Why Testing is Inefficient

You take a test. You get a score. Someone tells you (often a week later if your lucky) if you passed or failed. Simple. Sweet. Efficient.

Um... I think not. At least not the most efficient.

I've been a student now for almost 2 decades now. I can honestly say that I don't believe the system in place is the most efficient for learning.

Before I go into this I'd like to poin out that very successful people such as Bill Gates and Michael Dell never finished college. They pursued "alternative" learning experiences that allowed them to build incredible companies and support not only themselves but all the thousands of people who now work for them.

First of all let us discuss the reasons why this is a true statement. Students learn differently. Some students learn by reading a book and retaining the information. Other students learn from visual stimulus. Still other students learn through audio means. I'm sure there are others. And in general some students are better test takers than others.

I learn through audio/visual methods. Give me a book and I'll be studying a given subject for a day. Give me someone who knows the subject and I'll probably get it within an hour. Some people are good at multiple choice questions while other excel at essay type questions. Is one way superior to another? And what of the mulitple guess questions where you need to choose the "best answer" even though there are two very good ones out of say four to five possilble answers.

Second there's the issue of people who generally retain information better than others.

An example of this is a person who will go unnamed in college who could unnamed. This guy could read the book the night before the test and get a really good score. Other normal people like myself would have to study for hours. In general this is inneficient as neither of us really retained the information. If asked a year later neither of us could recall the details of what we learned.

Third there is the issue of mood. A person's mood affects their performance in any given situation. Test taking is no different. If said person had a fight with his or her significant other the night before and does poorly on a test then it could be argued the mood of said person affected his or her performance.

I've found that I do poorly on tests when I know the material and am distracted by some event in my life. I've heard and helped people through similar situations. I mean when I just had a fight with my roomate I'm less likely to focus on my test. Even if only on the sub-consious level. Or if I got into some kind of accident. Or if perhaps the bank made a mistake that was not in my favor... The list goes on.

Fourth there is the issue of lack of sleep. Certain people can calm themselves down before the night of a big test. Others cannot. Does this mean performance for either individual will be different if sleep time or quality of sleep were equal? Intersting thought.

I was in a class today where we discussed SAT scores. It reminded me that I took the SAT two times before entering my collegiate experience. The first time I took a SAT prep course. I memorized many words and their meanings every day. I read books. But most importantly in my opinion I got an great nights rest before the test. I went to bed at 9:30pm and got up around 7am refreshed. The second time I took the test I didn't take the SAT prep course. But more importantly I didn't get but about 6 hours of sleep the night before. My score was significantly lower the second time around. If the test were valid all this considered my score should have been similar.

This of course brings up issues of economic social status where those who can afford a SAT prep class have a better chance of recieving better scores than those who are not able to afford said courses. Discrimination? Hum... My HR (human resources) professor says that many schools are now looking at a variety of things other than the SAT and that perhaps in the not so distant future a change will be made in standardized testing.


So what is conclusion? Well I would like to look into alternative methods of teaching. Research shows that homeschoolers are generally better educated than those who attend a public school. Unfair? Maybe. However, the reason I believe homeschoolers are better educated is that the environment allows for the student to pursue his or her intersts in a matter that structured schooling does not. I realize the need for a well-rounded education. But the methodology perhaps needs to be a bit more flexible.