How I Learned I Was Bad at Standardized Tests

I think that techno-science has definitely constructed me from an early age. When I was in middle and high school, they had a test of some sort for all of the kids to take. This test was meant to divide us kids by how smart we are essentially. They had a program for the smart kids called the Gifted Program.

Now I am not saying that I am smart, but I knew I should be placed in this special group. I have always gotten A’s on everything, I was very good at math and english. I even knew at this point in my life that I wanted to be an engineer. So I took this test like everyone else and was sure I would be smart enough to get in. Unfortunately, when all the ‘gifted’ students were being welcomed to the program, I was not one of them. This was how I learned I was not good at standardized tests. I could not believe that I wasn’t able to be in the program. I was devastated. The fact that a standardized test essentially told me I wasn’t smart enough to be in this program made me question if I was smart. However this test was constructed, whatever science and statistics of ‘smart’ people that was apart of this test, I did not meet the cut. I let it go after a while, realizing I just wasn’t good enough for them. I was still doing great in all my classes though. At one point along the school year, my math teacher pulled me aside and asked if I was in the Gifted program. I explained to him that I wasn’t but didn’t understand why. Apparently, he didn’t either. Long story short, he wrote to the program director and my other teachers who all agreed that I should be in this special program.  It somehow made me feel smarter that I was considered to be smart finally.

Years later, I again had trouble proving how smart I was from taking the ACT. I had to take that test so many times to get a decent score. I knew I wanted to be admitted to the College of Science and Engineering and that they wouldn’t take me with an ACT score below adequate. I had a very difficult time with this too. I knew what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be, but the tests were telling me no. Techno-science has definitely had a large impact on my life. It has made me question how smart I though I was and made it difficult to get to the places I want in life. I overcame them, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t easy. Standardized testing has a lot of science and data behind them, which is why we use them in society today. However, for those of us (me) who just don’t do well in standardized test but are pretty smart, it leaves us in a group we are uncomfortable with. The fact that standardized test over my whole life have told me I wasn’t smart but I will be graduating this spring with an engineering degree is proof that maybe the science and data behind those tests can be wrong sometimes. 

Here is a link that describs in detail the pros and cons of standardized testing. It's not an easy thing to decide if they are good or bad or both.

https://standardizedtests.procon.org/