The Truth about Standardized Testing

January 2007 Special Advertising Section

A culture of anxiety exists around the ACT and SAT—the two standardized tests that are, in most cases, an essential part of the college admissions process. Many fear a poor score will be the kiss of death on their applications. Others are so panicked to do well that their parents end up spending thousands of dollars on tutors whose sole job is to train students into top-tier scores. Combined with mounting homework from honors classes, extracurricular activities, and part-time jobs, standardized testing often takes on a life of its own in the minds of many high school juniors and seniors.

“The biggest concern we hear from students is that they feel their entire college career is dependent on this test score,” says Omar Correa, vice president of enrollment at Concordia College in Moorhead. “I know parents, relatives, colleges, and society in general put a lot of stress on how [higher education] is one of the biggest investments students will make in their lives. People are very worried about choosing a college, [especially] when they feel that admission can be completely out of their hands in terms of how they perform on a Saturday morning.”

Fortunately, the results of a student’s ACT or SAT are but one factor considered for admission into most colleges. And while it seems the anxiety surrounding standardized tests will never disappear entirely, a thorough understanding of the criteria that educational institutions use to evaluate prospective students can help both parents and their children relax a bit—and better prepare for college life.

Applicants are More than a Score
Most colleges in the Midwest review applications for admission on an individual basis. This review generally includes an assessment of a student’s grade point average, rigor of coursework, class ranking, application essay, extracurricular activities, and, of course, his or her ACT/SAT scores. While students and their parents should ask specific schools which tests are required and what weight the scores hold, they can breathe a little easier knowing it won’t be the primary focus of an application package.

“Of all the things we look at, test scores are the least important,” says Michael Thorp, associate vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. “What we want to discern is, will this student be successful at our school? The best indicator of a student’s success is how he or she performed in the classroom.”

“What we’ve found in mining all our own data and looking at national research is that the ACT is a very poor predictor of college success,” adds Eric Berg, the associate vice president for enrollment management at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. “We do consider it, but it’s not the be all end all.”

So, if the test holds such little value in the overall admissions process, then why not remove it altogether?

Educators and administrators at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter asked themselves this question a few years ago and came to the conclusion that submitting test scores should not be a requirement for admission. “We talk about students of high aspiration and promise in our mission statement,” says Mark Anderson, vice president for admission and student financial assistance at Gustavus. “We did a lot of research. The students who get good grades in good courses aren’t going to be penalized if they’re not strong testers.”

Like many of its neighboring schools, Gustavus uses a composite review of college preparatory curriculum and resulting GPA to determine admission. Although no other Minnesota school has announced similar plans to remove its testing requirements, institutions like Bethel University in Arden Hills think the idea is intriguing.

“This subject has some significant impact, especially with the changing demographics in our region,” says Jay Fedje, Bethel’s director of admissions. “The ACT and SAT are culturally biased. With the diversity changing, I think this is a progressive move that needs to be considered.”

While the claim of cultural bias in standardized testing, though interesting and provocative, is difficult to prove, more people are willing to acknowledge a correlation between privilege, preparation, and higher test scores. “Underprivileged people don’t have the opportunity to hire a tutor or retake the tests to improve [their] scores,” notes Anderson.

Even though some schools are evaluating the relevance of standardized testing and students’ scores typically rank low in a composite review of applications, most regional colleges—both private and public—are not ready to shirk the ACT/SAT altogether. “Because we’re a national school and can’t admit everyone, we have to enroll students who have done the best work and who are going to be successful,” Thorp says. “The only way you can compare a student from Edina High School and a small prep school in Connecticut . . . is the test score. What a test score does is give the college a way to compare students across a widely disparate curriculum.”

Additionally, some colleges believe the ACT and SAT are useful tools in determining a student’s potential value to the school and testing his or her knowledge, despite criticisms that they are not good indicators of these things. “The new SAT is now measuring more advanced mathematics than in the past, as well as providing more critical reading passages instead of analogies,” says Pamela Horne, assistant vice president for enrollment management and dean of admissions for Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. “Every year, both the ACT and College Board [administrators of the SAT] work with high school teachers and college faculty to assess the curriculum and preparation necessary for college success and make adjustments to the exams accordingly. Both testing agencies constantly evaluate the exams’ reliability and validity.”

At institutions such as the University of Minnesota, for example, it all comes down to a fair, balanced, and individualized approach to each application. “We have both a healthy respect and a healthy skepticism for standardized test scores,” says Wayne Sigler, director of admissions for the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities campus, which moved away from a test-score and class-rank based formula for admission and started a holistic review of all freshman applications in 2003. “Our overall goal is to admit students who have the greatest likelihood of doing well academically. Test scores have their place because they do provide some standardized assessment of a student’s readiness to do college work. However, it’s only a one-morning test. We give much stronger consideration to their record over time.”

Managing Those Pesky Nerves
Despite assurances from admissions officers that a standardized test score is one of many factors considered for acceptance, students will likely always feel pressure to perform well on the ACT or SAT. The anxiety is heightened even further among students who think they don’t test well.

In fact, Thorp argues the stress behind the ACT or SAT might not be such a bad thing. “Students do get stressed about standardized tests, but in life, our performance gets measured all the time,” he says. “In some ways, the ACT and SAT are a good transitional tool. It helps them transition to the real world where they do get measured.”

Still, there are ways to curb some of the anxiety, or at least make it more manageable. For example, St. Scholastica’s Berg has created a sheet of test-taking tips for students that offers hints about how to prepare your mind and body for the ACT or SAT. Suggestions include exercising in the morning, getting a good night’s sleep, eating a breakfast with complex carbohydrates (like oatmeal), and breathing deeply and stretching every fifteen minutes during the test.

“I’ve talked with a lot of students who went to bed at 1 a.m. the night before, and they wake up groggy. They then have a Pop Tart and Mountain Dew for breakfast,” Berg says. “Halfway through the test, they’re mentally fatigued. For students who aren’t prepared to take a test that rigorous and that long, they’re not able to demonstrate the true amount of knowledge they have. Those who prepare physically and mentally will likely do better on the test.”

Another way to address test-taking nerves is to take a practice test, advises Marla Friederichs, associate vice president of admissions and financial aid at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. “The more familiar you are with the format of the test itself, the less anxiety there will be,” she says. “The ACT and SAT websites provide all the tools you need to familiarize yourself with these tests.”

Although preparing yourself mentally and physically is key to test taking, it’s nearly impossible to study for the ACT or SAT in the traditional sense. “You have companies that will prepare students for the test and give them questions in the format of the test. It gets them used to the format, but not necessarily the material,” Correa says. “You will not learn everything about algebra by going to these sessions.”

The time and energy used on test preparation should be redirected to high school coursework, Fedje believes. “If a student has done really well, it’ll show up on their transcripts,” he says. “Putting so much emphasis on doing well on a single test…is simplifying the process too much. How well students have done in high school is a much better use of time.”

Amid the craze of the college admissions process, it can be hard to step back and take a look at the big picture. But doing so could be beneficial. “There are always going to be students who experience stress about test scores, but there are going to be students who experience stress over things like what they’re doing after school that day,” Thorp says. “The goal in life should not be to experience life with no stress, because stress is a part of life. The goal should be to avoid creating stress where it doesn’t need to exist. And it doesn’t need to exist around a standardized test score. A student’s life is not going to be determined by an ACT or SAT score.”