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While I'm not a fan of standardized test, I do think they have their place. Grading scales and the difficulty level of schools vary wildly in the US. In high school, I had a friend with a 23 on her ACT but because my school district wouldn't weight honors classes, and she didn't take any, she had a 3.93 or something. The valedictorian with a 4.0 had a 32, and she took 4 years of all gifted, honors and AP classes. A small difference in GPA (the girl with the 3.93 had 2 Bs for all her classes, the other girl had none) was equalized by a nearly 10 point difference on the ACT.
Standardized tests are meant to serve as an equalizer for the different educational systems, and methods of weighting grades. They are not an absolute measure of Just like in my previous example, 2 grades made the difference between the girls in class rank. However, their tests showed much differently. Yes, I know that some people don't test well, but I know both of these girls well an personally - the Valedictorian is super-amazing-smart AND works hard and the other girl, while not "dumb" is hardworking, but is not very intuitive or a critical thinker. The test is an innate ability to think critically and work under pressure. The GPA should be a measure of how much work the person is doing. Both are important.
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