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Standardized stress: students test to determine future

By Gaveliers, The Gavel Media Team, on December 7, 2009 2:09 PM

By Laurel Manlow, Copy Editor -

Whether it is memorization of vocabulary, honing of math skills or perfection of logic games that is taking up seniors’ time this semester, standardized tests are a lot to handle. Some students are taking the LSAT, GRE and GMAT with the worst-case scenario in mind — that they do not find a job by the year’s end. For others, their test of choice is imperative in the decision-making process of their graduate schools.

Juggling a GRE class or studying on one’s own with the normal academic workload is a demanding task. Kaelan Sullivan, A&S ’10 and sociology major, took the LSAT in October.

“Studying for a standardized test is like taking an extra course or two, so it is especially overwhelming to study for them during the school year,” Sullivan says.

She purposefully picked a test date that would allow her to study in the summer, even though she is not applying to law schools this year.

Psychology major Jessica Hough, A&S ’10, says that the added stress is difficult to cope with.

“I thought those standardized test days were behind me,” Hough says.

Many students thought the SAT would be the last general test they would have to take. However, the GRE is strikingly similar to the SAT with its broad spectrum of verbal, quantitative and essay sections.

The GRE is a useful way to make up for a substandard class grade. Many students seem to think that their test score can eliminate them immediately from the yes pile. Robert Howe, Associate Dean for Admissions and Administration of Boston College’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, says that the GRE is generally not used in this way but “more as a tie-breaker.”

A class is made up of multiple assignments, and students have as much time as they need to write personal statements. But most students only have one chance to prove themselves on a standardized test. The GRE, for example, costs $150 each time. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) claims that anyone can take the test once per calendar month; however, it is impractical to assume a person can take this test as many times as necessary to achieve a desired score.

Other exams can only be taken on certain infrequent test dates. Ryan Sachs, A&S ’10, who is to take the LSAT this week, says that he changed his schedule in order to be able to take the test, but that it is of the utmost importance in application considerations.

“[I think that the LSAT score is] more important than your GPA,” Sachs says. “If you are above the middle 50th percentile but your LSAT is below, I think they’ll throw your application out the window.”

So the pressure seniors experience is not surprising. BC students going into law seem to agree that the LSAT score can be a major deciding factor. It is not uncommon to hear that someone decided not to apply to a certain school based on his or her score.

Sullivan does not believe that the LSAT score correlates to future performance.

“Logic games, a rather unpopular portion of the test, seemed to test logic, but in absurd ways,” Sullivan says. “I think I could be successful in law school without having excellent logic games skills.”

It is unlikely that a state prosecutor or corporate attorney will be plauged with questions on a daily basis and given approximately one minute to respond.

“I can already assume that the GRE will be an inadequate measure of my psychology intelligence,” Hough says of the GRE test this December.

English students are minimizing their creative writing styles into neat five paragraph essays that would have been more acceptable in the ninth grade. Sociology majors must temporarily forget about everything they have learned in their sociology of education classes teaching about how standardized tests perpetuate inequality in America.

In the end, standardized tests are still an American rite of passage students must master before pursuing the discipline of their choice. It is difficult for a university to be first to eliminate the test, as it has become an inherent competition. But as Graduate Dean Howe puts it, “If all the universities got together and decided to not accept it, I would be just as happy.”