Opinion by J1 reporter Courtney Doherty

In high school, everyone seems to be obsessed with getting a good score on the ACT or SAT. Students spend countless hours studying and the stress level is terrible. But, is this really the best way to see someone’s academic abilities?

There are people out there who don’t even have to study to get a perfect score on the test. On the other hand, some students spend lots of time studying and they still can’t get what is considered a “decent” score. Does that mean that they’re not smart? Of course not! Some people are just not good test takers.

Standardized tests like the ACT and SAT expect students to be able to show their knowledge by taking a single test. Although this works for some people, others are better at showing their knowledge other ways.

Aside from only providing one way to show knowledge, standardized tests support memorizing facts and equations. If students take the ACT or SAT for the first time and aren’t happy with their score, they can just take it again. After taking the test, they will know the basic things that they need to study and will go memorize them. Then they can take it as many times as they want. Is this really helping students learn things though? Probably not.

After finishing the standardized testing part of their student careers, students probably won’t remember all of that information. If students created a project or activity using their own style of learning instead, they might learn more from the experience and be able to use it in their future.