Tick Tick Tick. I sat with my knee bouncing below my desk, my pencil tapping on the scratch paper in front of me. My brain twisted and turned trying to recall how to factor a polynomial (a concept from middle school). Yet all my brain could wander to was if only I were being paid to take this tedious test or the SAT. Because the reality of the matter is when am I ever going to have to sit in a room and read articles or solve math problems for hours on end? Being a professional test taker was not what I saw in my near future so what is the deal with having to take it for college? With that being said, my answer is no, SAT certainly does not accurately portray nor project someone’s ability to succeed in the near future or overall potential.
Fundamentally, it could be beneficial to rank yourself amongst others and perhaps measure how far one has gotten in their high school career. Even though the A in SAT stands for aptitude, it appears to do a pretty lousy job at measuring it. SAT could claim to measure the problem-solving ability of the test-taker, but that is merely one of the countless factors that determine a person’s true potential. What is not measured within the SAT is what makes a person a student/learner. What is not measured is my leadership. What is not measured is my studying habits. What is not measured is my creativity. What is not measured is my goals/hopes for my future. What is not measured is the true factors that make up my potential. In contrast, Colleges that take a more holistic approach during the application process should be applauded. Colleges that choose to look at the full picture of the student, get a better idea of whether a person has the building blocks to having a successful future. Details that define me better than a four-digit number ever can be like being a leader within the marching band, devoting time to community service via school clubs, or even the courses I choose to take as they come as a challenge.
The education system does it repeatedly, defining one’s abilities with a single value. The biggest lesson that has stuck out to me through high school was not to let a single letter or number define me as a person. The single letter on my report card used to send middle school me down a spiral of thinking I was not good enough. I now find that a single set value or number could never measure where I am meant to be in the future. I tested rather average on the SAT yet it did not phase me as deep down I know that my potential and my destiny are not defined by a three-hour test. It is nice to have academic validation, but what does it mean for my future if I am doing well now? The future and my potential are all in my hands and quite frankly unknown so why bother to measure the unmeasurable? The SAT might reflect my current knowledge or “problem-solving abilities” but what is not seen is my involvement in my community, my leadership, my capacity to grow, and least of all my full potential.