Khan 1

Saad Khan

Ms. Foldy

AP Language

4 May 2020

The Cost of Testing

1.7 billion dollars. 25 hours. 112 times. These are some of the figures that face students

as they go through K-12th grade. These numbers outline the fate of most students in the US, and

they all have one thing in common. Standardized tests. Students, from kindergarten to college

level, slave away at these tests that decide their future. The MCAT, the ACT, the SAT, the GED.

Standardized tests go by many names, yet they are all essentially the same: tests that unfairly

decide students’ futures through scores that are meaningless in the real world. These tests take up

valuable time and resources from students, teachers, and parents alike. Standardized tests are

unfair, as they are cheated on regularly and people with wealth have a greater advantage. It is a

timely topic as the COVID pandemic has shifted brick and mortar classrooms from sitting at a

desk for eight hours to online classes at home. The recent pandemic is even forcing schools and

testing companies to reconsider their strategy in testing students’ capabilities, by offering the

traditionally paper-and-pencil tests online, or waiving them entirely. Even without the current

crisis, standardized tests are such an ineffective part of our educational culture, that they cause

stress and unhealthy learning environments wherever they are sold. Because standardized tests

can be cheated on, are becoming dated due to online schooling, and are stressful for students,

they are replaceable in the current state of students’ education around the world.

A standardized test is any test that is given and scored in a predetermined and “standard”

way. As such, these tests are useful for comparing students and people in general. Standardized
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tests are inefficient in current society in several ways. Since standardized tests are sold by private

companies, they cost money per attempt to take them. According to William White, instructor of

a course on standardized tests, different tests have wildly differing costs, from the AP (Advanced

Placement) tests costing $92 per trial to the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) costing

$305 per trial not counting additional fees for different services such as submitting scores,

canceling scores, or registering late. These costs, if the tests are taken multiple times, can amount

to fees in the thousands of dollars for a single student. Standardized tests also use up other

resources, such students’ and teachers’ time. Chris Mumford, an educator from the Hey Teach!

Website, relates that the average number of standardized tests that a student will take from

kindergarten through 12th grade is about 112. He also says that from the time spent taking the

test and the time spent preparing for the test, students spend about 25 hours per year on

standardized testing, which amounts to approximately 3 average school days per year spent on

standardized testing.

Since their start in the 1800s and their 20th century boom in popularity, standardized tests

have had several changes and types introduced, each with their own cost and use. Most

standardized tests come from private companies that sell them to schools and institutions for the

purpose of testing people’s capabilities in an equal way. Some of the more notable of these

private companies include Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Standardized Tests come in

a variety of different forms for different purposes. There are more general standardized tests for

elementary school students, such as the ISEE and SSAT, as well as tests for highschoolers, like

the more well known ACT and SAT. There are even specific tests for different schools and

careers in college such as the LSAT for law school or the MCAT for medical school. This essay

will mostly talk about K-12 standardized testing, in particular, high school standardized testing.
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High school standardized tests are used in several applications, mainly to determine college

readiness and as an initial college application deciding factor. According to the author of “8

things to Know About how Colleges use Admissions Tests” from the College Board website,

standardized tests may be used to award special scholarships or determine potential placement in

college classes. This is important information, as currently, most four-year colleges use

standardized tests in some way in their admissions process.

Standardized tests are unfair and favor some above others. One way that standardized

tests are unfair is that those who have money have a greater advantage. In this case, that money

helps certain students get higher scores because they have access to study books. Specifically,

the books that large testing companies, such as Pearson and CollegeBoard, sell to help students

study. These books cover what the tests are on to a frighteningly close degree. As Meredith

Broussard, writer at the Atlantic, said, “Pearson came under fire last year for using a passage on a

standardized test that was taken verbatim from a Pearson textbook”. This proves that what it is in

the books that testing companies sell is in fact very close, if not exactly, what is on the test.

Therefore, buying the books gains you an advantage, as it allows you to essentially take a “sneak

peek” at what will be on the test. This wealth favoritism is further highlighted in writer Valerie

Strauss’s article for the Washington Post, in which she said, “Wealthy parents can provide

benefits that many poor families can’t, such as tutors, learning opportunities, the best medical

care, and schools with ample resources”. Furthermore, wealthy students can buy tutoring and test

prep courses which can cost between $50 and $150 per session which can accumulate into

several thousand dollars for a single standardized test.

