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Hailey Vaughn

Professor Hunter

English 1201

29 January 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My essay is going to attempt to answer how the ACT and SAT are not effective. I want to

know how the ACT and SAT show how much we have learned in one timed test. The ACT is

almost three hours and the SAT is three hours long. How are twelve years of education shown in

just three hours?

Board, Editorial. “Getting Rid of SAT and ACT Testing Is a Mistake.” The Washington Post,

WP Company, 31 July 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-importance-of-

standardized-tests/2015/07/31/5eba856e-36e9-11e5-9d0f-

7865a67390ee_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.53892f8acf66.

The editorial board at The Washington Post wrote that even though college admission

tests do not truly reflect a students true knowledge, they still should not be disregarded and they

should continue to be used. A recent study that has been done shows the correlation between

standardized test scores and student success after college. The article tells about the flaws of the

ACT and the SAT. For example, how the ACT and SAT are not as easy to access for all students.

In fact, students that live in a lower income or in a minority household tend to receiving a lower

score on standardized testing than privileged white students do. Instead of getting rid of the tests

though, the schools should work to improve the testing system.

This is an informative article and it is targeting colleges, teachers, and students. This

article explains what the effects of having no standardized tests and also it explains many reasons

on how the ACT and SAT are flawed. This article is urging colleges to rethink their decision on
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excluding standardized test scores from their decisions in students. This article is also trying to

get teachers to help their students with preparing for the tests and making sure they have all the

materials they need in order to be successful.

The author of this article is actually many people. It involves many of the members of the

editorial board at The Washington Post. I know this article is credible because there is a

published date, there are no grammar or spelling mistakes, the article is on a credible and well-

known website, and the article is organized professionally.

I plan to use this article for my counterarguments. This article also gives a good study I

can use to help in my side of the argument. The article gave many reasons why the standardized

tests should not be taken away and that will be helpful for making my counterargument stronger.

Kuncel, Nathan, and Paul Sackett. “The Truth About the SAT and ACT.” The Wall Street

Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 8 Mar. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-the-

sat-and-act-1520521861.

Nathan Kuncel and Paul Sackett wrote that standardized tests give an incorrect measure

on how students are to perform after high school, but higher scores may actually help students

outside of high school. The research done by Kuncel and Sackett show that the students who

perform better on the tests usually take on harder majors than those who do not. Some students

who received a higher score on the ACT or SAT actually received a higher income than those

who did not do as good on the tests. The standardized tests are a measure of skills a certain

student has gained over many years.

This is an informative and academic article and it is targeting students and parents. The

article gives myths that people think are true and it shows them how the myth is not correct. It

shows how the ACT and SAT can be a bad way to demonstrate what kids have learned over
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many years, but it also shows how the ACT and SAT help us and the correlations between higher

scores and success in life after high school.

The authors of this article are Nathan Kuncel and Paul Sackett. I know this article is

credible because the authors are both professors at the university of Minnesota. The article is also

published on The Wall Street Journal website which is a very trustful and know website. The

article has a publishing date, resources, and is organized with no spelling or grammar mistakes.

I plan to use this article to strengthen my counterarguments mainly. There is some

information in the article that helps my main claim too. The article gave many reasons and

studies on how standardized tests help us after high school.

NewsHour, PBS. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Feb. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDaU4KE7lGo.

Judy Woodruff, a reporter for PBS Newshour, is joined by William Hiss, a former dean at

a college, to gather information on why colleges are dropping the requirements of the ACT and

SAT. A study done shows that the score someone receives on a standardized test does not predict

that person's success in the future. William Hiss conducted the study to try and find if there was

any correlation between a students score on a standardized test and how that student performed

in college. Hiss also found that if a student receives good grades in high school, then they are

most likely to succeed in college also.

This is a part of a news broadcast and it is used to inform colleges. Throughout the video,

Hiss talks about how colleges need to realize that they are not getting the best group of kids that

they can. He said his reason for the study was to inform the colleges that they should consider

not using the standardized tests for applicants and instead look at GPA.
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The interviewer is Judy Woodruff and the person being interviewed is William Hiss.

William Hiss is a former dean of admissions at Bates college. I know this video is trustworthy

because I looked up and read a little about William Hiss and the study he conducted. Hiss is very

knowledgeable and he was also the lead author of a book that he wrote about his findings in the

study he did.

I plan to use this video to back up my claim because the study shows many reasons why

the ACT and SAT are not correct in predicting how students will perform in college. This study

helps answer my question on how the ACT and SAT are not effective.

