Primer: Standardized Testing and Admissions

This week, Northwestern Political Union will be debating a resolution that hits close to home for many students: universities should not consider standardized test scores in their admissions processes. 

Standardized tests are meant to be objective measures of teaching quality and student ability. However, they also receive criticism for being overly reductive: benefitting good test takers and those whose identities fall at the intersections of privilege. If you want a quick rundown of arguments on both sides, check out this article [15 minute read].

Lately, standardized testing has fallen out of favor in the academic community: it took a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic when many schools stopped requiring students to submit their SAT scores. However, its role is more complicated than college admissions, as this Vox article explains [15 minute read]. 

Standardized tests, however, are not merely an aspect of undergraduate admissions, they are also an important part of getting into graduate school. The GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT are in some respects as contentious [5 minute read] as their college-board-run counterparts. 

Here is a list of articles that make arguments for and against standardized testing: 

Begin with this article from the Washington Post that provides a general background of the practice of standardized testing and its history [10 minute read]

Then consider this interpretation of the “giant, real-world experiment in admissions policy” that COVID was for the efficacy of standardized testing in college admissions—in favor of doing away with the practice altogether. [10 minute read]

Also consider this article which invokes similar arguments, but in favor of standardized testing. [5 minute read]

Moving away from undergraduate admissions and towards graduate school, read this investigation into why many schools are dropping the GRE requirement, even while they acknowledge its potential benefits. [8 minute read]

Finally, read this New York Times article to gain insight into a debate at the American Bar Association concerning the LSAT and the nuances of its relationship with promoting diversity at law schools. [10 minute read]

”A student taking Multiple choice test on Chemistry” by Marco Verch Professional Photographer is licensed under (CC BY 2.0)