Other examples of how students with more money can get better scores include because, “They

can afford more attempts to take the test”, says Abigail Hess, a reporter from CNBC. Being able
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to adapt and create new strategies from previous knowledge of the format of the test and time

limits is a huge advantage.

There is even proof for the wealth bias on standardized tests. Sean Reardon, a professor

and sociologist at Stanford University devised an experiment in which he found that, “Of the

1000 poorest districts in the U.S. only 68 (6.8%) have mean test scores at or above the national

average”, which is especially low. This shows just how much wealth can affect standardized test

scores. Even an article from PBS said, “If you come from a family making over $200,000, you

have a one in five chance of scoring a 1400 or above on the SAT, if you come from a family

making under $20,000, a one in 50 chance”. Inequalities in family income further emphasize the

discrepancies in the ratio between wealth and standardized tests scores. But these are all

completely legal ways of using money to get higher scores on standardized tests. What about

using money to cheat?

Standardized tests are commonly cheated on in this day and age. Though there have been

many caught attempts at cheating on standardized tests, none are so famous as Operation Varsity

Blues of the 2010s. In a somewhat recent scandal dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” by the

media, more than $25 million were given to William Rick Singer between 2011 and 2018, which

he used for fraud and bribery on standardized tests, according to Wikipedia. William Singer was

the founder and CEO of a company called Key, a college counseling and life coaching company.

This money, provided by wealthy parents of students, was used by William Singer in illegal acts.

Some of those illegal acts included hiring impersonators to take the exams, making phony

disability claims, paying to change wrong answers or fill in missing responses, and even bribing

proctors to ignore these illegal acts, as mentioned by Valerie Strauss. Another one of the ways

that money is used to gain unfair advantages is by bribing officials and proctors to gain 504
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designations. This tactic of gaining academic accommodations like extra time or private space

for test taking was so effective that Singer himself advised wealthy parents to obtain them, as

said by Abigail Hess, writer of “Rich Students get Better SAT Scores - Here’s Why” on CNBC.

These 504 designations are usually used for students with an injury, medical illness, or mental

illness so that the playing field is even. However, if used by other students, completely

undermines the “standard” administering of standardized tests. Wealthy parents can illegally buy

504 designations which give their children special advantages such as more time on a

standardized test. Having less anxiety from the time running out or seeing how other students are

doing allows wealthier students to perform better on standardized tests.

Another factor that affects the administering of standardized tests is the recent change to

online schooling for many students. As such, standardized tests providers have had to change

their processes to conform with the new COVID-19 lockdown. Even without the coronavirus,

however, schools are still changing to online schooling and as such, proctored, in-person

standardized tests are becoming unusable and inefficient. Even several government officials have

echoed this sentiment recently in response to COVID-19. president Donald Trump said in a

recent interview that “With many schools closed due to the virus, the Department of Education

will not enforce standardized testing requirements, very importantly, for students in elementary

through high school”. The Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos echoed this sentiment when she

said that, “Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this

difficult time. Students are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this

environment”. These reasurrances from our government are just precursors to the fact that online

schooling will make standardized tests outdated.

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Even if standardized tests are offered online, as they are currently being offered for some

tests, cheating will still be prevalent enough that the results will not be as fair as they should be.

Cheating measures as previously mentioned by Valerie Strauss, such as hiring imposters to take

the test and making phony disability claims will be infinitely easier to use and much harder to

catch in a digital schooling age.

Standardized tests also cause lots of stress for students and teachers alike. One hormone

that is affected by standardized testing is cortisol. Matt Barnum, writer of “How the stress of

state testing might make it harder for some students to show what they know” on the Chalkbeat

website, says in relation to a study done that, “Cortisol levels were about 15% higher at that time

during testing week than they were during a regular week”. This shows that students were more

stressed and anxious during a testing period than a normal week. Barnum goes on to say that if

this study is seen to be a trend, we might need to reconsider what we are using standardized tests

for, as they are extremely stressful.

There are more references to students becoming overly stressed about standardized tests,

however. In an article written by Quinn Mulholland on the Harvard Political Review website, a

student wrote a standardized test reflection that said, “I feel like we have to take all these tests

and if I pass the tests I live and if I don’t, I die”. While this might be a slight exaggeration, the

feelings and emotions that come with this statement are true. Students feel as if these tests are

what decided their fate in life, and peer pressure as well as pressure from the school system

doesn’t help to assuage their fears. Lauran Suval, writer of “the Psychological Effects of too

much Testing” on the PsychCentral website, even says that, “Standardized tests seem to ignore

the reality that kids are at various stages in their emotional development and maturity”. This is

especially true as most tests taken by children are around the time of puberty, when their
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emotions are at the highest and the smallest thing, like just a little too much stress, can push them

over the edge.

