Standardized tests are scholastic assessments that evaluate student’s academic abilities, placements, and learning disabilities not only used in the United States, but around the world as well. Students from grade school level to college take standardized test, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), American College Test (ACT), General Educational Development (GED), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and many more. They are used to determine a student’s intellectual capabilities, and also evaluate teachers, schools, and districts. The use of standardized tests is a topic that has been debated for many years because some think they are helpful in assessing students in a broad manner, and others believe they are more harmful to our educational system. Issues within standardized tests that are highly debated include how they affect schools, if they are reliable or not, and how they can be improved. Standardized tests affect schools in many different ways, such as being very costly and time consuming. Standardized test cost millions of taxpayer dollars every year. Valerie Strauss, writer of “How standardized tests are affecting public schools” which appeared in The Washington Post on May 18, 2012 says that “excluding the cost related to equipment, printing, and related school staff hours of prep, testing, scoring and reporting Pearson [approximates] the annual cost of their tests at $59,000,000”. That is a large amount of money to be paying for tests not including all of the other expensive details that would increase that number dramatically. Texas’ tests are also very expensive according to Marcy Martinez, author of “TAKS Test Taking a Bite Out of Budget?” posted on April 28, 2011 on ValleyCentral.com. She states in her article that “when added up, taxpayers will be paying roughly $93 million dollars in Texas this year alone for students to take test”. Along with Florida and Texas having high fees for tests, Connecticut tests are also expensive. Michael Winerip, author of the article “Standardized Tests Face a Crisis Over Standards” which appeared in The New York Times on March 22, 2006 states that “Connecticut maintains that to administer these [state] tests every year from third to eighth grade, as the federal law requires, will cost $8 million dollars more than federal financing provides”. $8 million dollars is not just the cost of the tests; it is what is needed after the government has already given them their finances. Not only are they tests ridiculously expensive, they are also time consuming to grade. Winerip also states in his article that “Florida can do a million multiple choice tests in a day, while correcting tests with essay questions can take weeks." His solution would be to make all of the questions multiple choice to make it easier and cheaper to grade, but others disagree because they believe that makes it too easy for students. Standardized test are extremely pricey