by Christian Knapp ’14

With well-respected institutions of higher education like Connecticut College and Providence College no longer requiring standardized test scores for admission, students and educators alike have begun to take a serious look at the relevance of the SAT and the ACT. “It’s impossible to know from one test how well prepared a student is for college. However, colleges need some sort of standard to compare kids from around the country. Standardized testing is the most practical solution,” Matt Cavanaugh ’14 remarked.

While some students question the accuracy of standardized tests, Winston Miller, a college counselor and Williston’s Academic Testing Coordinator, offers a different perspective. “I think both the SAT and the ACT accurately assess academic ability.” He added students usually prefer one test over another because, he believes, the ACT is designed to measure what students have learned in school and the SAT is designed to test the reasoning and verbal abilities of students.

In no way, however, is there a consensus over the purpose and success of the standardized tests. Nick Pattison ’14 argues, “although they do show that you can reason and show your ability to display your comprehension of literature, they truly do not show the depth of a person’s intellect.” Pattison believes it is impossible for standardized tests to show how hard students have worked in their high school classes.

Some students go beyond working hard in their classes. In 2009 the research and consulting firm Eduventures, Inc. reported that about 2 million students paid for standardized test prep. According to the firm, students nationally pay a total of about $2.5 billion per year on prep, working out to $1,250 per student. The College Board asserts that “repeated studies show that test prep increases SAT scores by about the same amount as taking the test a second time.” Gillian Peters ’14 believes one-on-one tutoring is the only type of prep worth paying for.

The Williston College Counseling Office has generally seen improvement among students who have taken test prep. Mr. Miller says the most common advice given by college admission professionals is to read as much as possible.

Test prep is not the only costly aspect of standardized testing. The SAT costs $50 to take and it costs $11 for each student who wants to view his or her results first. The College Board, the non-profit which runs the SAT, has introduced many new fees in recent years, such as a $15 fee to register for the test over the phone. The organization even has a $7 “refund fee” if test takers overpay or make a duplicate payment by mistake. While families pinch pennies, the CEO of College Board rakes in $1.3 million per year in compensation. Nineteen executives at the non-profit receive $300,000 or more each year in compensation, according to Bloomberg News.

The ACT has emerged as a worthy competitor to the SAT. Mr. Miller said, “the ACT has certainly become more popular and prevalent in the northeast in the last decade or so. It is seen by colleges as a complete equal to the SAT, as most colleges will take scores from either the ACT or the SAT.” The Associated Press reports that in 2011 more students took the ACT than the SAT.

ACT, Inc. charges similar fees for their test. For students who wish to take the test without the writing section, it is only $35. However, students who want to show colleges more of their writing will pay $50.50 – fifty cents more than the SAT. The ACT also charges $11.00 to send score reports to colleges after the test has been taken. Students and families may breathe easier after hearing the last CEO of the ACT only received $1.1 million in yearly compensation.

The question remains as to whether or not filling in the correct bubbles on a piece of paper is the best way to determine which students are admitted to colleges. Cameron Zawacki ’13, who will be attending the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, joked, “the best way for me to show what I’ve learned in school is standardized tests … said no kid ever.” Perhaps there is no better way to express how students feel about the four-hour-long testing marathons for college admissions.