There are also other negative effects to standardized testing. Creativity, a large part of a

healthy learning environment, is also suffering in classrooms around the world. A trend of

“teaching the test” has become widespread which narrows teachers focus on studies taught in

school says Kira Goldring, writer of “Do Standardized Tests Improve Education” on the

Perspective website. This trend is pushing extracurriculars and arts classes out of school

buildings in favor of higher quality core classes that “teach the test” so students will achieve

higher test scores that reflect favorably on the school. As Quinn Mulholland puts it, “because of

the emphasis placed on early reading and math, schools are deemphasizing extracurriculars and

creative classes”. These vacant spots opened up in schools are soon filled with test prep and

standardized testing to better assess students with.

So far this has only talked about the bad in standardized testing. Well, there are some

alternatives to using standardized tests in everyday life. One alternative to using standardized

tests as a main college application deciding factor is using holistic admissions. Holistic

admissions are a way of looking at students’ applications not by their grades and test scores, but

by their personal life and activities. As Allen Grove, writer of “What are Holistic Admissions?”

on the ThoughtCo website put it, holistic admissions look for glowing letters of recommendation,

interesting extracurriculars, and great application essays. They look at who you are as a person

and how you may be affected by the college you are applying to. Grove even gives an example

and says, “Under a holistic admissions policy, a student with a 3.8 GPA might be turned down

while an award-winning trumpet player with a 3.0 GPA might get accepted”. This just shows

how holistics admissions can accept people not based entirely on their scores and grades in
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school, but on them as a real person. Some colleges have already forsaken standardized tests and

moved to a holistic admissions point of view. One of them is Stanford University. On Stanford’s

website, they wrote, “In a holistic review, we seek to understand how you, as a whole person,

would grow, contribute, and thrive at Stanford, and how Stanford would, in turn, be changed by

you”. Stanford’s parts of a holistic admission include looking at a student and gauging their

academic excellence, intellectual vitality, and extracurricular activities to see if they would be a

good fit at Stanford university.

Another such college that decided to drop standardized testing entirely was Hampshire

College. On their Hampshire College website Jonathan Lash, president of the college, wrote,

“We review an applicant's whole academic and lived experience. We consider an applicant’s

ability to present themselves in essays and interviews, review their recommendations from

mentors, and assess factors such as their community engagement and entrepreneurism”. This

adoption of holistic review has had beneficial results for their college. After changing to holistic

review, their yield (percentage of students who accept their invitation) rose from 18% to 26%,

their class diversity increased by 10%, and the quantity of applications went down while the

quality went up. These colleges and many more across the nation and the world show that

holistic admissions can improve both students’ and colleges’ lives.

There are other options for standardized test alternatives besides holistic admissions as

well. One option is for colleges to go test-optional. This would mean that students would get to

choose whether they want to take the test at all and whether they want to put it into their college

application. John Newson, writer of an article on the News and Record website, wrote that under

a new test-optional admissions standard, University of North Carolina applicants must meet

either the new GPA or new test score standard, but not both. This means that students can choose
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whether they want to focus on schooling or testing. Schools going test-optional is a really

valuable thing for people who have different levels of test-taking prowess. Good test takers can

focus on getting a higher standardized test score while bad test takers can focus on obtaining a

higher GPA in school. One of the problems with the new admissions ideas however, is that no

college wants to be the first to do it, and then fail. In a PBS interview, Jeff Selingo, writer of

several higher education books, says that “Most of the test-optional colleges are lower-tier

colleges. If the University of California does it, it’s going to be big news, and I think a lot of

other colleges will follow”. Ultimately, if bigger colleges move to test-optional, then smaller

colleges will follow their lead and eventually most colleges will be test-optional, like a domino

effect.

