Do standardized tests measure your abilities?

Standardized tests don’t measure your abilities. Recent research on intelligence and human cognitive development suggests that standardized tests are not valid measures of excellence. I asked a student at Mccracken how they felt about test taking, they responded,

“I feel that I am a good learner but when it comes to taking tests, I don’t do well because I tend to overthink and feel pressured.”

We are not being tested fairly because we are only given a short amount of time and that pressures us to get it done. Some students may even feel so rushed that they just become focused on getting the test finished, rather than actually doing well. It seems all of our knowledge is based on a singular test and a good amount of students just are not good test takers. Most standardized tests are made for retaining large amounts of information, which once again everyone does at a different level.

Standardized tests do not take into account the different circumstances that are unique to each person such as home life or mental health. For example, if a kid was having a really bad day and took a test, that student may fail and have all of what they are capable of based on a singular test score. I feel that all together standardized tests are doing more harm than good. An article from procon.org states,

“Standardized tests only determine which students are good at taking tests, offer no meaningful measure of progress, and have not improved student performance and that the tests are racist, classist, and sexist, with scores that are not predictors of future success.”