Everything I'm seeing lately makes me feel like I should move to Finland

I’m a student. I hate the current school system. Yeah, I get good grades, but I have no idea what to do with my life, and I have few practical skills. Also, I’m tired and stressed 24/7. I’ve heard people refer to childhood as one of the most free/happy times of your life. If that’s true, I don’t want to be an adult, because this is hell already.

Here's a question: why haven't we implemented a system like Finland?

Standardized tests in my school district, having as many as you said, have so much pressure put on them and our teachers are like, “STUDY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, BUT GET SLEEP.” And they forget the ‘sleep’ part, so everyone ends up tired and dead as a donut. I barely get enough sleep before a test, and they just suck so much.

I adore this video because she provides factual, unbiased information and allows you, the viewer, to come to your own conclusion.

Generally speaking, the whole testing model is flawed. Students are told to buy a list of facts at the beginning of the school year. Then, throughout the year, they will be required to fill forms, called tests, quizzes, and so on, by memory, in a timed challenge, with those facts. No matter how much the teachers say they value critical thinking, there is none to be had with the way we test, and overall teach, our kids.

When I took my SAT I was 😨 I can’t even read a prompt without hesitation of thinking about the time. I can’t I can’t I can’t!!

Hello, I am a Korean student. I'm not the type that studies 16 hours a day and barely have any sleep, but there are crazy monsters in our country. Such a scary reality.

The ACT has made me unbelievably stressed and anxious to the point where I need therapy. Seriously we need to rethink standardized tests

I lived in Canada until partway through 11th grade, when I moved to New Jersey. In Ontario, at that time at least; there were only four standardized tests that students had to take. You had your third grade EQAO, your sixth grade EQAO, a ninth grade EQAO specifically for math only, and a 10th grade literacy test. After having completed all of this in Ontario, I then was hit with the HSPA in Jersey. The HSPA was essentially the same thing as the ninth and 10th grade tests, but combined into one, three day engagement. The way that we were being told about the HSPA lead most of us to be deathly afraid of the test, And we expected it to be near impossible to pass. Upon having actually taken it, I realized that it was exactly the same as the two I took in high school back home, and wasn’t near as much of a big deal as it seemed. Generally speaking, I find standardized tests to be stupid and entirely pointless. I think a better idea would be to give the teachers some sort of evaluation every so often. After all, the literacy test, math test, and HSPA were all basically evaluations of how you have been taught by teachers past. I think that Montessori schools really have a much better idea by avoiding them entirely. By the way, you guys have a new subscriber

I'm south Korean, and yes, I expected you will be talking about South Korea as soon as I just read the title. Although being south Korean, it feels quite normal to take that amount of tests. But yeah, I think students in this country spend way to much time studying.

Well,,,, duh. If you ask any student, we just learn the info for the test and then we forget it. There’s no use for them. Not to mention they cause so much stress along with anxiety.

Another model besides those three, huh? Well, how about this one - GERMANY! Basically, screw this obsession with university - learn to give trade schools their due. Also, incorporate apprenticeship into your education system in an integrated manner. Seems to have worked wonders for them. And Germany's population is more comparable to the US than Finland or S. Korea.

Standardized tests are one of the reasons why public education sucks. Their questions are too constricted and often end up being written in a way that makes them easy to misread if you're stressed-out. Essays help students flesh out ideas far better.

Too many standardised tests don't help and I'd say do more harm. Especially if you're in a city,town or whatever that doesn't have a lot of funding. It also doesn't really show if a student understands the material as hundreds of thousand if not millions of students have some sort of anxiety or disability.

