There should be hardly any people who disagree that Albert Einstein is one of the smartest people ever in human history. He had numerous achievements including winning the Nobel Prize with special and general theories of relativity and his intelligence quotient is estimated around 160. Albert Einstein referred that “Once you stop learning, you start dying”. The quotation reveals the fact that the smartest person emphasizes the importance of learning even metaphorizing with life.
These days, students genuinely and literally reveal the fact that they are spending their lives studying for college entrance. The first ranked college in research for Best Global Universities in 2024, Harvard University, shows 3.2 percent of acceptance rate. In order to prove the advantage compared to others, students not only care for their grade per year, but also learn extracurricular and others. In this case, getting an exceptional grade for a competitive examination including scholastic aptitude test seems essential and indispensable.
In fact, the importance of learning and competitive examinations has been emphasized and proven its influence in human history. For instance, the slaves and commoners in dynasties in China could change their class by getting good scores from tests for choosing governors. Some people might argue that the competitive examinations inevitably creates stress from the burden for academic success, leading to the rejection of learning and studying.
However, the pessimistic reputation of competitive examinations is based on the difference of acceptance of information per person and misconception. The competitive examinations are necessary since it is the proof for effort and skills of students, encourages students as a goal, and becomes a sensible and equitable standard for colleges to compare students.
The necessity of competitive examination is demonstrated as an unbiased trustworthy opportunity without depending on the background of students such as the wealthy. The scholastic assessment test, one of the most well-known competitive examinations, is primarily used for various universities to evaluate students’ competence.
The students and their parents entirely acknowledge the momentousness of competitive examinations. According to the research, 56 percent of students agree that the competitive examinations could positively affect their college entrance. The purpose of the scholastic assessment test is to allow students to demonstrate what they learned in high school and how they could use knowledge to apply in various parts. The test contains primarily reading, writing, science, and math, which students are taught during high school years.
Due to the fact that the test is based on identifying the comprehension of what students learned in high school, the test is more than enough to be evaluated as an unbiased and reasonable assessment. It is undeniable that students borned in rich families can have more experiences and preparation for the test, allowing them to get better grades and scores in tests. However, the competitive examinations are based on information that has already been taught.
Therefore, it is relatively less affected by the wealth of families. Prior learning, tutoring, and several times of previewing tests, that rich students provided, are not necessary for solving annually changing new problems in certainly designated range already taught. In other words, the competitive examination is an equally given opportunity to show the proficiency and competence to colleges by proving the times and effort.
The improvement of concentration and willingness of students to learn as becoming a goal supports the essentiality of competitive examinations. Countless people set plentiful goals for various reasons such as refreshment for the new year or minor objectives of work to finish per day. The purpose for most of setting goals is primarily to increase motivation. Setting goals is an efficient method to maintain and encourage motivation until completing the intention verily.
It is an obvious fact that a lot of students are setting getting good grades from competitive examinations as the goal. A part of people assert that the competitive examinations cause the burden of academic success to the students, leading to a devastated mind and depression. However, the begetter of mental depression is not competitive examinations, but the excessive interference and burden of parents.
A mental health service located in New Haven, Connecticut, Turnbridge provides information determining that the constant pressure of parents for success induces anxiety and stress-related problems for young people who are students. Success at this moment means entering a good college with academically superior differences, which requires reduced personal free time for increasing schooling for a large amount of learning.
Since the large amount of forced learning is from the desire of parents, the strain and depression is a responsibility of parents. In fact, setting goals decreases the anxiety and depression the young people experience according to the National Institutes of Health(NIH). Moreover, setting goals increases the work efficiency and performance by as high as twenty five percent.
The significance of competitive examination is established as a great standard and evaluation factor for colleges, revealing not only the predominance between students who are satisfied with the requirements but also the responsibility of students. There is no guarantee that the students entered in the college actually finish the course and graduate or even satisfy the expectation.
According to the Education Data Initiative in 2021, the college dropout rates rose for about 40 percent. In other words, around one third of the students give up graduation and leave college before commencement. Due to the high college dropout rates, it is reasonable for universities to test students in order to ensure that those students have the will to graduate. The reason for students eager to get into college is in order to build an exemplary career, which will positively affect them when they try to get a job.
The colleges that educate famous scholars or people such as the CEO of a company and president are admitted when getting rectal. However, the fact that having famous scholars or people for graduates is also important to colleges as one of representative methods to make a solid superior reputation. The achievements and awards from the graduates are attractive factors for standout professors and educators as it provides an opportunity to teach the possible talented students.
Therefore, the universities prefer students that could enhance their reputation. Unfortunately, due to the fact that most of the goals are getting in college, students often lose the meaning to learn after they get in college. It is common that some of them become slack and are addicted to electronic devices, drinks, or smoking that they keep away to prevent getting disturbed. According to the National Institutes of Health(NIH), colleges especially with dormitory facilities reveal a high relationship between the rate of students drinking.
The fact that the college students are treated as adults therefore there are less sanctions from guardians might support the increased alcohol use rate of students. It is hard to quip those addiction once students experience them. In this situation, the examination test seems to show the responsibility and tenacity of students. Since it requires concentration and participation for high school classes and time management to study, it seems reasonable that the grade of competitive examination represents students’ self-control and responsibility.
In conclusion, the essentiality of competitive examinations are substantiated since they are an unbiased trustworthy opportunity, great evaluation factor for colleges to show students’ responsibility, and goal conducting to improve concentration and willingness. Even though other standards such as grades per year can replace the role of evaluation for college and competitive examination seems to create mental burden to students, it is not refutable that the competitive examination is a great standard and encouragement.
The fact that various universities use competitive examination as one of evaluation factors proves that those colleges accept the usefulness of competitive examination. Therefore, the competitive examinations are necessary and help in shaping the careers of students as an opportunity to show their efforts.
By: Ryan Kim
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