Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
Board, Editorial. “Getting Rid of SAT and ACT Testing Is a Mistake.” The Washington Post,
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
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
Vaughn 2
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
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-
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
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
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
Vaughn 3
many years, but it also shows how the ACT and SAT help us and the correlations between higher
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.
information in the article that helps my main claim too. The article gave many reasons and
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
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.
Vaughn 4
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.”
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.
Vaughn 5
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,
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 Official ACT Prep Guide: the Only Official Prep Guide from the Makers of the ACT. John
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
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
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
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.
Vaughn 6
Thorbecke, Catherine. “Could SAT and ACT Scores Become a Thing of the Past?” ABC News,
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.
Vaughn 7
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
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