I was a teacher assistant for a while. I helped some Kindergartners take a standardized test once--- some of these kids literally didn't even know how to write their names yet, but needed to be able to take a test. In the middle of one test a child started bawling and screaming "I'M STUPID i"M STUPID- I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER SO I'M STUPID!" --- and then they started hitting themselves-- threw up--- and other kids started crying. I saw the elementary school have extracurricular classes cut to spend more time on test prep--- they started paying the music and art teacher to do test tutoring for months rather than their normal classes. PE AND Recess were almost completely obliterated till the parents complained. They'd go months without history classes as well. --- They even quizzed kids in the cafeteria at lunch. Even classes that are considered part of the main curriculum- like reading for instance- were changed to match test preparation. So for 5th graders for instance--- all they did all year was read short 1-5 page stories- all year long--- reading chapter books on their own time or having the teacher have reading time with longer classic books was discouraged since that type of reading wasn't going to be on the test. And for classes like Math, Grammar, and Science--- rather than teaching lessons and then giving tests-- teachers would give long 1 hour tests at the beginning of the lesson--- spend a day or two going over the test answers--- and then retest them on the same material---- there was never actual "lessons"--- and there was very little improvement. To clarify--- teachers didn't want to do this--- they were required to do this by the administration or be fired. To top it all off--- the school I was helping at was dirt poor and extremely segregated (there were 6 white kids in the entire school). There were some AMAZING teachers--- but many were fresh out of school making very low salaries with very little guidance on how to help their students succeed.. Some of the kids didn't have food at home--- or had parents in jail--- or went home and had to take care of their baby siblings because their parents had multiple jobs--- or even worse--- went home to abusive situations that were being investigated. The school was full of babies and we regularly had drug dealers at the corner and parents would get in violent race based fights at the doors of the school that required police intervention. These kids needed a healthy and safe environment where they could be empowered, inspired, and loved for being the amazing child they were born as--- not labeled as a number on a test that wasn't trying hard enough.

I think exams really do more harm than good because we saw some students in the UK and other countries losing their mental health and gaining their stress.

I am SO glad this channel exists - both because of what do you think about and how do you think about it. Something tells me Marc Bloch would be really proud.

US: Pros-Uhh... Cons-Too many tests and too focused around money. S Korea: Pros-Great Scores Cons-The sheer stress is literally killing children. Finland: Pros- Great test scores and a focus on education rather than scores. Cons-Uhhh...

Technicality did a great video over this topic.

Well, I guess *this is America*

To get around confounders, it would be interesting to know how children of Finnish immigrants do in US schools.

The US is weird

I attended private schools. In elementary school, we tested 2x a year. In high school we tested 1x a year. and then we took ACTs(very few took SATs because ACT testing was done at my school). Our graduation rate was quite high and our college admittance was quite high. I had friends who were really rich, middle class, and some were borderline homeless at my school, but the average student did well because we had really good teachers. All of them had proper licencing. Most of them had Master's Degrees. All of them valued each student and our average class size was 20 students. I loved my hs. I was very lucky. The only way you wouldn't do well there, is if you didn't try, because the teachers were always there ready and willing to help you if you try. You could schedule tutoring if you had trouble understanding things. You could talk to your teachers or the dean. My transition into college was made easier because of how great my hs was. I do somewhat regret not listening to my counselor who encouraged me to go to junior college rather than a university. 1. because my school was very expensive and 2. because I no longer want a career in my degree. and I realised that after 2 quarters in my school, but I wanted to prove that I could finish(big mistake. I should have paid more attention to my ACT scores which encouraged me to go towards the current field that I'm interested in)

I took SAT in 2008 (the old format) and scored 1980 the first time and then 2240 the second time. It took me about one year of preparing and taking several books of practice tests. The SAT was useless, a waste of money and a waste of time. The SAT didn't teach me anything and I didn't learn anything from the SAT. It prepared nothing for my College.

We have 2 standardized tests all throughout school in my country. 112 seems absolutely absurd and unnecessary

I'm not against testing as long as I know the answer but my problem is being asked to answer something I can't because I don't know the answer and don't have the information needed to answer it - creating a sense of stupidity and low self-esteem. If a standardized test asked me to know the definition of "concomitant" - a word I've never seen or heard before and have no idea what it means - how am I supposed to answer it unless I have been gifted by God or something???? Like ... how am I supposed to do well??? I hated it because I never felt smart enough to do well and that's something I can't help.

