The Problems With Testing

As students, we are put through an education system that often feels as though it is based almost purely on the tests. This is no issue for some students, because some of them excel academically. That is clearly not the case for all of them, though. There are several kinds of students, there are some that do well in class and on homework as well as their tests. There are some students that do well in class but horribly on tests. And there are some students that just don’t do well in general. The fluctuations across the board are well known by teachers, students, and parents alike, but very rarely do we ever see too much done about it. So maybe there is a common link between students who do poorly on tests. Is it study habits? Could it be anxiety issues? Maybe there is a specific learning disorder that isn’t very well recognized. Maybe it’s a mix of all of the above.

 There are plenty of well known figures in history that were poor testers, but we view them as brilliant people. Martin Luther King himself scored in the bottom decile of both the math and verbal sections of the GRE, But we recognize him as a visionary and amazingly talented speaker. He is honored with being a revolutionary and a peacemaker and a martyr. He has not once been shamed for a lack of intelligence or poor test scores. 
There are professionals that have touched on the subject of poor test performance and given input on potential causes in both the students and the testing system itself.  Lloyd Bond, A John Hopkins graduate and american psychometric researcher, thinks that poor testing could be linked to four main points: test anxiety, lack of ‘test-wiseness’ lack of automaticity, and/or test bias. Monica Rouse, an educator with 20 years of experience, also thinks that anxiety could be to blame. But she also poses a slightly different situation.

In the instance that students are performing well academically but poorly on tests, there could likely be the prescience of ‘gifted’ students. Gifted students may face a whole new spectrum of testing challenges. Challenges including perfectionism, which may lead students to doubt themselves and thusly brutalize their tests and test results. Quite the opposite of perfectionism is overconfidence, in which gifted students are not used to having to put forth effort to succeed, so they rush and tend to make foolish mistakes and do poorly. Or, if a student is not used to putting forth effort to succeed, being presented with a challenge such as a test could be so nerve-wracking that they give up before even trying to understand. An overconfident student may not even be open to admitting that they have flaws and could very likely dismiss their test results as a false evaluation, which in some cases may be true. Another big issue for students that find their curriculum too easy is a severe lack of motivation. If the student fails to see any connection or relevance to their lessons, then they will begin to view them as pointless and simply decide not to even try. Once they stop putting in the effort to understand, they'll go from learning with ease to not learning at all.

Pressure is a significant variable for both students who are academically successful and those who aren’t. There is a lot of pressure in school for all students to succeed. There is competition between classmates. Even when there isn’t competition being encouraged, only those with the best grades will move up to higher classes and get into the better colleges. College is typically a big deal for parents, especially parents of academically inclined students, so the pressure will continue in the home. All of this pressure to succeed and be the best amounts to paralyzing amounts of stress and anxiety. Students will panic once a test is handed to them because they fear what will happen if they don’t do well. They fear consequences.

The vast spectrum of variables that cause poor testing seems to make one root cause almost untraceable, but what’s shocking is that students who really should be performing well are not. Some students just pick up on material relatively quickly. They are good at grasping concepts and have no problem remembering them. Then they get the test, and forget it, they blank. Students who do all of their homework and ask questions in class and even come to their teachers for extra help are still doing poorly. They are putting in the most effort that they possibly could and their grades still don't reflect their work. Proof that sometimes even good study habits aren’t even enough.

Improvement on study habits could be beneficial to some students, however. Because some students really don't try. But one big flaw in our education system is that we tend to lead some students to believe that studying is a punishment. If a student is sent for a detention or has to stay after as a punishment, they are often told to be quiet and read, or study, or just be productive somehow. Then we sit and wonder why students dread studying so much and refuse to do it. We use it as a punishment. Students associate healthy habits with being punished. So the same students that are being seen as bad kids and are their failing classes are avoiding their work at all costs, not as a form of rebellion, but because they see ‘school’ and connect it to being chastised.

On the contrary, it could be that some students are just trying too hard. Those surveyed reported that sometimes, the subjects that they studied hardest in were the classes that they were bringing home the worst test scores from. Students are bombing tests and they have no clue as to why, because they put on the time and effort, understood the material, and were as prepared as they could be. Meanwhile, students that don’t study at all are having no issue bringing home respectable test scores.

As for the students that do test well, they seem to be a whole other breed. These students don’t panic. They don’t go over their tests over and over, reanalyzing each answer. They are confident. They do their work and take their score as it is. They do not feel excessive pressure, stress, or anxiety. They seem almost careless, yet they are passing their tests with flying colors. Even students that lack decent amounts of diligence (i.e. not doing homework or not participating in class) are having no trouble acing tests. This could be because of the lack of anxieties that other students experience, or perhaps it’s because the students that test well are learning in a completely different way than those who aren’t. Students who usually test well said that they have bombed tests on some occasions. Some said that they have no idea what happened. Others reveal that the test was not one that they had expected, therefore they weren’t mentally prepared to take it. Usually when skilled testers do well, they are anticipating the test, focused on the subject, and at ease.

This may be a key to the common link between students who do and don’t test well. If students who do test well are taking on a certain “test-mode” of mindset in order to do well, and students who don’t do well are experiencing anxiety or just blanking, then maybe that’s what they’re missing. Students who don’t do well on tests are just not in the right mindset to do so. How do we get them into the right mindset? Well I think that would take some much more in-depth research that might take some prior knowledge in neuroscience, but this could be a step in the right direction. The trick to getting in the right mindset would probably have to be unique for each obstacle as well.

Students who suffer from test anxiety may only need to learn how to mellow out and put the blinders up. They need to learn to zone in on the test and the material. Maybe a quick once-over of some notes and recalling some key facts would be beneficial, just to get them thinking about the test in a way that still has no pressure. If they study in an atmosphere that isn’t stressful or strenuous, they might not associate so much anxiety with the test itself. Studying that doesn’t involve drilling might be worth looking into. Students who feel excessively pressured to do well just need to focus on the task at hand and not the circumstances around it. Don’t think about college or your parents or whether or not you’re going to pass or fail, just think about what you know, and it should be reflected in your grades. As for everyone else, there are still elements that need to be explored, but knowing what very well could be the secret behind testing well could be a huge jump for some people.