While I was reading about the chapter on reliability I thought about my junior year in high school and when I took the SATs. My parents made me sign up to take the test two times within a period of two months. Like most other high school students, I was incredibly nervous about taking the test. I was already a horrible test taker and even worse at taking standardized tests. Even with all of the nervousness and anxiety I was able to get through the test without completely melting down. I ended up doing exactly as well as I thought I would do, and I received a very average score.
My family kept telling me that I would do better the second time around because I knew how the test was structured, how the time intervals work, what I was most comfortable with, etc…I even spent those two months in between studying and preparing as much as I could. As a result, when I went to take the SATs the second time around I was so much more confident and ready to take the test. My family and my focus on preparation made most of my anxiety go away, and I was so much more relaxed. I took the test and even walked out that day feeling more confident than I ever did after taking a standardized test. A few weeks later I got my score back. It was 10 points lower than the first time that I took it. Obviously, I was incredibly surprised that I did better the first time around. To be honest, I was pretty pissed off about the fact that I spent all that time studying and preparing and it did not make one bit of difference. This is probably why I didn’t prepare as much as I should have for the GRE.
Some people could say that it was an absolute fluke that I scored within 10 points of the two times that I took the SATs. When I look back on it now, I really believe that I got around the best score that I possibly could have. If I would have taken it five more times, I really believe that my scores would have been very similar. I know that people have many different experiences with taking the SATs, and some probably question the reliability and validity of the test. As much as I hate to admit it, in my experience, the test couldn’t have been any more reliable. I still don’t believe that one test should be a measure of where or if you go to college, but I will save that for another blog.
Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7th ed.). Upper Saddle River , New Jersey
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