Why is this even a question? Of course it hurts students. It was never supposed to help students, though. It helps the systematic sorting of academics, not students themselves.

government: *gives me standardized test* me: thanks satan

Alright, so I attend an American high school, and standardised tests are actually affecting schedules now. I fulfilled the math credits required for me to graduate, but my principle ruled that I take another math class so I stay fresh for the SAT. I’d understand if she wanted me to take algebra 2 or geometry (both classes I haven’t taken yet that I plan to knock out in community college in the free year I’m granted), but I had to take accounting, which was the math class I took last year. I don’t understand why I have to do that, especially since accounting isn’t on the SAT.

Perhaps Canada would be a good comparison? It's more similar demographically than Finland or South Korea but still performs better than US. Don't know anything about their testing structure though...

I feel sad because I have a math test in a few more days :(

Have you done a presentation on the intersection of Scientific Racism and IQ Testing, something that is disturbingly still a thing. Perhaps Racism in Psychology? I've personally had Psychiatrists (MD), Psychotherapists (PhD), and Counselors (LMSW) tell me that therapy has nothing to say about racism beyond counseling I must accept that I cannot change how other people think and behave, that racism is my perception. Little more than a month ago here in San Francisco, CA a chief staff psychiatrist doing intake evaluation told me bluntly that Personal and Systemic Racism are not a real problem here. I'm an almost 62 yeas old African-American Woman, a former System's Analyst (IT), and I live, sometimes better, sometimes worse with Major Depression and Social Anxiety. Can't trust the medical field and being told to take it to Jesus is not helpful. For me IQ is also an interest having qualified for MENSA as a child and discovering my parents were wrong, that really smart people can be just as racist as the intellectually "unencumbered". Love the channel, your scholarship, wit and charm. Compliments to your team for the high production quality. Muir

Can I be Danielle Bainbridge when I grow up?! Probably not because I'm a few years older than her... but she is so worthy of the admiration, all the same!

I wouldn't have a problem with it...if it wasn't public. Like in college, there are a lot of anonymous survies that are optional to take. But in grade school to high school, you have to write your name, your address, etc so you can have your results handed back to you. I always scored low and this really did damage to my psyche. I understood what I was learning, but standardized testing developed a lifelong condition of test anexity over the years.

Standardized testing for Pre-K is simply ridiculous. However, what I would have also liked to see in this video is whether increased standardized testing was a gradual change in US education, or an abrupt one. Based on my 3 generational experience, it seems to me this began with my grandkid's generation as a major thing. I recall having one week of standardized testing in 3rd, 5th and 8th grades each, PSAT in 10th, SAT in 11th, and that's it. I don't recall the Elementary or Middle school tests as having much impact on my learning, nor any special classes to prepare for the tests. I always loved doing the tests, as I test excellently, and therefore it was low stress for me, but I know I am not typical in that.

I'm from Taiwan and I'm in sixth grade. I have only taken one national test before in fifth grade which determines your language and math skill; but we have two big tests per semester. Teachers can assign tests too. I don't think it's too much, but I think tests doesn't really mean anything in elementary school.

I'm interested to know: for what purpose those 112 tests have and what do they measure? Is there a short list for that? Just out of (morbid) curiosity..

I don’t know what but a speech from my teacher always stuck with me. It basically boiled down to ones life being dictated by tests. Anyone else ever get such a speech?

In South Africa, schools usually have 2-3 tests per subject (6 subjects) each term (3-4 terms depending on the schools curriculum). Revision tests are used during examination terms. Certain Curriculums teach critical thinking and not a standardised test to prepare for finals, which requires critical thinking, stretches your brain, tests your knowledge and does not rely on routine procedure

Brilliant as always, and I LOVE your honeycomb necklace!!

Always an interesting topic. How do we assess students aptitude and make sure they're not falling behind. The easiest way is to have a standardized test. But you want to make sure you're actually testing for what you want to test for. A very good point is that USA is very diverse. I don't know if there is a blanket solution. But because we are diverse we could potentially try different kinds of assessments in different parts of the country. A more holistic approach could be applied, a broader picture of the student. Colleges are still expecting the student to take an SAT, but they're taking into account the socioeconomic background of the students and why they're applying to that specific school. I wish I knew other theories of assessment. There needs to be more research in the area. People have lots of ideas on how to assess students, but I'd like to make sure that these assignments are going to assess what they're meant to.

