I don’t like standardized tests as much as the next person, but I believe the prejudice around standardized tests is because of the way my school promotes them. The school only promotes tests that are in favor of them and not the students.
When it came to the SAT -Scholastic Aptitude Test- the school didn’t really do anything to help the students except do one SAT prep workshop. I signed up to that SAT workshop only to find out that very few people signed up and I was the only one who actually showed up. This made me really wonder why people don’t care about the SAT as much as they should. The school doesn’t do a good job at promoting how important the test is because it doesn’t directly affect them.
The SAT is important because most private schools require you to submit your SAT score for the admission process so a bad score could ruin your chances of getting into your dream school. Even if you don’t want to go to a private school, a good SAT score will better your chances at getting into whatever school you want to attend.
On the contrary, weeks before the SBA -Smarter Balance Assessment- started, the school bunched the students who were the closest to passing the test and they moved them into a different advisory which would give them extra practice. The only reason the school did this was to improve overall test scores in the school because these test scores directly affect the funding and budget for the school. For LAUSD schools, their priority will always be budget increasing, especially under this administration that cuts funding for education.
Practice tests like the PSAT are what gives students the feeling of a mock SAT and can be very vital to student’s performances on the actual SAT. Recently many juniors have started to complain because this year the school will no longer be offering the PSAT to juniors and only to sophomores.
According to Ms. Reyna, College and Career Counselor, the district is no longer funding Juniors to take the PSAT anymore.
I understand why the district isn’t paying for it anymore because of budget cuts to the education department that is a direct result of the Trump Administration. The PSAT is vital to juniors because it’s the last chance for juniors to take a test like this that isn’t the practice ones on Bluebook. This also prohibits students from getting the opportunity to get merit scholarships and programs.
School prepares us to pass high school not to excel in college. I believe that it’s the school’s job to not only guide us through high school, but also to prepare us for college. Preparing us to score well on standardized tests is part of that process that prepares us for college because it directly impacts the college admissions. Not only that but many universities use our SAT scores to place people in classes.
So many people have misconceptions about the importance of standardized tests and we need to bring awareness to the importance of it. It doesn’t matter if you like testing or not, you should always be taking every test you take seriously.
Written by Vanessa Delgadillo, Opinions Editor