Standardized tests cause stress Standardized tests are something that all students and teachers fear. The weeks leading up to tests are filled with teachers stressing scholarship and their jobs, both of which depend on student success; students worry about whether they will pass the test to move on to the next grade, giving the state a bad impression about their teachers and whether their scores on these tests will affect their chances of going to college. That's what state standardized tests are doing to instructors and pupils across the country. Researchers at Bowling Green State University in Ohio found that two out of three elementary school students surveyed said proficiency tests caused undue stress, and three out of four secondary school students shared this belief. (Edwards) Standardized tests should not have such an important position in students' lives. Students have enough to worry about with most of their parents going through divorce and learning to juggle after school activities, homework, work and still have time to socialize with their peers (an important part of developmental ). Pupils predisposed to or already suffering from mental disorders must also be taken into account and should not be subjected to such intense pressure. Testing is overrated and because of this it provides the appropriate environment for young people to begin the dangerous cycle of anxiety, depression and insecurity. There should be school nurses and guidance counselors who are aware of how to properly manage stressed students during this period so that this cycle can be broken. They are at the best time of their lives and feel worse because of state-mandated tests, even though these tests are used more to evaluate the teacher... middle of the paper... Students are stressed by the possibility that all the their future is decided by these tests and by the possibility of making their teachers lose their jobs; teachers are stressed by the potential loss of their careers; program leaders or fine arts teachers are stressed about losing funding for programs that can help students; and college-bound students worry about how they might not be accepted into ninety percent of four-year colleges. All in all, these tests are overrated and considered a deciding factor in every aspect of a student's life and they should not be. Nor should proficiency exam results indicate which schools have funding and which have less. While these exams should not be eliminated entirely, they should not be as important as the system allows them to be.*Children is used to define anyone in grades K-12.