Leanna Craft
February 25, 2009
Proposal
The SAT and ACT are taken every year by high school students seeking higher education opportunities, scholarship money, and permission to play college sports. Critics of these tests believe that they are inaccurate predictors of college success, but supporters view them as the only objective way to compare applicants. Should these tests really be the ultimate deciding factor in whether a student is accepted to a school or not? For the research paper, I plan to research the accuracy of the SAT and ACT and find out if they really should be the most important factors in admission to colleges.
Main Points
-Format of SAT and ACT and how this format accurately or inaccurately tests the knowledge of students
-SAT vs. ACT (similarities, differences, etc.)
-Why some schools require the SAT, ACT, or both
-Stress the SAT and ACT put on students and how this stress alters performance
-Does the SAT address certain issues that the ACT does not?
-Differences between the MCAT, GRE Subject, and other standardized tests taken to continue education beyond the undergraduate level
-Statistics containing scores on the SAT or ACT compared to the first-year GPA of these students
-Views of both the supporters and critics of the SAT and ACT
-Effect of these tests on poor, minority, and female students
-Role of preparation courses in scores on the SAT and ACT
-Compare scores among races and different income families
-Racial differences in SAT and ACT scores
-The future of the SAT and ACT in the college admissions process
Introduction
The SAT and ACT are taken every year by millions of high school students seeking higher education opportunities, scholarship money, and permission to play college sports. The SAT and ACT scores these students achieve are currently the most important factor in college admissions. Although the SAT and ACT have been important to college admissions in the past, they are not accurate indicators of a student's success in college and should be less significant than other admission factors such as GPA, class rank, and leadership qualities.
Conclusion
The explanations by critics of the faults and weaknesses of the SAT and ACT in deciding college admission, as well as the disadvantage created to some students by pricy preparatory courses being offered, are two of the many reasons why the SAT and ACT are not the best deciding factors for college admission. Factors such as high school GPA, leadership quality, and class rank should be the ultimate factors in deciding admission to elite colleges in the United States today.
This is a great topic! I have talked to so many people that hate the SAT simply for the reason that they are poor test takers. These same people excel in their school work yet get turned down from colleges because of one test score. I wish I could give you something to improve on but from this proposal everything looks great. You mentioned all the points that I thought of when I saw your topic along with one's I would have never thought of. I hope your research goes well because you could really write an excellent paper with this stuff!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic. It will be really interesting to see where your paper goes and I would love to see all your information you get. Like Tyler said, I really don't see anything to add or take away. I think you will be able to write 10 pages easy. I think your paper will be great!
ReplyDeleteWonderful topic and I relate to it so much. I graduated 4th in my class in high school, but I couldn't manage to get over an 1120 on the SAT. You can get opinions from students on the SAT vs. ACT. Can't wait to read what you have to say.
ReplyDeleteSick topic. It seems that you have some pretty valuable sources and topics to discuss. Be sure to use solid statistics to help prove your point. Good job.
ReplyDeleteYour topic is dope as Will Moore would say. But, I think you might need to look at your topic from multiple points of view. For instance, you should examine the efficiency of the tests you mention and how much time they save in application process. Beware of bias
ReplyDeleteAre these tests still "the ultimate deciding factor" or "most important factor" in college acceptances? If not, then you'll have to change your wording for those parts.
ReplyDeleteI really like the overall organization of your paper-starting empirically and ending with bias against demographics.
Good eye, L. Carter, for seeing the opportunity for a poll. If you wanted, you could poll students and teachers. If you choose to do a poll, come talk to me about it first.
Also, AW aptly spotted a bias in the paper. Try to write as objectively as possible. If your argument seems to have a built in prejudice, it will effect the way readers receive you. Think about your ethos.
In your conclusion, you said, "Factors such as high school GPA, leadership quality, and class rank should be the ultimate factors. . ." Class rank is a little dangerous to use as a measuring stick. A student who is ranked 20th in a class of 25 looks better than a student who is ranked 50th in a class of 900.
However, consider their percentiles. The first student is in the 20th percentile; the other is in the 94th percentile. Now the second student seems to be the more promising candidate. Keep in mind that we still don't know these students' GPAs; however if we did would it help any?
One student (does it matter which one) earned a 3.2 at a highly respected charter school, at which he had to learn three languages in order to graduate; The other earned a 3.9 at a run down public school, at which discipline and safety was more of a focus than education. Does this information matter? How can these students be compared?
Now assume I got this information backwards. 3.2 at the public school; 3.9 at the charter school. How does this change things?
And leadership ability does not indicate scholastic ability. Some of the smartest people in the world can't lead at all; some of the most uneducated people in the world are the most influential leaders.
How can this kind of data be used in all fairness? Maybe you'll find a way in your research.
-Candace