Opinion Column

Standardized tests

  Standardized testing has been used for a long time in almost all schools to measure the intelligence and abilities of a student. Standardized testing is not only used in schools but in almost everywhere, from job applications to university applications. One of the most used standardized testing is the SAT, which most universities require a certain score for the application. Many people say that standardized testing are unfair, people come from different cultures and speak many other languages other than English which will be a disadvantage for them in oppose to people with a first language of English. But, there are varieties of intelligence tests made especially for non-English speakers, like the IELTS and the TOEFL tests.

  Although many people judge standardized tests as unfair, and claim that it is a bad way to recognize a student’s abilities, in my point of view, standardized tests are very good for teachers to understand and evaluate his/her students’ weaknesses and strengths, and to adapt his/her way of teaching to suit the students. It also helps the good students show their intelligence, so universities would pick them over other students who got a lower grade. This makes it easier for universities to choose who to accept and who to not accept.

  Many people declare that standardized tests are unfair for non-English speakers as they will probably be at a disadvantage in standardized tests. I add that English is considered as a subject, and that the tests show the level of your English language, and do not show your abilities in other subjects. You might not be very good at English but very good at mathematics or sciences. Most of the public would complain about these tests because English is not their first language and think that they would have scored better if the test was translates, to be honest I might agree because some questions in a math or science tests have English words that I do not understand. This was a very rare case because most questions contain simple English.

  In all honesty, I am with both sides of the argument. A solution for this controversy would be to create different versions of the SAT or ACT tests. Like tests for people who have English as their second language, and maybe go farther and have a test created for people who speak more than three languages, or English as their third language.

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