Standardized tests are administered to allow reliable and valid comparisons to be made among students taking the test. Two major types of standardized tests are currently in use; norm-referenced and criterion-referenced. A norm-referenced test is a test that has been given to representative samples of students such that norms of performance are established. Each student taking the test receives a score that can be compared to the norm or normal or sample of students. The scores are then reported in percentiles. The main purpose of these tests is to rank students along a distribution of performance. Because of this tests are likely to have items that are very difficult for the grade level so students can be ranked. A criterion-referenced test looks like a norm-referenced test but multiple choice items are used and directions are standardized. The reason these tests are administered is based upon the content that all students are expected to learn. Scores are based on the amount learned by the student and a passing score is then given. These scores are not compared to other students. Standardized tests are used to show how a student is doing. They can show if a program is working well and can show if the educators are using effective teaching methods. Schools are graded to see if there overall program is helping the student to achieve their goals. In the next paragraphs I am going to explain to you about the purpose of the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
“Learned helplessness is a phenomenon containing three components: contingency, cognition, and behavior. Contingency addresses the uncontrollability of the situation. Cognition refers to the attributions that people make regarding their situation or surroundings of which they are a part. Behavior allows individuals to decide whether they will give up or proceed with the obstacle set before them” (Peterson, Maier, & Seligman, 1993; Firmin, Hwang, Copella, & Clark, 2004). When a student thinks about college he must take either the ACT or the SAT test to be admitted into the college. Students have a lot of decisions to make that can be stressful. Failure is an aspect that students fear and can determine whether they will succeed in life.
The ACT was founded in 1959. A l...
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...t you are allowed to guess on the ACT and on the SAT if you are unsure you want to leave it blank because getting it wrong will give you a lower score.
If you are graduating high school in 2006 and beyond there will be a new SAT test. The test will contain three sections: Math, Critical Reading, and Writing. The math section will have 44 multiple-choice questions and 10 in-grid questions. You will be allowed 70 minutes to complete this section. The critical reading section will have 67 multiple-choice questions and you will be given 70 minutes to complete. The writing section has 49 multiple-choice questions and you are given 60 minutes. You are graded on Grammar, usage, and word choice.
“The need, as we view it, is to develop a number of different alternative evaluation instruments and strategies that provide hard data but are not in the form of the standard paper-and pencil multiple-choice tests now being used in most testing programs. What we advocate are assessment instruments that support proven methods in the visual arts and also take advantage of all the newer imaging technology” (Medeja, Dom, & Sabol, 2004).
3. COMPASS test with a minimum score of 25 on Pre-Algebra/Numerical, 62 on Reading, and 32 on Writing, all completed in one test session, or
The SAT's have sometimes been the deciding factor when determining a student's admission to a certain college, but recently colleges have stopped regarding SAT scores as the most important factor, and in some cases, colleges are now not even requiring applicants to submit their scores. This change in significance of the SAT's is due to recent controversy over the fairness of the test. According to Fair Test (2001) three hundred and eighty-eight schools do not require applicants to submit their SAT scores, and hundreds more do not place much emphasis on the scores. Because of the recent controversy and the number of schools not looking at or de-emphasizing the SAT's, the College Board, (the company in charge of designing, administering, and grading the test), has decided to make several changes to the format of the SAT's (which was just revised in 1994). These changes will take effect in the year 2005.
College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001
Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.
Thousands of students around the country and around the world will be preparing for the SAT and ACT tests while trying to maintain a high GPA. These tests will potentially have a significant impact on students lives. Some will be taking these tests for the second or even third time to get that 1500 out of 1600 or that 33 out of 36, that they long desire.
Standardized tests are very common throughout the United States. They are used to measure students’ academic performances in school. These tests vary from state to state in all grade levels. However, these tests are believed to be biased towards those students who come from higher-class neighborhoods, simply because they have more educational resources. “The absence of standards virtually guarantees stratified resources and access to knowledge, based upon income, color of skin, and the community and neighborhood in which one lives” (French, 2003). The resources in the suburban areas differ from those in the urban areas, because of the gap within the difference of incomes. Families living in suburban neighborhoods have a bigger income, which enables them to have more resources than those living in urban neighborhoods. Most educational resources come from taxes, which plays a big part in the gap between urban and suburban neighborhoods.
Standardized tests have been around for many years. During the 1920’s the SAT was known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Syverson 56). According to Steven Syverson, in 1993 the test was renamed as Scholastic Assessment Tests in an effort to reflect the changing nature of the test (56). Jonathan Epstein notes that by 1994, the acronym was removed completely, keeping only the initials SAT (9). The United States Department of Education reports that the Scholastic Assessment Test [known as SAT] measures your ability rather than knowledge and is composed of three sections: writing, critical reading, and math (3). “The American College Testing Program [known as ACT] measures how you think and what you’ve learned in school, it consist of four multiple-choice
In recent years many schools have begun to put more emphasis on standardized test scores. Almost all college bound students now take entrance exams like the ACT or SAT. These tests supposedly indicate how "smart" a student is and how successful they would be in colle...
According to College Board, the organization that creates the test, the SAT is “designed to assess [a student’s] academic readiness in college” and “keep
The test measures a student's literacy and writing skills that he will need for college. The test takes three hours. There are three sections in the SAT. Math, reading and writing, plus an experimental section which could be extra testing over reading, math or grammar. Atkinson states, “ Of the various tests that make up the SAT I aptitude and the SAT II achievement tests, the best single predictor of student performance turned out to be the SAT II writing test. This test is the only one of the group that requires students to write something in addition to answering multiple-choice items. Given the importance of writing ability at the college level, it should not be surprising that a test of actual writing skills correlates strongly with freshman grades.” The SATs writing test has been a positive outcome for colleges and students. The SATs writing portion of the test take 60 minutes. The student has 25 minutes to looks over an essay and corrects any errors, and then there is 35 minutes of grammar questions. The math test takes 70 minutes. “It is possible to do well on the mathematical section of the SAT without having had courses beyond first-year algebra. The College Board Technical Handbook states that the "mathematical section of the SAT [SAT-M] consists predominantly of material commonly covered in the first nine grades" (Donlon 1984, 5). Some items can be stated in very basic terms =but require
One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.
Learned helplessness Theory – repeated exposure to a stressor, people stop trying to avoid it, feel they have no control over it, will not act if there is an opportunity to escape, and will not look for such opportunities (Ursa&Koeh, 2015)
According to Steele’s research, minority students easily recognize the negative stereotypes held against them by many members of society. They fear that performing poorly on the SAT will only confirm these stereotypes. As a result, they may second-guess themselves on easy questions, rush through the test to appear more confident than they really are, or ponder over a question too long and become more likely to run out of time. This form of anxiety added to the test-anxiety many students have when taking the SATs creates a huge disadvantage for minority
It’s the time of the year when high school seniors take collegiate entrance exams that will assess not
There is defiantly more than one issue with the ACT and SAT, making this a problem for anyone who needs to take these test. These test can be scary and cause