Good Grades Essay, Research Paper

Are people who get good grades and/or who get high scores on tests more intelligent than those who do not?

Can we just distinguish people who get good grades and/or high scores on tests are more intelligent than those who do not get good grades? I firmly believe that it is not fair to judge people who get good grades are more intelligent than those who do not. Test scores are not a fair judgment to distinguish one’s intelligence. Test scores can not show the actual intelligence of an individual.

We should consider the following factors that can affect an individual’s performance on tests. First of all, physical condition of the test participant. For example, if the participant is sick on the test day, we will not expect he/she will perform well on the test. Secondly, the mental condition of the individual and the person’s emotional condition can affect the test results as well. Consider the test participant just broke up with his girlfriend or her boyfriend. He or she will not be able to concentrate on the test, so he or she will result in receiving bad grades. Another example is somebody died in family. The test person is not possible to do his/her best during the test. The emotion of the person is the factor that will affect the performance on tests the most. Environment is another factor that will affect the performance of the test participant. There maybe some disturbing noise or the test venue is too hot/cold for him/her while he/she is taking the test. These environmental factors can directly affect one’s performance on test.

For academic tests, people who are intelligent (in real situation) may not study for the test, so the result are worse than the people who may spend three to five days to study for that particular test. People who spend more effort/time and study hard are more likely to get a better result, but it does not reflect he/she is more intelligent than who did not score high.

Everyone is intelligent in some areas but may not be found or discovered yet. A classic example would be the auto-repair man in the reading. I believe the auto-repair man is more intelligent than Isaac Asimov is. Although the mechanic scores way lower than Isaac Asimov in tests, at least he can trick Isaac Asimov who has earned a doctorate even though he is not well educated. In this case who will you say is more intelligent? I will definitely agree that the auto-repair man is more intelligent. So it can prove that high scores on tests is not equal to be more intelligent. There is no rule saying how to qualify to be intelligent. Everyone has strong points while the others do not have. So it is not fair to judge and distinguish who are more intelligent only by looking at test results.

Another example that can prove we should not judge an individual intelligence by test results is disabled people. Consider blind people can take care themselves. Blind people do all the things like normal people do but without looking at all. They can go to school themselves, read the books by just touching the texts, which are specially designed for them. Don’t you think they are more intelligent than we do since they can not see at all? Let’s put it this way: we choose a high score student and blindfold him for just one day. Do you think he is able to take care himself, “read” or go to school? I do not think so. So do you still believe high scores and good grades can determine who are more intelligent? Obviously, blind people are more intelligent than the high score student. We should not just looking at the test results and distinguish he or she is intelligent or not.

In conclusion, many things or factors can affect one’s performance on tests and test results. Only by looking at the results in order to determine one’s intelligence is not fair enough. We should consider the test participants’ physical and mental condition, he or she may not take the test seriously which may lead the results to be not as good as they normally get when they are taking the same test seriously. Everyone should be intelligent in some areas while the others are not, so we should not judge him/her only by test results.