Why do students have to take the ACT or any other test to get into college?
Question:
Colleges suck and make us go through this to pick the best of the bunch and award scholarships and place you in your college math and english classes
I believe it is a test to see your ability to learn - college is about learning.
It matters because it's just one more obstacle to remove those students who are just average. Every year, millions on kids internationally apply to the same schools. schools must create some kind of obstacle to removes those who just aren't' deserving, those who will surely fail and drop out, and those who will just be bothersome in the college. They want only the best of the best, not average people.
Honestly, I believe colleges use it as an imperfect form of iq testing to see if you are intelligent enough to handle college material or if you will be a drop out. Not the most accurate way to determine this, but it is one factor they use to determine if someone will do well in their college. It reflects poorly on a college to have a lot of people dropping out of it and that would affect their financial support.
You are thinking of the test from the wrong perspective.
The college can look at the test score to see where you stand academically. Tests help the college know where to place YOU once you enter, based on your proven academic ability.
There are only so many spots in each college. It is first come first serve...the best students get in until the seats are filled.
The ACT is a curriculum based test.
The SAT tests critical thinking and problem solving. The SAT tests more vocabulary, is not entirely multiple choice and has a guessing penalty. (You get points taken off for wrong answers, where the ACT does not take off points.)
IF you want to go to a particular college, verify which one (or both) they prefer you to take.
If you are rejected on the basis of your test scores, you can always go to a junior college and try to transfer in, later, with better grades and a better ACT or SAT score.
Standardized tests like the ACT and SAT help colleges determine the ability and preparedness of candidates for a university education. It is a measure that allows them to compare students from all over the country (and world). When they get a student's high school transcript, they often have no idea about the quality of that school or whether grades are heavily inflated. Even the quality of AP/honors courses differs considerably between schools. A 3.5 GPA at a lower-quality school is not the same as a 3.5 GPA at a high-quality school. The ACT helps universities to compare students from different educational backgrounds and whether they have the potential to succeed in college.
The main point is no one measure of academic performance, whether the ACT of high school GPA, is a perfect indicator of academic success at the university level. The hope is that, by compiling all of this imperfect information and placing it in a larger context, the college is able to find the best students of the thousands who apply.
Colleges ask people to take a nationally standardized test so they can easily compare applicants. Just because someone has a 4.0 in some small town hick school doesn't mean they're smarter than someone with a 3.0 in a big time prep school. This way they can combat grade inflation.
These tests should really be administered to tell us whether we can even pass high school or not. They are really easy. I mean, if you don't know the basic algebra, sciences, grammar, and writing rules that are in the ACT and SAT then why whould you graduate high school let alone go to college. If you're worried about taking one of these tests because you think you will do bad on it, then you probably aren't cut out for college.
I do get good grades in school so I did pretty well on both tests and so did my friends. We all got 2000+ on the SAT, one of my friends got a 2390, but he's going to Harvard. Then we all got 29+ scores on the ACT. Another one of my friends got a 35 on it, he's going to West Point. The thing is that we also play on the football team and some of us do track and other sports, so if you can't manage an easy test like these ones then don't go to college.
The ACT/SAT are more along the lines of, "here. I'm trying. This is how I compare with all the other students my age in the nation."
The line of thinking is that if you study for the ACT, you will study for college. It's more of a "I'm not going to waste my parents' money getting high and drunk and screwing anything that moves." It's proving to a school that is going to give you the key to a nice career that you have the brains to be in school.
I think you have your facts wrong.
1) Colleges DO look at your GPA. It's not a high point, but they do look at it.
2) The ACT score shows how dedicated you are to studying and taking tests. If you think the ACT is a joke you sould take the tests they give in college. Much harder, and you waste hundreds of dollars if you fail.
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