I used the circles to draw quick patterns 2nd year in KS. Was caught and. Then locked in ISS room till I actually took the test. I rushed through the test because I decided reading the entire engineering section of the library was more useful. I am now a CIVIL ENGT

I’m an American certified teacher who left teaching in America due to the excess of testing which greatly limited the teachers ability in the classroom. We spent so much time taking test that it crippled our teaching time. I moved to China only to find out that the Chinese system is different yet still problematic. I wish I could just teach children to be creative thinkers instead of teaching them to pass the test.

So what I'm seeing is not the amount of testing or even the schools, it's how much the PARENTS encourage their kids to do well at school. But I hardly ever see any focus on having better parenting skills to get kids to do well at school.

I live in Italy, and I have 3-5 tests per week

Great video! I think Finland's educational programs are interesting and I would love to see how they would be implemented in other countries.

Agree with Finland.

A balanced video. Testing isn't learning, and rate of college enrolment is a poor measure of education performance. Ultimately, we want children to learn in a happy and safe environment, instead of always comparing their performances and tons of route learning. Excessive testing destroys morale and self-confidence.

@1:37, It really depends on the individual students. Sometimes, when your students have test-anxiety, you need to discuss test-taking strategy a lot. However, dealing with anxiety and stress is a part of life, so maybe some test-taking strategy should be part of the curriculum.

To the people of South Korea I say this “sometimes how you teach your lessons is more important then the lesson itself”

I don't have a problem with standardized testing. It's just the way they are designed. They don't test your knowledge on a subject, they test how you can finesse the answer without knowing anything or understanding the question. They don't require you to think of the correct solution, just for you to assume what the right answer is.

Korea doesn't have more standardized tests, just more high stakes tests. I was a teacher there, and students usually 1-2 standardized tests per year. All other test (usually 1 midterm and one final each semester) are created by the teachers. So they are tests based on a standardized curriculum, but they are not standardized tests.

Giving these children anxiety before they even reach 10 is harmful it sets them up to have anxiety later when testing causing she to not test well even though they do well in school in regular basis

1935...the computer processing of standardized tests. This is outstanding.....I am sure, this fact sounds crazy for people living in developing countries..

i’m british, and we do not use these tests. i’ve seen them in movies and thought they were old. i’m shocked they still use them.. that’s not learning. in britain you must write the answers yourself

I also wonder *who* is being tested in Finland and South Korea. In America, we test everybody; even those who are behind developmentally or have other significant problems. Are there any "slow" students in South Korea being tested, or is it because their culture is so test-driven that those kinds of students aren't even tested?

Just 112? I have been getting 32 tests each year since playschool ( Yes, I had exams in playschool).

Lol, got an ad for your channel while watching this video (Still watched the whole thing)

i'm from australia, so while we do have standardised testing it's not nearly as stringent as it is elsewhere in the world. what really makes me curious however is if students in countries such as the US get essays or even short answer questions in these tests? I understand that it's harder to mark responses in a standardised fashion when they can potentially all be different, but isn't important for students to build critical thinking skills and learn how to form an argument? when I went on exchange to south korea (whose university education system is very close to the US) i was surprised to see that second and third year classes dedicated class time to teaching students how to write essays and i feel that in an age where we are bombarded by information it is important to learn how to evaluate arguments. for background, during my university entrance exams i sat 2 different exams for english, both of which where completely comprised of essays and short answer responses, ancient history which involved short answer, an essay and a short multiple choice section and biology which had a longer MC section and also had short answer and essay components. i also submitted a body of work for my 3rd english class, and for my japanese class one assessment was a speaking exam where i was essentially asked to make up a short essay on the spot.