Another alternative to standardized testing is other types of testing. Anya Kamenetz

writes in a NPR article “What Schools could use Instead of Standardized Tests” that some

alternatives include sampling, stealth assessments, game based assessments, portfolio based

assessments, social and emotional skills surveys, and general inspections. Kelly Wallace, an

editor-at-large on CNN explains some of these alternatives. In stealth assessment she explains

that, “Instead of progress based entirely on the results of annual tests, student performance is

measured throughout the year, even day to day, using software and could be compared with a

national scale”. This type of testing could be useful as students would be measured on a day to

day scale, not at their best all the time. Wallace also says that project based assessment is a

potential option in which teachers students’ projects, papers, presentations, and portfolios, as if it

were a real-life workplace. This type of testing would be beneficial in better testing students’

college and workplace readiness.

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Some people think that standardized tests are the perfect first criteria for college

admissions. Colleges use it for an easy initial cutoff point and don’t even look at applications

that don’t meet the minimum scores. However, standardized tests don’t actually measure general

knowledge needed for college. As Broussard says, “This is because standardized tests are not

based on general knowledge… they are based on specific knowledge contained in a specific set

of books; the textbooks created by the test makers”. Standardized tests only show how much a

person knows about the knowledge that the test makers give out. They are not a true measure of

one's college readiness or a predictor of college success. However, GPAs measure a wide variety

of skills and behavior that are needed for college success, making it an excellent predictor of

college success. In an article titled “It’s GPAs Not Standardized Tests That Predict College

Success” on Forbes, Nick Morrison, an education contributor, says that, “In contrast,

standardized tests measure only a small set of the skills that students need to succeed in college,

and students can prep for those tests in narrow ways that may not translate into better prep to

succeed in college”. This is true as the knowledge required to score well in standardized tests is

not always what is taught in the average school classroom. Morrison also says that in a recent

study, “high school GPAs were found to be five times stronger than ACT scores at predicting

graduation rates”. Some say that GPA is not reliable as it is not the same in every school and

weighted grades mess with the “standard” aspect of a standard grade. However, if GPA was the

same in all schools across the country, then it could become a new standard for measuring a

students’ success.

Another argument for standardized testing is that there are no alternatives, and as such, it

would be impossible to change to anything else. However, this is not true, as holistic admissions

is an excellent alternative that is already being successfully implemented in many

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colleges.Holistic admissions are also easy to shift to as there is very little work that needs to be

done beforehand. There are also other alternatives, such as stealth assessment and portfolio

based assessments as well as using the previously mentioned GPA as a standard.

As shown, standardized tests are not efficient and should be replaced in our current

educational state. Standardized tests have been shown to favor those with wealth in several ways.

Students with more money can purchase more attempts to take the test, therefore gaining an

advantage over those who only take a certain standardized test once in their life. Also, students

with wealth have access to a lot more resources such as tutors, special courses, and study books

made by the testing companies.

Furthermore, standardized tests are unfair because they are routinely cheated on by many

students. Students with more wealth have an even higher advantage as they can pay imposters to

take tests for the, bribe test proctors, or obtain phony 504 designations for test benefits. These

acts of cheating will be even more prevalent as schools transition to online schooling.

Standardized tests also will not be able to maintain their standards as education will move to

electronic schooling in the near future. Sit-in tests like most major standardized tests will have to

be abandoned. Proof of this is already apparent as the recent COVID-19 pandemic is causing

strain on big testing companies.

Standardized tests also cause undue stress and concern among students, teachers, and

parents alike. Studies have shown that students become stressed and worried when testing time

comes around. Furthermore, standardized test scores are used to grade teachers' performances in

teaching, and as such causes stress on them to “teach the test”, which has detrimental effects on

classrooms.
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However, there are alternatives to using standardized tests in our society. Holistic

admissions, where colleges look at a students’ entire character and not just how good of a test

taker they are, is one of those alternatives. In a similar vein, some colleges are going test-

optional. This means that colleges are allowing students to choose whether to use their GPA as a

deciding factor or whether to use standardized test scores. Some other alternatives include

portfolio assessments, where teachers look at students' projects and portfolios throughout the

year to give them a grade. Schools could also use stealth assessment, where every test and quiz is

used to accurately give a day to day score of a student’s grit and perseverance. All these and

more are alternatives to the problem that is standardized testing.

And so, standardized tests are unfairly using our resources. 1.7 billion dollars a year. 25

hours per year. 112 times between K-12th grade. Thousands of dollars of personal money spent.

Standardized tests are having a detrimental effect on society that drains our already valuable

resources such as money, time, and even students’ creativity, mental health, and childhoods. As

such, standardized tests are a drain on our current educational state and should be replaced as

soon as possible.
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