COMMENTARY .
Graduate standardized tests receive low marks
(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES —
Remember the days in high
school after you decided
where you wanted to go to
college? You were free from stu
pid standardized tests like the
SAT and you thought that you
would never again have to face
the laborious process of college
applications.
But many of you were wrong. A
few years later, you will have to go
through the same impersonal
process for graduate school. This
time the standardized tests go by
different names — LSAT, MCAT
and GRE — but their inability to ac
curately measure you as a student
remains the same.
Although the SAT has been scru
tinized recently, the graduate
school exams have had an aura of
sanctity around them. Nobody
wants to criticize the LSAT, MCAT,
and the GRE — until now. These
exams can be summed up using my
own acronym: RCRAR
I'm not opposed to all standard
ized testing. But the tests do not
measure what they are supposed to
measure; they are given too much
weight by graduate schools, and
the test-taking and application
processes can be amended in a way
that will benefit the students and
graduate schools.
The graduate school exams are
not taken under uniform circum
stances. Some students study
500 hours and spend $1,000
studying for the exams, but many
other students cannot afford to
do that.
According to some test-prep lit
erature, the MCAT is supposed to
measure, “the high-order thinking
skills necessary for success in med
ical school, including analytical
reasoning, abstract thinking and
Guest Commentary
David
Burke
problem-solving. ”
How can the MCAT measure any
of those factors if the only piece of
information that medical schools
receive is a person's score? What
does a 35 mean? That’s a good
score, but what if the student who
earned a 35 spent his entire sum
mer studying for the exam and an
other student who did not study at
all got a 32?
An MCAT score is completely
inadequate for measuring “ab
stract thinking” abilities. Instead,
it actually measures ability to
study and memorize pre-ordered
methods of thinking.
There is a large body of evidence
that indicates student scores on the
MCAT or the LSAT can improve
with studying. On the LSAT, I
know someone whose score fluctu
ated within a 23-point range! That's
the difference between Harvard
and Huckleberry State.
Inherent abilities are overshad
owed by the amount of time put
into exam preparation. Although
study skills are important, these
tests overemphasize that factor,
focusing on a student's ability
and willingness to study for
them. One of the primary criteria
for admission should not be a
score on a piece of paper that is
not indicative of the student's
ability for preparation.
Luckily, there are many ways to
improve the exams and the appli
cation process. The exams should
all use uniform standards for
preparation. New exams could be
continuously created but not re
leased to test-prep groups or to the
public so students cannot study
for them. Or, if the graduate
schools would like students to
study first, they can create test
prep courses that everyone must
complete before taking the exam.
This would level the playing field.
The admissions process should
shift away from standardized tests in
order to give admissions officers a bet
ter picture of the actual person that
they are considering for admittance.
Most law schools do not require
interviews, but they should. The
best way to know a student is to ac
tually meet them.
Graduate schools should focus
more on discovering what their ap
plicants’ lives are like with more
personal essay questions. Do
schools want a 4.0 student who
soils himself when thrust into a so
cial situation but is the world's best
Counterstrike player, or a 3.6 stu
dent who writes for his college
newspaper, plays intramural sports
and actively participates in a few
campus organizations?
A change in the graduate school
exams and a shift toward actually
understanding the daily lives of
students will ensure that more de
serving students get into the
schools to which they apply. I
know that it is not easy or cheap to
change test and admissions
processes, but it is the right thing to
do, and everyone will benefit.
This column is courtesy of David Burke
of the Daily Bruin, the newspaper
of the University of California in Los Angeles,
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Bruin or the Emerald.
Nate Beeler Knight-Ridder Tribune
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