The real answer is YES, it lowers kids confidence in studying and I think schools fucked up enough, I’m going Bbbbbbb, and one c in science like bro wtf I’ve been working so hard

I went to one of the highest rated schools in the state. It’s been between 1st and 3rd, forever. I never understood this. There was nothing special about our school. I always felt the school was underperforming. If my school was one of the best, if not the very best, in the state... then what would a “worse” school look like? Anyways... I was just thinking about all the testing that we did. I think it was my sophomore year(?), we had standardize testing to do. We didn’t even have any prep for them. We weren’t told prior that it was coming up. It was just something we all of the sudden had to do. I don’t feel like this is “allowed”, but they would make you take them twice. Let’s say you get a C... well they want you to retake it and get a B, or an A. Those tests take SO long. I started my science test, only to find I’d never even heard of what they were asking. I had “normal” classes, so I have no idea where we were supposed to have known that from. I figured if I really didn’t know, and regardless I’d have to retake it anyhow... that I wasn’t going to waste the time testing. I clicked through the whole thing. I’m pretty sure I selected “C” for almost every answer... And what do ya know... I “excelled” in science, according to my test scores. I think way more importance is placed on testing and grading than it should be. We might have high test scores... but can these kids do anything else? Sure they can regurgitate answers, but do they have any life skills? I’ve seen or heard about this so many times, where kids around us don’t even know how sweep. Grades do NOT necessarily indicate someone having a good work ethic. I can’t think of a single person who I went to school with, who’s done especially well in life. Looks have gotten my classmates further than grades have. Several pretty girls have married very wealthy men. A handful of good looking guys are now models. A lot of kids go to college here, but many of them haven’t done anything since. They have the same sort of jobs they would have had without going to college. They go for the parties and because their parents can afford to send them. My husband’s a manager at a company where a lot of people come to to get their foot in the door. Some of them have fancy sounding degrees, and yet they’ve never worked a day in their life. It’s a mess. I wish we had a system that focused more on work ethic and actual life skills.

This video should be like 10 seconds long max. like just the intro, the question, and then “yes”

I'm always terrified about spring testing.

I feel like standardized tests/exams do more HARM to students in the school system. This goes for IQ, SAT/ACT, Regents Exam, you name it. It is measuring more intelligence and it is unfair. Good academics are more important and they actually demonstrate growth and measurement. I hate tests/exams. We all get stressed, even us as smart people. Even though, we study really hard.

Please just 1 test every end of the year. Please. I am in 5th grade currently and my worst grade every is an A- and I am best in math so to see the math scores made me feel special bacuse I am gifted but also sad that we did not score higher. I go to carrollton's school around Canton Ohio and we take 4 per year with many other dotted around, so probly taking up to 100 decently important tests a year for a small school. AND WHY DO WE HAVE A TIME RESTRAINT???????? The us must just be weird and bad. Our food we eat our trash and deadly design of eletric items like outlets compared to briten outlets and our schooling. We schould learn stuff we need not how many water melon slices Jimmy can get if he cuts 83 water melons into 17 slices each. We need to learn banking and how the world works!!!!!!!!!!!!! And me going into 6th grade I will be in all advanced with roboticts class 3 and many other extra classes. Also I am in 4h kinda and I am a boy scout also a few other things. How will I have time to sleep and wake up at 5 to get on a bus and then take a test when I will have no spare time in my life.

With all the emphasis on helping disabled students, and I am not necessarily against that, we overlook the gifted students. I taught myself to read, but I couldn't take advanced courses until last year. Forcing gifted kids to take average courses convinces them they don't have to study to do well, and then when they can take advanced classes they freak out because suddenly they have to work hard. Also, they don't test smart kids for learning disabilities because it's assumed that if you're smart you don't have disabilities. I know there's something off with me. I get really emotional over little things, or go for days in an emotionless, zombielike state. I get really angry when people tap their pencils or make gross noises, and although I've learned to cope, I used to not eat my lunch because it was super loud and smelly in the cafeteria. But because I have high test scores I have never gotten diagnosed with a condition. Sorry not sorry if I seem kinda whiny to you, but I can't possibly be the only one who goes through this crap.

