The most stressful thing a student, like myself, can endure is the process of choosing, applying, and planning for college. What does not reduce the stress is that my acceptance is almost solely based on the score I receive on the ACT. The ACT has been around for quite awhile, but it has recently become more and more important and is now what colleges primarily look at when reading applications.

  The fact is that if I do not score a certain score on the test, colleges will not even consider me. So you’re saying that if I am a A-B average student and I get a 19 on the ACT I cannot go to my dream college? That just seems completely unfair. For one, you have to pay to take the test; and then if your score is good enough for the college to accept you, you have to pay thousands of dollars to attend their school.

  Standardized tests really don’t prove anything. I could go into the ACT knowing barely anything and get a better score than someone who goes into it for the fifth time with a 3.5 just because I work faster and am a better test taker. A slow test taker or reader’s chances of doing well automatically go down due to the time limits put on the test. There is a variety of questions and subjects presented on the test. So students are expected to remember back to the class they took as freshman as well as classes they have not taken and content they have not learned.

  I understand the ACT and SAT are an important part of getting into college, but I disagree in the fact that it is one of the only things that should be looked at. Colleges should focus more on the students’ grades, participation, and attendance rather than a four hour multiple choice test.