Essay: Good Writing Skills

A good writing skill will bring you more opportunities in furure work. In this way, it is important for college to ensure the students to have enough preparation before getting into their academic program. The purpose of writing placement testing is to determine students’ current level of English grammar and usage. This information determines the most appropriate courses for students’ enrollment. In this way, the placement test is beneficial as being a good preparation; however, the test has its own disadvantage as people don’t think it truly reflects the students’ abilities in college.
College placement tests determine a student’s skill level in writing. Analyzing the result, the adviser and student can discuss to create a degree planner that would best suit the student. Especially, it will be the chance for international students, whose first language is not English, can evaluate their English skills in order to be placed in suitable classes and to receive assistance. They may need to take some extra units in order to improve their English skills that are required in other classes. Moreover, the test is also beneficial for all students to have a review before an academic year since a long break to celebrate high school graduation tends to cause students to lose focus on learning. Thus, the placement test will act as a reminder for them of the knowledge they learned the last semester and give them better preparation for beginning of college.
However, some people don’t agree with the test as a way to evaluate the student’s English skills. They believe that the topic highly determines the result. For instance, Computer Science students will have more knowledge of technology so that it is easier for them to write an essay with a prompt about artificial intelligence comparing to Art-major students. In this case, people may consider that it is not “fair” in evaluating students’ ability in college by this test. Moreover, some people often get stressed when they have to write in a timely manner, and this can be considered as a factor affecting the result. Maybe, they also get used to type when writing an essay with auto-checking of vocabulary and grammar. Thus, as they have to write an essay by hand, it tends to be uncomfortable for them.
Personally, despite its disadvantage, I believe the placement test is still necessary because it isn’t for grade, yet just to evaluate student’s current academic level and knowledge. It may take time but bring you an overview about your skills. I think that there’s nothing to embarass to let people know that you’re not good at some aspects and need extra help to improve them. Everyone has their own weakness, and more practice will help you improve them.
In brief, colleges use the placement test to serve as academic indicators so that students are not placed in a class that’s too advanced for them; therefore, they wouldn’t be able to pass. International students will receive the necessary assistance in learning in their second language. Others may also have a good review to prepare for a new academic year after a long summer vacation. Some people may disagree with the results as they don’t think it accurately evaluates students’ ability in college. However, I personally believe the test is necessary because it is not about to fail or to pass. Taking an extra test to help the students have a self-judgment on their skill is not a waste.