MCAT regurge continued

Tests are a large part of any education. Even young children arriving in kindergarten are greeted with standardized tests, designed to roughly estimate the capabilities of the child in a range of distinct areas of study. Designated as the 3 R's, writing, reading, and arithmetic, are all tested to determine the intelligence of the child in comparison with its peers throughout the nation. Testing in this way is often seen as the most accurate predictor of intelligence because such tests have been "standardized." This means that given to a large body of students, it should roughly reflect the intelligence of everyone because it has been designed specifically to test such things. Regardless of specific arguments, that testing is the most accurate predictor of intelligence is a fact supported by the widespread use of the SAT and ACT standardized tests. The SAT and ACT are widely utilized and trusted as a good proxy for the college-bound high-school student's intelligence. Scores on the SAT and ACT are used to supplement transcripts and other information about the student in order to make judgments on how prepared the student is for entering college.

However, when we look at specific test-taking individuals, we can see that testing should not always be considered an "accurate" predictor of intelligence. Sometimes test questions are biased and result in differential scores received by two individuals of similar intelligence. This bias can come from the nature of the test writers. For example, for a long time, SAT questions were written by men and higher scores received on the SAT were disproportionately received by men. Because there may be slight differences in the way men and women read and think about questions, intelligence in the way that we think of it, as the capability to comprehend and problem solve, could not be properly judged by standardized tests because they catered to the male mind. A similar disadvantage applies to test takers who do not belong to the same culture as test writers. Questions in the math section of the SAT that concern monetary amounts, for example, are incredibly vexing to students who do not know, like most Americans know, that a nickel is equivalent to five cents. Test writers often times take these assumptions as universal, and neglect to make the test as unbiased as possible so that students from all over the world can do equally well. Standardized tests cannot be fact filled, because knowing facts does not equate to intelligence as defined as the ability to comprehend and problem solve.

Testing is most accurate in pinpointing a person's intelligence when questions are written as unbiasedly as possible. In addition, a perfect test would also have many questions, so that in the case of bias presenting itself on the test, missing one biased question would not result in a highly skewed reduction of the test taker's final score. Testing can be accurate when questions are written fairly for the entirety of test takers.