Juniors and seniors in high school are often asked what they plan to do for their college education. While discussing their future in college, many relevant topics enter the conversation. You can talk about grades and classes, paying for school and test scores. All of these have a very important impact on what a student will do in the next few years of his life. Unfortunately, in our society, test scores are an extremely important factor in the college admissions process. Students are strongly encouraged to work hard to achieve the best possible score. “To date, most four-year colleges require applicants to take one or more standardized tests for admission, and the results play an important role in the relative strength or weakness of the college application. It is a necessary evil, which must be defeated if you want to get into the college of your choice” (Cohen, 115). The emphasis placed on this variable results in an unfair and inappropriate acceptance standard. Examining the frightening circumstances surrounding standardized tests, particularly the SAT and ACT, it is evident that these assessments are inaccurate, maladaptive, and stressful due to their unreliability and lack of validity. For any test to be successful, it must first understand validity and reliability. A valid test is defined as actually measuring what the test says it measures. For example, an IQ test will actually measure a person's intelligence. On the other hand, reliability is the ability of the test to repeatedly produce the same score for an individual. Again, IQ tests produce approximately the same score for someone's entire life. Standardiz...... middle of document ......college admissions association, counseling. “Report of the Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admissions.” National Association for College Admissions Counseling (2008): ERIC. Network. 07 April 2015.Reeves, Douglas B.. Cutting Edge: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching and Learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree, 2007. Print.Sawyer, Richard and Inc. ACT. "Usefulness of high school GPA and ACT scores in making college admissions decisions. ACT Research Report Series 2010-2." ACT, Inc (2010): ERIC. Network. April 07, 2015.Walberg, Herbert J. "Stop the War on Standardized Testing | Hoover Institution." Stop the war on standardized testing. Hoover Institution, May 20, 2011. Web. April 7, 2015. Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design, Second Expanded Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: ASCD, 2005. Print.