Excessive Testing Argumentative Analysis

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Imagine being in school for 11 years thus far, imagine being 15, imagine trying to prepare for five tests in one day, imagine trying to juggle extracurricular activities, imagine if students weren’t tested as much. Most high school students, whether in academic or honors classes, would agree that the testing in school is excessive and unnecessary. It is understood that from the perspective of the state, the school, and the adults that testing is not only a way to assess how much a student knows but it is also the best way to get a student to learn. However, testing does the exact opposite because students may know the information well, but may be poor test-takers, excessive testing leads to poor performance on tests and detrimental effects …show more content…

For example, Jasmine Evans states “the pressure placed on students to perform well ends up impeding the very thing standardized tests are designed to assess: how much students know,” this further explains my point because the amount of tests students get, gives many anxiety since each test carries an immense amount of pressure. Therefore giving countless quantity of tests to students actually contradicts the learning process and the statistics pulled from those tests would be faulty. The stress and anxiety created by tests isn’t limited to teenagers, as it can affect college students also. Valerie Strauss reports from a professor at Eastern Illinois University, that a mother once told her “her son had burst into tears the night before the big end-of –year exam, saying he was afraid he wouldn’t be promoted to the next grade,” this proves how a student’s mental state and health are altered before an exam, causing a poor performance. On a personal level, I can connect with this women’s son because I have had 4 or 5 tests the same day on multiple occasions. The night before is always a late one, and even when I finally go to bed I’m constantly waking up throughout the night thinking about everything that can go wrong. Even if I study every night for a week leading up to the tests, I’m still stressing out about not studying enough for each

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