The high school sophomores taking the PSATs used to be the ones getting an early start on SAT preparations. But now, a new test from the College Board is putting pressure on students to start preparing as early as middle school.
Readistep - a pre-SAT test announced by the College Board last week - aims to help eighth-grade students begin preparing for high school and college.
But higher education experts have been quick to criticize Readistep, saying the American education system already has too many standardized tests.
Readistep is divided into three multiple-choice, 40-minute sections covering critical reading, writing and math. Unlike the SAT, the writing portion of the test will not include an essay.
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing called Readistep a College Board "marketing ploy" to increase the number of students who will later take the SAT when they apply to college because they will already be familiar with the exam's format.
In 2008, nearly as many high school students took the ACT as the SAT, according to Robert Schaeffer, FairTest public education director.
Since the ACT already has a standardized test aimed at middle-school students - called EXPLORE - College Board felt compelled to create a corresponding exam to keep students from "getting on the ACT track," Schaeffer said.
But although ACT has a test for eighth graders, "Readistep is the only middle school assessment aligned to college readiness standards," Jennifer Topiel, College Board executive director of communications, wrote in an e-mail.
Readistep results will provide teachers with feedback on the skills their students posses, skills they need to develop and advice on how to further develop those skills, Topiel wrote.
But according to Schaeffer, even if the test does successfully identify student weaknesses, it is still "totally unnecessary."
"By the time students complete eighth grade, they must have taken at least 14 standardized tests under No Child Left Behind," Schaeffer said, referring to the 2002 education act that requires schools to meet annual benchmarks based on standardized test scores or face sanctions.
If "you need information from standardized tests, you have it," he said.
The College Board's goal for the test is to help students begin preparing for college earlier.
According to Topiel, if students start thinking about college early, they can "get themselves on track with the right coursework" and be "prepared to succeed in college," she wrote.
Some college admissions experts say it is reasonable for middle school students to begin thinking about college.
It is fine to encourage students to think about college "as early as possible," but additional standardized testing is not the best approach, said Barmak Nassirian, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
"Most educators would tell you what students in this country need is more learning, more teaching and better textbooks," Nassirian said. "I don't think American students are under-tested."
