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Mason Dean
Professor Morton
UWRT 1103-066
18 April 2016
Standardized Testing: A True Test of Intelligence?
Does standardized testing truly measure an individuals intelligence? This question alone
is the greatest point of conflict and controversy within the education system. Ever since the birth
of the standardized test and its implication within schools around the nation, this controversy
and strife over the purpose of standardized and objective tests has persisted with no true answer
or solution being reached for this conflict. However, the answer to this dispute has been at the
fingertips of the researchers all along. Standardized testing does not truly measure intelligence.
This is because there is no clear way to define intelligence. There are also multiple variations of
intelligence, therefore making it difficult to accurately score all the various types and variations
within one test score. This is true for even IQ tests. Standardized testing also fails at providing a
measure of intelligence because of the way individuals are taught the material for the test and the
way that the test is written and scored.
Standardized testing has not been around too long at all. According to Hudlow, The first
standardized tests appeared in America during World War I as a means of placing U.S. Army
recruits into military roles that suited their skills.(Hudlow). He also states that later on
psychologists that created these tests adapted them into the Scholastic Aptitude Test, otherwise
known as the SAT, is still used in schools today. The purpose of the SAT was to measure the
scale of intelligence of students applying to colleges after graduating high school. Then in 1959
the ACT was also created with the similar goal of measuring intelligence.

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Many people in todays society feel strongly that the SAT and ACT tests are actually
flawed and do not properly measure intelligence. These tests are said to be flawed in not only
one, but many different ways. The largest of which would be the fact that most of the subjects
that are taught in schools, such as history and social studies, are simply forgotten and put to the
side. At the same time though, math and English is over emphasized beyond the point where an
average person would need for the real world. On top of all of that, every elective course that is
available to the students to take is simply brushed to the side. Along with that major flaw, these
tests are un-identical to the tests that the students take throughout school. The ACT and SAT are
just multiple choice. That means that there is no short answer, fill in the blank, charts and graphs
to label, etcetera. However the true goal of standardized testing, such as the SAT and ACT, is to
test how well you memorize information and how strong your test taking skills are because that
is what these tests are the most successful at displaying within students. Therefore, these tests do
not truly show an individuals cognitive ability, the tests actually just show results for students
that were taught how to pass the test rather than how to learn and store the information that was
present in the classroom.
To further clarify what intelligence really is, Websters dictionary defines intelligence as
The ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations (MerriamWebster). There are also instances where the definition of intelligence can change and instinct
takes over. Such as in a life or death situation, the way you react and what you do within your
reaction shows how your intelligence is put to work for that specific situation. To further clarify,
intelligence could also be seen as survivability. There are said to be at least three different kinds
of intelligence in total. This is what makes intelligence tests inaccurate. There is no true way to

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equally display all the types of intelligence within one score, because of this the intelligence
score that a person received may be off by a larger margin that was expected.

According to Sternbergs Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence there are three different
kinds of general intelligence that we human beings use on a regular basis. The first of the three is
called analytical thinking. Analytical thinking refers to your ability to develop a plan of events,
monitor your progress, reflect on the results of your plan, and lastly transfer the reflections you
made into a better plan. The ability to move through this cycle smoothly and repeatedly is what
determines an individuals intelligence regarding analytical thinking.
The second of the three forms of intelligence is called creative thinking.
Creative thinking includes the persons ability to develop new ideas as well as ways to apply
these ideas in the future. Creative thinking also includes how well someone creates solutions to
given problems in not only classroom settings, but also in real life scenarios such as business
problem resolutions. How well an individual performs in these three aspects determines how
intelligent he or she is as far as creative thinking goes.
Lastly, the practical thinking category, is possibly the most important type of intelligence.
Practical thinking uses real world situations in order to create its definition or to further define
and mold a display of intelligence. With practical thinking intelligence, you have to display how
well you select and shape real-world environments and experiences. Meaning that your
intelligence is shown by what choices you make based on how you feel about a scenario or
setting that you are placed in. This also could be included in the fight or flight mechanic that all
living beings go through. Overall, practical thinking intelligence is possibly the most influential
type of intelligence to real life and survivability.

