Cyerra Pemberton

Professor Madden

English 1201

22 June 2019

Standardized Tests: What Are Their Effects?

As a high school student, standardized testing is heavily pushed on me and my peers. I

have taken many standardized tests and have a lot to say about them. I am surrounded by people

who have taken them, are taking them, or will take them, making this a topic close to me. A lot of

my memories of school, especially from the beginning and end of each year, include

standardized or state-wide testing. Due to the relevance of this testing to me, I would like to

know more about the effects of this testing. There is one specific experience I have with

standardized testing that I think about a lot, and it is the time I was so stressed that I pulled three

all-nighters in a row to study for my state testing during my freshman year of high school. I was

very worried about the tests, as I had taken Sinclair’s Anatomy and Physiology class for medical

majors that year. The test I had to take was for basic biology class, but I had not taken that class,

so I did not know any of the material. Due to the requirement for standardized testing, I had to

study as much as I could for the test to learn all the information covered as soon as possible.

From my experience, this testing is very stressful and places too much weight on my shoulders

as a student.

Another experience I have had with testing is receiving a high score and knowing that my

hard work, time, and tremendous loss of sleep went towards something. When I received the

scores for my first high school standardized test, I was ecstatic in knowing that I had received the

highest score possible, which made my entire effort feel worth it. This method of testing allows

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me to gage myself and to push myself to my limits, which could be beneficial. I want to research

this topic to find out which ways this testing could also be helping me, and how to maximize

that.

I feel upset about how stressful these tests are for students, staff, teachers, and

administrators of the tests. This form of education can possibly be detrimental, and it is

maddening. Before researching, I think that the system of standardized testing in America is

probably more detrimental to education as a whole than it is positive. I believe that standardized

testing could be improved, though also essential in some ways to the educational system.

Students must have something to work towards in order to work. I already know that

standardized testing can be very time-consuming, stressful, upsetting, and detrimental to the

minds of many people who are involved with the process. I know that most standardized testing

is mandated by the state, and there are politicians who support it.

I want to know how standardized testing affects students, and how it can affect me, and

education. I think that it would be good to know how standardized testing directly influences

education, such as classes, curriculum, and choices made by teachers and schools. I want to

know why tests are mandated by states, and why students are judged largely by test scores when

looking at colleges and searching for other opportunities. I also think that it would be a good start

to look at some first-hand accounts of students, teachers, test-makers, and those who make the

tests into the law. Finding statistics and expert opinions could also be a good place to make

judgements and possibly choose where I am in this debate. I am excited for this research, and to

learn how these tests are really changing my life.

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