For all highschool students nationwide and especially here at Bothell High School, it’s been hammered into us (metaphorically, of course) that the classes we take and our standardized scores are catalysts for an acceptance into a good college.
The College Board is a “non-profit” organization, founded in 1899, that develops and administers standardized tests—such as the SAT—and college-readiness courses for high school students—such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes. Some of us are familiar with either or both, and for that, I apologize and sympathize with you.
The SAT is a standardized test for college admissions that is developed and maintained by the College Board. It was administered in 1926 and is still administered to this day. The SAT covers the subjects of reading, writing, and mathematics; it tests a student’s analytical and reading skills.
But these skills are not the infrastructure of high intelligence. In fact, intelligence is defined as the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to situations. Howard Gardner, an accomplished American developmental psychologist, exposed the public to his theory of multiple intelligences. He concluded that there were eight relatively independent individual intelligences. Some of those include logical-mathematical, which refers to the ability to think abstractly and see patterns and logic and math; musical, which refers to the ability to produce and understand pitch, tempo; and rhythm; interpersonal intelligence which refers to the ability to work well with and understand others emotionally and socially. All these intelligences have some role or career in this world that require those specific skills. An individual with musical intelligence might have a better chance of being a well-known rockstar than an individual with a logical-mathematical intelligence. In short, there is a seat for everyone in the world’s auditorium. The world will test all different kinds of intelligence, but the SAT tests only two kinds at max.
MIT Writing Director Les Perelman concluded that the SAT essay causes “teachers to train students to be bad writers.” The SAT sticks to one rubric and judges a student’s writing capability by seeing if it fits their “conventional mold.”
Other than the SAT, the College Board has so generously granted the students access to AP classes, college-readiness courses. A typical AP course-taking student will have seven to eight months to memorize and store enough information to pass an exam in May that decides whether the student can earn college credit for the course. The AP exam is graded on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the highest score and a 1 being the lowest. Most colleges take a score of 4 or 5 on an AP exam as credit, sometimes 3. But so many conditions play in taking these exams.
Many students can excel in a class where they learn topics and incorporate them into projects or small quizzes. But to expect a highschool student—one who may not have the best sleep schedule, may not have time to study due to personal problems, or perform better on projects than on tests—to sit down for three and a half hours for an exam that they have had little time to prepare for can be deemed unhealthy.
A regular college course will assign projects, essays, unit tests and more to determine a student’s overall performance in the class. The student’s effort and hardwork is being tested in this case, not their memorization. The AP exam is confusing in the sense that it’s almost like a pass or fail. You either get college credit, or you don’t.
Let’s imagine you just took your AP World History exam and you got a 2, not sufficient to receive college credit. It’s disheartening knowing you didn’t receive college credit, but it’s even worse knowing that you paid $97 to take this exam and still didn’t receive college credit. You might have gotten a B+ in that class with hard work, but only got a 2 on the exam for reasons that may seem unfair.
On top of that, the College Board will only give you the opportunity to view your score but not see what areas you need to improve on or how the graders came to their conclusion of your score. Intelligence can only increase if an individual learns from their mistakes, not if the most important piece of the equation is missing—knowing the mistake you made. How can a student prepare for college classes if they have no idea what areas of their learning needs improving? It’s a dead-end.
Additionally, College Board claims to be a “non-profit”, but can they really consider themselves as non-profit if they make students pay $97 ($137 if late) for AP exams and the SAT with the essay costs $64.50 ($93.50 if late). Even one of their scholarships, the College Scholarship Service Profile, requires a fee of max $25! On top of that, a student may pay to send colleges their test scores and get tutoring which could amount to hundreds, even thousands of dollars. In 2017, the College Board earned $1.068 billion of revenue. Their expenses totaled to $927.8 million, which left a $140 million surplus. You may or may not get credit for that AP exam you’re taking this May, but one thing for sure is that the College Board will get your and many other students’ wallets.
Back in Ancient Greece, philosophers assumed the reason objects fall towards Earth is because it is their “nature” and a part of “God’s realm”. But when the apple fell on Newton and led him to scientifically define the motion, gravity was taught with a new manner and curriculum. This is to show that education must always evolve. If a system, such as the College Board, demonstrates its failure to evolve, it must be left behind. The College Board’s ignorance shouldn’t be taken out on students who are capable of high-level classes and other areas of intelligence. The College Board must modify their process before the new wave of students who come after us tire out and revolt.
I believe if I were to receive a penny for every time I’ve overheard a student complain about the College Board, I could easily pay for half the school’s AP exams.
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