4:20 Glad you brought that up. If you exclude black and hispanic student scores America becomes competitive again. The most recent PISA results, from 2015, placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science. When US racial and ethnic groups are separately compared with other countries, Asian and white students regularly perform at or near the top of international rankings. While black and Hispanic students typically rank at or near the bottom. Source: www.google.com/url?q=files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535873.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjnlfWh6MvcAhWptVkKHT_wB_sQFggTMAI&usg=AOvVaw2FUUkhchMTGMSg2cZFAMqV

I have had to talk troop’s off the edge after they fail tests who knew more about their jobs the troops who aced the tests but sucked at their jobs! These are grown men and women who have passed military training with high marks. When it comes to schools I think a blended system would do much better. Tests and over all proof of applying the knowledge with out limits should be used. Also a split path should be applied. Those who are collage bound take classes relevant to their needs and those going I. Trade take relevant classes. Both are open to take each others but higher priority to those on their tracks.

Yes, not knowing the answer to a test question can be very stressful.

Having lived in Singapore, a country that ranks even higher than South Korea, I've noticed that the education forces students to go extra hard and study study study in high school, whereas compared to Singapore the US slacks off in high school and then kicks it into gear in college. I like this approach more because frankly forcing every student to do something they have no interest in will devalue learning and turn it into a chore. Students don't learn to learn, they learn to get into a good school because good school = good life. This doesn't promote creative thinking later in life, since students are not allowed to do what they want (does this make sense?).

Most of the things we learn at school we forget and only are taught so we can pass a test to graduate so we can get a better job….

i'd say go finland way, few test not too few that each test can significantly change your future but not too large that it becomes a chore here we have four mandatory test for elementary, junior high and senior high school. so in total 12 test

It's very hard to compare the US to places like Finland and SK which are highly homogenous, have low second language learner %, and have far less variance in SES. I'm not saying it's pointless, but there are definitely things to keep in mind. Ex. not all Finnish kids make it through to HS because they are tracked in trades schools much earlier. Those test scores aren't counted. In SK there is cultural support of parents prepping and caring about students' grades. Not so in the US. Again, not saying it's a fruitless comparison an that they arent' things to learn. but there are important differences to keep in mind.

I'm no expert, but I can speak from personal experience as a student. Standardized tests do nothing to encourage students to actually *learn* and *remember* materials/subject matters. This is because with tests, you study really hard for the test; then, when it's over, you simply dump the information. Tests are good for *measuring* progress in a subject; but using them on a regular basis more demotivating than motivating. Add to that, most tests are multiple choice. This is also demotivating as it encourages guessing and eliminating, rather than actually remembering material. All in all, tests should be relegated to the position of technical measurements of progress by the teacher/instructor and should not form the basis of education. Instead, essays, reports, and theses written or performed by students should be the most reliable indicator of knowledge in a given subject matter. JMO.

Off topic: Nice necklace Danielle!

He, so I am a Dutch student. I find that maybe the rest of the world could benefit from looking at our school system. We all start in primary school mingled and with one significant test at the end which will determine what kind of highschool level you will be recomanded to study in. In highschool we have different levels of education, mostly based around theoratical way of learning (high level) or more practical way of learning (low level). after you finisht your first highschool degree you can choose to take two or three years more in high school to get the higher level. That is not the only way to get a higher level in aducation. If you a studied high level in high school you can enroll directly to a university. If you have a lower level depending on how low you can first apply to collage (for us it is called MBO) which is also more practical schooling. After you finished with the collage you can choose to go to a pre grad program and after that university, ( this is the route that I am taking. And a middle level in high school means you can apply to an academy/ pre-grad ( for us its called HBO). You can also wait till you are 21 and take a test to any school/ university you would like, depending on your score if you would get in. The international students I studied with were always super confused about our system which is funny to me. But also here in the Netherlands we look up to the Scandinavian school system as it is free.

The sba and sats are good because you don't know what the questions are it's more of an iq test but most tests are crap it's all a memory game and for someone with adhd it makes it harder to learn because I have a smaller active memory and rushing through and memorizing things in class doesn't work I need it to go to my long term memory before I forget it

But what does Finland do in alternative to testing?

