to gauge where you stand compared to your peers. This information allows states to regulate where funding will go to. For example: if a school is not preforming well on the SAT and/or ACT, then that school will receive less funding from the government. This is also a reason as to why teachers tend to teach to the test. Furthermore, colleges look also look at theses test scores to determine what classes you will need. If you score poorly on the math section, then you will probably not do well in more advanced mathematics because you do not have a complete understanding of the previous concepts. This does not mean that you cannot do well, it's just statically wise, those who do poorly on the SAT/ACT do not do well going forward.

Personally, I do not like multiple choice standardize testing. This is due to the fact that you can have a complete understanding of the concept being judged upon in the question, but if you drop a simple negative or accidentally fill in the wrong bubble, then you get a zero. I think that standardized tests should judge you based on your work -- not your answer.

To answer your other question, the SAT/ACT is not designed to prepare you for college. School is designed for that. The SAT/ACT just determines whether or not you are ready for college level courses.