Yuriko+K's+OpEd+Article



" Justification of Timed Test " By: Yuriko K.

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A couple weeks ago I took the SAT test and knowing that I had 25 minutes for each section it felt like I was mostly rushing these questions the whole time. Five more minutes left. Can you give me a break! These strict time limits with SAT and ACT serves no purpose. Having thousands of high school students come by on Saturday’s and open their test booklets, but we probably don’t realize: Why do they require us high school students to complete this college exam in less than 4 hours?

This is because tests are always strictly timed and instead the College Board still accepted the time limit because the restrictions merely serve a logical purpose to the high school students. Providing time would help us by challenging our work ethic. I believe that the College Board is like a robot associated with a stop watch system. Timing is stressful and causes more problems in the long run. It places much unnecessary time and pressure each year to these high school students whose score are determined an extreme impact towards the students success in college.

I understand that it is an accepted kind of practice that these assessments are timed, but what it actually proves within that student. That a student can solve a number of questions in a limited amount of time. If these SAT and ACT tests are given to predict whether a student’s capability of completing a college education, then how does timing of a test come into the picture. It seems like its testing not just our educational abilities, but also seems to tests how quick we process these problems.

Timing not just comprehends with just college exams, but also with the real world. But do these real life scenarios have a connection to timing in success. Are drivers timed when they take the driver’s test? Does that mean that once they take the test quicker it refers to them as good drivers? When you are spelling a word does it matter how fast that person spelled or is it important that it is spelled correctly? Every human being is different we all go through at our own pace. Just like running, slow and steady wins the race. Not pacing yourself and rushing to the finish line is not going to help you succeed.