Sheffer, Sarah. “Do ACT and SAT Scores Really Matter? New Study Says They Shouldn't.”

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 Feb. 2014,

www.pbs.org/newshour/education/nail-biting-standardized-testing-may-miss-

mark-college-stude nts.

Sarah Sheffer states that colleges should look at GPA instead of ACT and SAT scores. In

her article she references William Hiss’s study and explains why colleges should not use

standardized tests to determine a students future. In fact, students with good grades in high

school and decent testing grades did better in college than students with very good testing grades,

but lower grade averages. Students who chose not to submit their scores tend to be minorities,

women, disabled, or first-generation college students. Without submitting their tests, these

students have limited colleges to choose from and may have a difficult time even getting in.

This article is an informative article directed towards colleges and teachers. In the article

she refers to William Hiss who did a study on the effectiveness of the ACT and SAT. His study

was aimed towards colleges trying to get them to consider taking standardized tests out of their

acceptance policies.
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The author of the article is Sarah Sheffer and she is a reporter and writer for PBS. I know

this article is credible because it is published on PBS, there is a publishing date and an author,

and there are no pop-up adds on the website.

I am going to use this article to help me with my argument on why we do not need the

ACT and SAT, and on how they are not effective. This article also backs up information from

the video of William Hiss’s interview.

The Official ACT Prep Guide: the Only Official Prep Guide from the Makers of the ACT. John

Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018.

This book talks about the advantages and ways to learn to succeed on the ACT. The ACT

measures achievements students have made throughout the years of schooling. The ACT is very

important for your college and career success. It is not an IQ test, but an achievement test. The

questions measure your knowledge and skill. The ACT is an effective test to evaluate a students

career and college readiness.

This book is a guide for taking the ACT and is aimed towards students. Throughout the

book it gives helpful information and guides for taking the ACT. It also talks about how the use

of the book will help you score higher on the ACT.

Although I do not know who exactly the author is, I know that it is a credible source

because this book is designed to help students succeed on the ACT and it is also checked to make

sure all facts are correct before it was published.

I am going to use this source to help with my counterclaim and give ways in which the

ACT is hard to reach for some students. This book was an expensive book when bought off the

ACT website. I have used this book and I did notice a one point difference on my second ACT.
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Thorbecke, Catherine. “Could SAT and ACT Scores Become a Thing of the Past?” ABC News,

21 June 2018, abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/GMA/News/sat-act-scores-thing-

past/story?id=56046920.

Catherine Thorbecke, a reporter and writer for ABC News, states that colleges are

starting to drop the ACT and SAT from their requirements. The University of Chicago was one

of the first to drop the requirements and other schools are following. The vice president of the

University of Chicago says that they made the standardized tests optional because they wanted to

give low income students a chance and any others who did decent in high school, but never could

prove it on the tests. The applicants that the school is getting now are more diverse than ever

before.

This article is an educational article and it is directed toward students and mainly

colleges. The article tells of the benefits that certain colleges have gained when they dropped the

requirement of the ACT and SAT. The article also says that more and more colleges are

dropping the requirements and they are in hope that even more colleges will follow.

The author of this article is Catherine Thorbecke and she is a reporter and writer for ABC

News. I know the article is credible because there is a publishing date, author name, on a credible

and widely-known website, and there are barely any adds on the website.

I am going to use this article to help me with my claim because it gives different

information on how colleges and students are benefiting from getting rid of the requirement of

the ACT and SAT. This article gives new studies on how the standardized tests do not predict a

students future.
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Walsh, Mark. Education Week - Rules for Engagement, 15 May 2018,

blogs.edweek.org/edweek/education_and_the_media/2018/04/documentary_on_college_

admissions_tests_scores_pretty_high_on_some_questions.html.

Mark Walsh says that the ACT and SAT should not be used and it is not fair to many

students. Walsh uses a video as reference throughout the whole article. The video talks about the

struggle students and parents go through while preparing and taking the ACT and SAT. Parents

pay boat loads of money just to help their kid try and do better on the tests. Most times this does

not even work for the students and the parents end up wasting their money.

This article is actually a movie review. The article goes into detail about certain instances

throughout the movie that Walsh thought was important. Walsh quotes important things said in

the movie that show the stresses of the ACT and SAT.

The author of the article is Mark Walsh and he is a writer for Education Week. He writes

about school- related issues and he has been writing about these issues for over twenty years. I

know this article is credible because there is an author, date it was published, and the article is

found on a credible website.

I am going to use this website to get some more information about the ACT and SAT.

Another thing is this article talks about the struggles that students and parents go through while

preparing for the standardized tests.

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