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Rodrigo Hernandez
Storer
English 3 Honors
25 November 2019
Arbitrary Judgements

The quality of life a student has, is almost completely determined by their performance in

standardized testing. Whether it be college entrance exams or simple chapter quizzes. The

pressure and importance placed on tests such as the HSPT, PSAT, SAT, and ACT, is far too

large for what the tests really represent in the student. The scores a student receives from these

standardized tests are presented by modern society as keys to their future. Even though these

scores are a gross misrepresentation of a student’s intellectual ability, they still have massive

effects on how the student is perceived by the people around them.

As a full time, student, I have worked through and studied for every one of these tests,

and many more. And in the day of competitive colleges and scholarships, these scores are

morphed by society into number values that determine the quality of students. Regardless of the

actual work ethic and drive a student possesses, those with higher test scores are considered to be

the upper echelon of students by most of the population. Due to the difficulties in measuring

work ethic, an extremely hard-working student who is a poor test taker is automatically at a

disadvantage when it comes to college admissions. I have been on both sides of the spectrum,

those who benefit from testing, and those who don’t.

The time my ability was misrepresented in a positive way for me was the Entrance exam

for Mater Dei. The HSPT is a long exam, and with little preparation I was able to navigate

through it, earning myself a 98th percentile score and a spot on the Scholarship list. Truthfully, I
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did not deserve that score, I was not a hard-working student, I did not prepare for the exam in

any way, and I am by no means a genius. And this score ended up granting me a higher

scholarship amount than a good friend who went to school with me. He prepared more for the

exam, had better knowledge on the material, and had consistently got higher scores than I did on

the practice exams. The only reason I ended up scoring higher than he did was luck, I had no

business scoring that high and earning that scholarship.

My score on the exam painted me out to be a model student. As the years have

progressed, the intelligence and future success represented by that exam have proven to be false

time after time. The expectations that the people in my life had created of me were not being

met. My success in school has proven to become average, enough to keep my scholarship but not

nearly close to what the people in my life expect of me. The exam score placed a high

expectation on my family and friends on the quality of student that I should have become.

Eventually their expectations proved to be false, and when my true abilities were uncovered all

of the support that was brought to me slowly faded away. This affected me emotionally and

brought less determination to do well in school, worsening my situation. While my friend on the

other hand, has become an amazing student, becoming a near prodigy in everything he does and

any class he takes. Shattering any sort of pre-judgment that people had of him.

This luck of test-taking ran out when I took my 9th and 10th grade PSAT exams. I

prepared for them night and day leading up to the test day, and on both occasions showed up to

school without a calculator. This simple mistake dropped my exam scores to a level that I knew

that I was better than. I knew this because I had achieved higher scores on practice tests leading

up to the test. These scores have lowered the expectations that the people around me have. The

academic level presented by my grades has been slowly increasing, but until the 2019 PSAT
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scores are released, I am stuck with the score of 1150 on the PSAT as my label to how many

people value my intellect. Since the tests have evolved to become almost an official

measurement of intelligence, I have felt the effects of people viewing my scores and thinking

less of me, such as counselors no longer being eager for me to apply for scholarships and my

own parents thinking less of my ability to succeed. The people around me have the idea that

these exams are so important to my future and wellbeing, that they seem to search and care for

those with high test scores the most.

An example of the types of ways standardized are described to students would be, “If you

fail GCSE math’s, you will never be able to get a good job or go to college. You need to work

hard in order to avoid failure” (Putwain & Remedios, 504). Most people do have the opinion that

standardized testing is the way to success in future, but in reality, especially in college

admissions work ethic, recommendations, school grades over time, and the applications

themselves prove to be more important than an SAT score of 1500. The main statement of

Princeton’s admissions page reads, “We look for students with intellectual curiosity, who have

pursued and achieved academic excellence. We also look for students with strong personal and

extracurricular accomplishments” (Helpful Tips, Princeton University Admission), these words

alone, coming from such a prestigious university, discredit the supremely high pedestal that tests

such as the SAT and the ACT are placed on. But the majority of the population does not think

this way, and the American population is quick to do what it does best, judge others. These

judgments caused by the scores a student receives can even extend to the student’s opinion about

themselves. This is most prominent in students who score poorly on standardized tests and

researchers at Harvard have observed that “students’ knowledge of their position as less than

proficient in key content areas such as reading may discourage, rather than encourage, students’
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investment in school” (Simpson 9). This is a huge step in recognizing the issues and unnecessary

evaluation that standardized testing bring to students. The amount of importance placed on these

exams cause feelings of judgment and self-doubt by other people and even themselves. A

solution to this production of self-doubt and judgement would be to stop describing these exams

as such life-changing events, “With fewer stakes associated with standardized testing, teachers

would likely be less inclined to utilize messages such as fear appeals when discussing testing,

and students would likely feel less pressure in connection with testing” (Barksdale-Ladd &

Thomas, 390).

Every person that has gone through the school system can relate to the issues that come

with standardized testing. The modern society and school system are obsessed with using these

scores to classify students’ academic prowess, and these classifications lead to unnecessary

judgement of young students based solely on their test scores. The modern student is faced with

a gigantic amount of expectations and pressure , there is no need to add to this anxiety by

ranking them based on their ability to take a test.

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References

Barksdale-Ladd, M. A., & Thomas, K. F. What’s at stake in high-stakes testing. Teachers and

parents speak out. Journal of Teacher Education, 2000, pp. 384-397

“Helpful Tips | Princeton University Admission.” Princeton University, The Trustees of

Princeton University, https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/helpful-tips.

Putwain, D., & Remedios, R. The scare tactic: Do fear appeals predict motivation and exam

scores? School Psychology Quarterly, 2014, pp. 503-516, The scare tactic: Do fear

appeals predict motivation and exam scores?

Simpson, Christina. Effects of Standardized Testing on Students’ Well-Being. Harvard Graduate

School of Education, 2016, pp. 1–20, Effects of Standardized Testing on Students’ Well-

Being.