To whoever is running this channel. I thought you’d like to know your add times do not include clickable links. At least not through all platforms. I neglected finding you because of this. I’m here now. Can’t wait to look around.

I'm glad that I only took this test like twice in high school after that I just when to the beach 🏖️ when the school was doing the standardized test

1935 machines could not be properly characterized as 'computers'. At that time 'computers' were people. The machines of that era were electromechanical in nature, for example punched card sorters.

Maybe the rubric we choose to examine standardised tests shouldn't be college admissions. Just saying, spending even more money to do even more tests isn't always the desirable outcome. Not trying to invalidate the ranking of the US compared to other countries based on college admissions v tests portion of the video, just trying to spark some brainstorming about what else we could use in a future video

Poorly performing students - majority minority - are forcing teachers to teach to the test. They have to or else even greater numbers of those students would do poorly on the teats.

Your hair looks EXTRA GOOD in this video!

I feel that standardized tests do more harm than good. I've always hated doing those tests in school. I hated the idea of being compared to the rest of my peers in that manner.

So relatable to SAT and ACT.

So there is no causal connection between the frequency of standardized tests and the resulting quality of education.

lets be honest, we are students prob in mid or high school, having a test tomorrow, and is very stressed about it, at the same time, you think of how you hate tests.

Ooh I thought you were going to focus on how standardized tests--at least college aptitude tests--don't necessarily measure anything except test-taking ability.

Well, I'd like to say a few words as a student from India, now studying abroad. it is not as bad as south korea, as the pressures only start mounting around 6th grade, it is fiercely competitive. there is two "central" exam which you are assessed based on, being IITJEE mains and advanced, and let me tell you, this system, while it seems to work on the surface, harms the students horribly, and it doesn't hold up either. I kept falling sick as the exam approached, and I was sick on both exam days. now in hindsight, I can see that I hardly gave myself any sort of rest, compromising my immunity, and therefore my performance, throwing majority of my post- 8th std education out of the window. why I say that, will soon become evident. The second problem, is that in a bigger country, people will crack the basis for your exam. what I mean by that is, they will build up techniques to complete the exam without putting in the required work. you'll have to increase the level of the courses as you go on, as they'll crack every type of problem, and will have memorized the steps. that's exactly what happened back at home. now, thanks to that, the university's first year is comparable to my 8th grade in India. Oh and did I mention the worst part? this hyper focusing on studies has resulted in my completely forgetting how to socialize and move in a group. even today, 3 years after I've left India, and been living on my own, I still struggle to do basic things like maintain a conversation, approach someone,so on. The resulting loneliness is crippling, the cure is within reach, but it's too hard to reach out and use it. my only friends are one person from school who the system would have left to rot if I didn't step in and help, which probably costed me some marks and therefore closed off pretty much all the "reputable careers" in India, a.k.a Programming, Engineering and Medical, and a Second, an Indian junior who has been through this and has broken free. Currently, I'm working out, and tutoring juniors, to improve my confidence in social situations and also get some spare change so I can actually learn how to budget and cooking, which, in my opinion, is what I should have developed in high school instead of sifting through the piles of textbooks and finishing the never ending stream of assignments. Anyways I'm positive soon AI will take over most jobs, and at least my kids won't have to suffer through such a horrible system.

What is the difference between NCEA and the USA's standardised tests? I have only ever done NCEA.

Is it known what makes a student able to score well on standardized tests? Is there some ability that some have and other’s don’t?

I can only imagine the level of pressure those kids face in south korea just to be successful. Hats off to them

A lot of the reason the US is so bad a standardized tests like PISA is because it just doesn’t affect anything. Like I am very smart and so are so many in my class but none of us really try on those tests because they just don’t matter so why waste our time

You should look at how well Finnish and Korean students living in the U.S. perform in U.S. schools compared to other demographics of students.

I think it all boils down to how the tests are presented

In my country 🇪🇹🇪🇹🇪🇹🇪🇹 every Friday is exam day

Success in tests correlates to the importance placed on education in the students’s environment.

Better to implement a system like Finland.