Those of a certain generation remember well a scene from “The Karate Kid” in which Daniel-San is instructed to interminably wax cars, sand floors, and refinish fences. As only an 80s movie could, “The Karate Kid” goes on to teach viewers that the seemingly meaningless tasks that Daniel LaRusso grudgingly performs gradually and unconsciously build in him a set of valuable skills. While waxing, sanding, and painting are not crucial skills for a karate champion, they do lay a strong foundation on which to build (while also teaching children of the 70s and 80s the value of hard work).

It isn’t much of a stretch to claim a similar value for studying for and taking standardized tests. Like the trials of Daniel LaRusso, drilling on grammar rules, pacing oneself through one dry reading passage after another, and churning through multiple choice math questions ad nauseam can feel boring and pointless. But these exercises do build intellectual prowess.

Students engaged in well-crafted preparation programs built for their own needs build a wide variety of skills that will serve them throughout their academic careers and their lives:

• Critical Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Cognitive Flexibility
• Critical Reading
• Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
• Effective Written Communication
• Intellectual Grit

And though Daniel does eventually win the karate championship and get the girl, the thoughtful viewer recognizes that the value of his quest does not lie in the trophy but in the lessons he learned and skills he built in pursuit of it. Likewise, students and parents ought to reflect on where the value of test preparation and testing lies. Ultimately, it isn’t in the transient nature of a score that may or may not help secure admission to a chosen university. Rather, the value lies in the increased intellectual confidence, improved reasoning skills, and stronger academic abilities that may not be at first apparent but that will serve students faithfully for the rest of their lives.

There will likely never exist a perfect test by which students can be compared to one another on a level playing field. That level field simply does not exist. Nonetheless, some colleges have sought to improve upon their methods of student evaluation by becoming “test-optional”, allowing students to forgo standardized test scores in favor of other means of demonstrating their academic strength. These schools are creating more variety in higher education, and their number has been gradually increasing. Still, even if every school in the country were to cease to consider standardized test scores entirely, it would not erase their value. Let us recall that just as the true value of school does not lie in a student’s grades but in what she has learned, so the value of standardized tests and test prep does not lie in the score that gets a student into college but in the additional skills that she carries into her freshman year.