Have you ever felt stressed about something you do that may just decide your entire future? Have you ever wished that you could just go back and tell yourself what to do? Similarly, students wanting to attend college are required to take a standardized test known as the SAT, which is known to cause a lot of tension in students. Standardized tests are examinations that have to be done in a given time frame with multiple questions on different topics and are also used to see how well a school is doing. However, standardized tests are not the best way to measure how well a school is performing because these tests value students with parents of high income and can cause stress that may lead to mental problems.

To commence, standardized tests are not the best way to measure how well a school is performing because they value students with parents of high income. To illustrate, according to the article, “It’s Time to Abolish Standardized Testing,” “Some families can afford to retake [standardized] tests multiple times, but most families cannot” (Jagiah 2). As a result, high-income families can improve their scores by retaking standardized tests, whereas low-income families cannot, which, in turn, causes standardized tests to be an inadequate way to measure how well a school is performing. Likewise, the article includes that students from high-income families got on average 388 more points than low-income family students (Jagiah 2). This confirms that high-income families take advantage of their wealth to get better scores on standardized tests by retaking them, although low-income families cannot do the same. Schools permitting the retaking of standardized tests for money show that they value high-income families, which makes the scores of the standardized tests higher, which does not give an accurate way to measure how well a school is performing.

Moreover, standardized testing should not measure how well a school is performing because it causes stress to students. For example, the article “Standardized Tests only add to students’ stress” claims that there was on average 15% more cortisol, a hormone that is produced under increased stress, in students’ systems during their homeroom period before a standardized test than on an average day (Roe 2). This establishes that standardized tests cause students more stress than they normally face in school. Therefore, standardized tests should not measure how well students are performing because it causes students increased stress, which damages their health. Furthermore, students may also develop mental problems due to increased stress and pressure. To demonstrate, the same article states, “Standardized tests force students to perform under extreme pressure and can lead to a host of mental issues including low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety” (Roe 2). Thereby, extreme pressure such as the time limit and, as stated above, stress before the test would cause a student’s mental health to fall tremendously. This may lead to many mental illnesses and disorders from standardized tests, which are supposed to measure how well schools are performing and enhance learning. Overall, standardized tests provoke stress and may affect the mental health of students in a negative way.

In conclusion, standardized tests are not the best way to measure how well a school is doing. On the other hand, some may say that standardized tests are required to measure how well a school is doing, though evidence has shown that it values families of high income and it causes damage to students’ health. This proves that standardized tests cause more harm than good and, therefore, should be not used to measure how well a school is doing. Schools should completely terminate standardized tests or change the system of standardized tests to prevent damage to the mental health of students and to keep it fair for everyone.