When he took the ACT and SAT during high school, Michael Tarjan, assistant principal for student activities, recalls that he was “scared out of his pants” because of the high stakes associated with them.
Not only are the tests required for most colleges, but companies are now using them when hiring job applicants after high school.
According to an article in the “Wall Street Journal,” companies like Amazon, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and consulting firms such as Bain & Co. and McKinsey & Co. require prospective employees to provide standardized test scores when applying for a position to demonstrate strengths in certain areas, such as mathematics, or to learn about applicants with little or no work experience.
“The test is one little snapshot of your whole life and I don’t feel as though the tests really…give a good indication of the way you’re able to be resourceful, critically think at something on some points, work with others [and] create an atmosphere for achievement,” said Tarjan. “I don’t know what workplace you have to sit down on your own to solve problems all the time.”
College Coordinator David Boyle said that while ACT and SAT scores are routinely the fourth or fifth factor for colleges when making acceptance decisions, the standardized tests were designed for college predictability only, not for career placement.
“[Both the ACT and SAT are] not …intelligence test[s],” said Boyle. “[They are] more of a content test, meaning here’s the content that the student has mastered well in high school, how has the student mastered that [content], and at what level?”
Boyle added that, in his experience, there is no correlation between test scores and job success.
“The College Board encourages institutions to utilize as many valid factors as possible when evaluating their applicants,” said Kate Levin, associate director of communications for the College Board. “The SAT and high school grades are both very predictive of college success and because they are slightly different measures, together they are extremely powerful.”
When contacted, D.E. Shaw Group, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group Inc., Cvent Inc. and Whitehouse Pimms did not respond, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc., McKinsey & Co. and Amazon declined an interview.
Sophomore Melanie Holpert, who has taken the ACT, said companies requiring scores would add stress to high school.
“I think that’s ridiculous, because let’s say you weren’t the smartest kid in high school, but then you do so well in college…why should it matter if you slacked off junior year?” Holpert said.
Daniel Gould, wealth management advisor for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, interviews college graduates when hiring for his company, which does not require applicants’ ACT or SAT scores, nor grade history.
“I judge them more on who they are and not what they’ve done,” said Gould. “I’m more interested in their personality and what we can get from them in the interview process.”
Tarjan, Boyle and Gould each said standardized tests should not dictate a prospective employee’s worth. Tarjan said he is open about scoring poorly on the ACT and SAT, saying he “ended up doing pretty well for himself” regardless of his low scores.
“I look at these big businesses, my dad worked at a large company for a long time, and he was big on grades and he was big on the test, and we have conversations now and he looks back and says, ‘What you’ve done is great, no matter what you scored and how you did in school. It’s what you become,’” Tarjan said.
When applying for a job, Gould advises applicants to focus on confidence and assertiveness in the interview process and do research about the company before interviews.
“I’ve never been asked, really in education, what my ACT score was, but I’m open about it because people can judge me whenever they want,” said Tarjan. “And it doesn’t bother me because I am where I am, I am who I am, not based off of an ACT score, but based off of my track record of what I have done.”