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Howard Gardner also had his own idea of multiple intelligences and created his own list.
Here are Howard Gardner's initial multiple intelligences:
1. Linguistic - sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and
the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals.
2. Logical-mathematical - the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out
mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically.
3. Musical - involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical
patterns.
4. Bodily-kinesthetic - entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body
to solve problems.
5. Spatial - involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more
confined areas.
6. Interpersonal - is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations
and desires of other people.
7. Intrapersonal - entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings,
fears and motivations.(Bakerville, emphasis in original)
Many famous scientists had their own ideas of intelligence regarding its relevance in
general especially with the way it is perceived. For example, Albert Einstein stated that
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole
life believing that it is stupid (Bakerville). This could be taken to mean that if in schools you are
taught to do something that you are incapable of doing, then you will be perceived as unintelligent because in schools intelligence is based on your ability to memorize and obedience to
the teaching methods. However, true intelligence lies elsewhere. Every single person has some

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sort of idea or ability that truly displays their amount of intelligence because not all people share
the same strengths for intelligence, so it may be a less visible type of intelligence that people
excel in rather than the kinds that standardized testing supports.
In order to further discuss and find out which students would struggle with school and
other tasks like school, Alfred Binet was given the task of developing an intelligence test for
students in the early 1900s by the French government. Binets test focused mainly on testing
students attention and problem-solving skills with his version of the IQ test. The children that
did not succeed on this test were assigned special assistance during school by the French
government who had recently passed a law requiring all children to attend school.
However, these intelligence tests are flawed as well. This is because the IQ tests only
measure specific kinds of intelligence, rather than showing a collective group of various kinds of
intelligence. The IQ test also compares the test takers cognitive ability to the whole of the
population rather than looking at that one persons ability individually. These IQ tests also are
said to oversimplify the brains cognitive ability because the problems that are given on the
test do not truly challenge the way that an individual thinks, rather it shows the takers ability to
memorize and take tests.
A possible way to fix these standardized tests would be to create a single test that has
multiple parts with separate individual scores. These separate parts of the test would each focus
solely on one portion of an individuals intelligence and score that individual kind of intelligence
alone rather than bring all of the scores together into one main overall score that in inaccurate.
Overall, neither IQ nor standardized tests truly can display an individuals intelligence on
an accurate scale. There are too many forms of intelligence and instances where the definition of
intelligence can waver to properly measure an individuals cognitive ability in a simple test score

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without completely underestimating the person. True human intelligence is too broad and unclear
to define by a simple test score.

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Works Cited
Bakerville, Peter. "What Did Albert Einstein Mean When He Said: "Everybody Is a Genius. But
If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing
That It Is Stupid."" Quora. Quora, 8 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Cherry, Kendra. "Discover the History Behind IQ Tests." About Health. About Health, 2 Mar.
2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
"Controversies in Intelligence and Standardized Testing - Boundless Open Textbook."
Boundless. Boundless.com. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
"Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students Abilities?" Concordia Portland
Online. Concordia University, 21 June 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
Dovey, Dana. "Is An IQ Test An Accurate Way To Measure Intelligence Or Are Mental Abilities
Something You Cant Put A Number On?" Medical Daily. Medical Daily, 09 Aug. 2014.
Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
Grigorenko, Elena. "Triarchic Theory of Intelligence." Education.com. Education.com, 23 Dec.
2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Hudlow, Andy. "Standardized Testing Is Not an Accurate Measure of Intelligence." Knight
Errant. Knight Errant, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
"Intelligence." Merriam-Websters Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, 1828. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
"Intelligence Definition." Brain Matrix. Brain Matrix, 2007. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
"Standardized Tests." Boundless. Boundless, 21 July 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Tiefenthaler, Jill. "SATs Do Not Take the Full Measure of a High School Student." US News.
U.S. News & World Report, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.