Do Standardized Tests Measure Our Intelligence?

Huffington Post

If you are like me, tests are a struggle, even when you study for hours, you still can’t comprehend the material. The school system doesn’t see these academic differences. As stated in the article Standardized Testing Does Not Determine Intelligence by theodysseyonline.com, “standardized testing is viewed as a way to measure knowledge of content and intelligence.” However, that is not true and that standardized testing does not measure your intelligence because your intelligence is not based on just common course subjects.

Standardized tests set up some students to fail. Like the SAT’s and ACT’s, most standardized tests are timed, which is an issue for some students who are slow readers or are just bad at taking timed tests. Being a slow reader shouldn’t be a bad thing, it just takes longer for someone to read a question yet they get punished for it. According to the article, Standardized Testing Does Not Determine Intelligence, “slow readers miss 10 questions on the test, simply because of lack of time. If these students did not have a time limit, they could have had the possibility to score higher on the test and answer questions they ran out of time.” This is because test providers want some students to pass and some to fail to have fluctuation, but why would anyone want a kid to fail? 

Standardized tests do not measure other student activities. Standardized tests measure math, English, science, and social studies. However, students have so much more to offer. Tests can not measure creativity, passion, personality, talent, work ethic, etc. Tests are supposed to determine intelligence but only knowing the core subjects would not make one intelligent. Intelligence includes a lot of aspects a test can not measure.

Some may think standardized testing can show individuality in their intelligence. As stated in the article Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ abilities? By education.cu-portland.edu, “For many students, standardized testing provides them with a valuable outlet to set themselves apart from their high school. Tests like the SAT and the ACT give students the chance to show that, even if their high school didn’t offer a large number of Advanced Placement courses or extracurricular activities, they’re still bright and motivated students with a lot of potentials.”

 Although standardized testing gives an outlet to highly achieving kids, that number is in the minority. Even the highest achieving students may struggle on standardized tests. The article Examining the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing by Thoughco.com stated, “Some students may excel in the classroom yet not perform well on a standardized test because they’re unfamiliar with the format or develop test anxiety. Family strife, mental and physical health issues, and language barriers can all affect a student’s test score. But standardized tests don’t allow personal factors to be taken into consideration.”

Standardized Testing is based on memorization and takes up almost 40 percent of the education for just preparation

. This takes away the teacher’s time preparing students to take a standardized test, rather than teaching important topics. Some schools take away art and theater courses to add more academic courses, which upsets the students and hurts them in the long run. Taking away standardized tests would give students and schools more extracurricular opportunities, like theater and art. Standardized testing has been hurting the school system for far too long, and should no longer be a prevalent evaluation tool.