preparatory courses in attempt to ensure
success. As the date of the test draws
closer, students often feel extreme
anxiety and place excessive pressure on
themselves to excel on test day.

For tests like the MCAT and LSAT,
students’ scores often do not arrive for
three weeks or a month, which leaves
many fearfully awaiting their marks.

Why are we so obsessed with
standardized testing? Do they tell us
how smart we are, or how successful
we might be? Perhaps they are simply
one more step, like our undergraduate
education as a whole, in reaching our
goals.

Research and student experience
with the LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, and
GRE reveals interesting perspectives on
the purpose and validity of standardized
testing.

Graduate and professional
schools have students applying from a
multitude of undergraduate disciplines.
These diverse backgrounds make
comparing students’ GPAs difficult.

Standardized testing is a useful tool
in assessing an applicant’s capabilities.
These tests are “standard,” making it
easy to compare one student’s score
against another.

Wendy Edge, admissions officer
and co-ordinator of Michael G.
DeGroote School of Medicine’s
admission office, says this uniformity
is what draws many schools to require
standardized testing.

“The main reason we have gone
with the MCAT is because we are
allowing students to be admitted from
any program, any field, any school,
and there is a lot of argument that ‘My
program is harder than their program’
or “My school is harder than their
school.’ Since we don’t really have any
way of knowing if that is actually true,
there has to be some way to even that
out.”

In this sense, standardized testing
is meant to bring everyone to a level
playing field and give students a fair
chance at admission.

Evidence shows standardized
testing can somewhat predict a
student’s future success. For example,
strong scores in the MCAT’s biological
sciences, physical sciences, and verbal
reasoning sections all correlate with
high levels of achievement in medical
school.

However, not all sections have
the same degree of predictive value,
says Dr. Harold Reiter, chair of
medical admissions for the Michael G.
DeGroote School of Medicine.

“When you plot out the data from
all these studies, you find that there
tends to be a drift downwards [over
time] for the predictive strength of
the biological sciences and physical
sciences, whereas there tends to be a
strengthening of the verbal reasoning to
predict for endpoints over time.”

Studies have shown that verbal
reasoning scores have the strongest
correlation with which doctors provide
the best diagnosis, and have significant
value as a predictive factor with success
as a physician.

The Law School Admission
Council reports that multiple studies
have found the LSAT has greater
predictive value in law school
performance than a student’s university
GPA alone. Yet the best forecast of a
student’s success in law school comes
from judging both their LSAT score
and GPA.

Here, we begin to see the first hint
that a standardized test does not define
a student’s intelligence or capabilities
entirely.

Instead, an overall survey of
students’ accomplishments provides a
more comprehensive and useful picture
for admissions committees.

   

 
 
  

Similarly, a study published

in a journal titled Educational and
Psychological Measurement found
that GMAT scores were best used in
conjunction with students’ GPA.

For students who spend months
studying for their standardized tests,
it is easy to forget the test does not
completely reflect one’s intelligence.
Many test-takers place enormous value
on their scores.

Cary Ferguson, a fourth-year arts
and science student at McMaster who
recently wrote his LSAT, describes
his test day experience as particularly
stressful.

“It’s pretty much your future riding
on one test,” he said.

While this sentiment is not
necessarily true—many candidates
re-take standardized tests and most
schools look at more than one’s test
score—the environment surrounding
standardized testing certainly
contributes to this feeling.

Perhaps this attitude is indicative
of a larger issue with regards to post-
graduate applications.

As Reiter says with regard to
medical school: “The MCAT is just
a microcosm of an environment of
competitiveness.”

With more students seeking post-

graduate schooling than ever before,
more are aware of the high levels

of competition. Indeed, some of the
anxiety surrounding standardized tests
is knowing you are trying to score
higher than others.

“Tt was nerve-wracking knowing
that it wasn’t just the test I had to beat;
it was everyone else,” Vandecapelle
says of her MCAT.

As a way of gaining an edge on the
competition, students who can afford to
register for a preparatory course often
do so. An entire industry has risen out
of students’ need to “beat the test.”

Kaplan, one of the bigger
companies, states on its website that by
taking their courses you can “test with
confidence and get the score you need
to gain admission to the school you
want.”

Similarly, the Princeton Review
guarantees that by taking their course,
“your score will improve.”

Reiter remains skeptical.

“There is no good evidence that
spending time in preparatory courses
for standardized testing is likely to be a
benefit,” he said.

A stronger advantage in a
standardized testing situation is to
remain calm, as anxiety often slows
test-takers and makes them more
vulnerable to mistakes on test day.

Standardized testing might be
more indicative of how well a student
can cope with stress than measure their
intelligence.

When it is all over, many students
seem satisfied with their decision to
take the standardized test.

When reflecting on his LSAT,
Ferguson said: “I think it’s a good thing
to have done, but I wouldn’t want to do
it again.”

This attitude seems common
among test-takers. In today’s academic
world, standardized testing has
become an unavoidable reality. Taking
these tests provides students with the
opportunity to enter the fields of their
choice and help them determine their
interests.

With the right attitude and
approach, it seems the pressures and
stresses of standardized tests eventually
lead to results—for students and
admissions alike.

 

 

 

 

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