Argument Map by Gia Thoms

What effects do standardized tests have on the college admission process?

gmt113 — 2025-02-21 16:32:18 UTC

MIT diversity -

gmt113 — 2025-02-24 17:10:30 UTC

MIT has become an example and case study for how standardized tests can help with diversity during admissions. The scores are not the main factor, but they are useful in finding applicants from less advantaged high schools that are likely to succeed, said the admissions dean. They found that after covid, “Once we brought the test requirement back, we admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history,”.

Score gaps affecting diversity-

gmt113 — 2025-02-24 17:10:49 UTC

There are score gaps in the standardized testing data based on race and class. The data supports that the higher the parents' income, the higher the test scores. Critics of testing are scared that schools becoming test-required again will plummet diversity, and the affirmative action decision strengthened this.

Background Info - pandemic, the history and controversy

gmt113 — 2025-02-24 17:12:49 UTC

The Big Test

gmt113 — 2025-02-24 19:49:00 UTC

gmt113 — 2025-02-24 20:06:42 UTC

New York Times article with a lot of research.

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 01:51:05 UTC

Quote from source

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 01:56:01 UTC

"Administrators at Harvard, who pushed for the creation of the tests, saw them as a way to identify talented students from any background. The administrators believed that these students would go on to strengthen the country’s elite institutions, which were dominated by a narrow group of white Protestants, as Nicholas Lemann explained in “The Big Test,” his history of the SAT."

The tests were first used in admissions in the 1930s.

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 02:05:48 UTC

"As is, many teenagers say they are confused. They are uncertain about whether to take the tests and what scores are high enough to submit."

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 02:11:01 UTC

This provides background and facts about standardized tests.

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 02:22:10 UTC

In recent years, the reliance on standardized tests lessened, and more focus grew on identifying efforts to face adversity and disadvantaged students. During the pandemic, half of the 4-year colleges in the nation didn't require test submissions and that number grew years following. Now there is a divide with some schools eliminating the option entirely and some reinstating the requirement.

Stress on teenagers

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 16:36:58 UTC

The standardized testing creates an immense amount of stress on students in the college admissions process. They are already going through a very stressful era in their lives, so the test being a deciding factor of their future is just an added factor. Tests like the SAT take scheduling way in advance and are pricey, along with the fact they might have to retake it.

Disadvantages of standardized tests in admissions

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 16:37:38 UTC

Advantages of standardized tests in admissions

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 16:37:59 UTC

What do standardized tests mean -

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 17:13:58 UTC

Standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, are actually designed to predict college grades and post-graduation success. Colleges started using these certain tests for the admission process to add diversity to colleges. Researchers have found that these tests can help identify lower-income students who will thrive. The President of Brown University said, “Standardized test scores are a much better predictor of academic success than high school grades,”. Good grades are not enough to know if the students are going to succeed or not.

gmt113 — 2025-02-25 17:18:20 UTC

"Standardized test scores have traditionally been an important consideration in college admissions decisions. These tests were first used in the 1930s by Ivy League and other elite colleges as a way to broaden their applicant pools beyond students coming from privileged East Coast boarding schools."

One Goal

gmt113 — 2025-03-05 16:13:23 UTC

Since standardized tests started to be used in the college admissions process, the goal has been to create diversity among the admissions class. The main factors taken into consideration for some schools have shifted to evaluate the adversity overall they might've faced and overcome. Colleges can still create a diverse class with this strategy and eliminate the possibility of score gaps. This means that students with higher scores most likely are coming from a high income background. This mostly has been taking place in recent years, along with the shift of colleges to be test-optional completely, meaning students wouldn't have to admit their ACT, SAT, or any other standardized testing scores. This combination creates opportunities for students with less advantaged backgrounds and allows for diversity and equality at colleges to be the main goal either way.

gmt113 — 2025-03-05 19:31:50 UTC

If colleges made the decision just based on the scores, the diversity would plummet, but now that is not the only factor, and the scores are used more to evaluate students from all demographic groups.

Affirmative Action

gmt113 — 2025-03-05 19:47:43 UTC

In 2023, the Supreme Court case decided that making race-based decisions in the admissions process violated a clause of the 14th amendment. What this means is the policies that Affirmative Action sets as a remedy to help discrimination in processes like college admissions, mostly based on race, gender, or ethnicity, can not be a factor in higher education. Affirmative action was seen as almost reverse discrimination.

Connecting and Shifting

gmt113 — 2025-03-05 19:58:44 UTC

gmt113 — 2025-03-05 20:08:33 UTC

Differences in the admission process are based on the type of college. MIT, for example, found that the test helps them with diversity in their admissions process. On the other hand, schools like the University of California eliminated accepting test scores entirely, “U.C. remains committed to maintaining a fair admissions process that reviews every applicant in a comprehensive manner and endeavors to combat systemic inequities.”. The bottom line is the colleges and elite universities want to educate students who will excel, and eventually benefit society. Standardized tests can help with the excellence and diversity if it is only one factor of the process.