Standardized Testing & What Do They Test?
Recently, in China, the “high test” exam took place. Speaking of tests, why not learn more about them? Let’s start putting the “tests” to the test!
Before we get into the category of standardized testing, let’s first cover more about the “high test.” Officially known as the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, this test is crucial to students and parents, with the score determining if you go to college and also what kind of college. It’s the same as the American SAT. All higher education depends on the student passing the “high test.” When it’s time for the high test, usually in June, most cities shut down and reroute traffic to allow faster bypass for students getting to the exams.
So now we know more about the high test, what about other standardized tests? What does this word even mean? Well, the definition of a standardized test is first: Requiring all test-takers to answer the same questions or a selection from a list of questions. Secondly, the test gets scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, making it possible to compare the relative performance of groups of test-takers. A well-known standardized test is the IQ test, which tests the intelligence quotient with a series of questions.
No matter what standardized test you’re taking, the main point is to test your ability on something. So are these tests as accurate as they seem? And are they all good? Let’s first look at the pros of standardized testing. The considerable benefit is that we can know if the teacher did well by testing the students. If most students get low scores, it is logical to assume that the teacher wasn’t good. In other words, a standardized test can hold teachers accountable. Another benefit of testing is that parent’s also got feedback on their children’s performances and can help them do better by looking at questions they got incorrect.
However, these tests have a lot of disadvantages too. The main disadvantage is that teachers would “teach to the test.” Teachers risk losing their jobs and getting replaced if their students get low scores. Teaching to the test could eliminate fun courses and subjects, with that time given to the main courses. Teaching to the test isn’t necessarily bad because teachers get to keep their jobs. But for students, learning would be much more exhausting. And with many fun subjects no longer taught, students’ creativity would get restricted.
There is the term “heredity.” It means inheriting a trait from your parents, like your hair color. Another thing is too inherited, at least partly: DNA. The “code for your body” not only includes bodily traits but also things like your characteristics. Some scientists also believe that your intelligence partly depends on your parents.
What does this have to do with standardized testing and teaching to the test? Well, if your parents were taught to the test and didn’t have an instinct of good creativity, you more or less could get affected by inheritance. In theory, if enough bad traits get inherited from generation to generation, we could eventually degrade. There are strange cases of children being extraordinary at something while their parents were not. However, the chance of that is still smaller than you inheriting a trait your parents had.
In the end, you need to thank your parents for the good (or bad) traits you have. But don’t feel sad if you were unlucky, because your effort also means much. If your teacher teaches to the test, then you know what to do: Teach what you want to learn and do what you want to do in your spare time.
Sometimes, people don’t do as well as they thought they would. When you are in such a situation, don’t worry. Even though standardized tests are proven to be as accurate as they can be, everyone still has bad days, and you can’t seem to do anything. Or is it that you don’t have the ability in the first place. There is this strange phenomenon: Those having the worse ability at something sometimes think they are the best.
Scientists have discovered that the victims don’t have the knowledge and experience to realize that they aren’t as good as they think. Without outside help, most of these people could never see their problems. So it’s a good thing we have mentors and teachers, who are the very people to point out those invisible problems that are right in front of you.
If you don’t think this is strange enough, consider the phenomenon that those who have knowledge suffer. It’s the opposite of the previous example: Those with the most knowledge think they still need to know more. Why? It’s most likely because since the knowledgeable have so much knowledge, they know there are more things they don’t know. But when it happens in reality, it seems silly. If your professor walked around every day mumbling, “I wish I knew more, I wish I knew more,” then wouldn’t you feel even worse? If an expert like your professor still wants to know more, you’d have the burden to catch up with the professor’s knowledge and go beyond!
What we have covered in this article could be too much to comprehend for all knowledge you have. Don’t worry. Continue reading would be a place to start. Read more about the world, and knowledge naturally comes your way. I still don’t know what these tests even test: The student’s ability or the teacher’s? That is a question that you need to ponder. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you for reading, and to those who want to achieve: Good luck!