As a new ICFES score is set as a requirement for The Columbus School seniors, it brings along higher expectations, more academic pressure, and more workload. With the new academic standard, people start to wonder why such a high standard is required. Are the seniors prepared to meet this score? What is the school doing to help the students prepare?
The implementation of the ICFES score requirement is reshaping the academic schedule for the seniors at TCS. As they adapt to this new standard, their schedule shifts due to the preparations the school provides, which keeps stress rising since students need to perform well. However, the school staff emphasizes that this new standard needs to be done in order to maintain the school level in the upper categories, while also helping the students with the admission to superior education.
“Students need to increase their efforts when preparing for this exam. We know that since COVID our score as a school has been decreasing, and to top it off, universities were not requiring high scores. But now they are beginning to prioritize this exam for admission,” Maria Teresa Mejia, 12th-grade counselor, said.
As Mejia noted, ICFES scores have declined in the past few years due to poor preparation and students facing the test with unseriousness. To address the issue, TCS now requires a minimum score for the seniors to graduate, starting this year.
“A couple of years ago the universities in Colombia stopped asking for the ICFES in order to be admitted, the students stopped taking it seriously and they just went there and filled in any option midlessly, since it is a multiple choice exam,” Mejia said.
The school set 250 out of 500 as the required score, as all the content presented on the test was taught throughout high school. The counselor emphasizes that all students should be able to meet the requirements.
“It is a good measure because I am sure that most of them are more than capable of getting an overall score of 300, not even 250 (…) I don’t think they are asking you for something you can’t do,” Mejia said.
Mejía believes that all students can exceed the minimum score the school requires and that the areas in which students excel are related to the career they want to study.
“The ones that are interested in studying medicine are going to be good at chemistry and biology, the ones that are more into a model of United Nations are going to be great in social studies and Spanish, the ones that are going to engineering are going to do great in math… so it depends on the student’s interests,” Mejia said.
Santiago Lopez, a 12th-grade student and the school’s personero, supports the school’s choice to implement the policy but believes the timing isn’t optimal, since there is extensive content but little time to prepare.
“I believe that his policy was very necessary to be implemented, and although the timing is a bit unfortunate, it was still very necessary since universities are asking for the score again,” Lopez said.
Although he finds the timing unfortunate, he understands the school’s reasoning for the decision. TCS is taking advantage of the seniors’ free blocks to use them as practice sessions and dedicated a school day for a mock trial.
“I think the school is doing what they can, in relation to the time considering that the new requirements for the universities were just published in January of this year, so the school is making the best use of time,” Lopez said.
Considering the study sessions that the school has provided, Lopez believes that more effectiveness is needed. Apart from the study sessions the seniors already did, some are reviewing the areas they are lacking the most in.
“I would have made the groups smaller so they are easier to manage for the teacher. And also, I would keep the fact that teachers are also trying to do preparations such as quizzes, that are very useful,” Lopez said.
The TCS required score of 250 is very close to the national average. That’s why Mejia believes it is easy for TCS students to get higher grades, as well as why the school is considering raising the minimum score for future generations.
“El Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación (Icfes) hizo saber que el promedio global pasó de 257 en 2023 a 259 puntos este año.” (Fundación Empresarios por la educación, 2024)
The ICFES scores are used to evaluate the quality of education in the country, making it a key factor why students should take the ICFES test seriously. Furthermore, the education system can get the wrong idea, since students from a great school are getting very low scores.
“El valor del ICFES recae en ser la figura encargada de evaluar el panorama en que se encuentra la educación en el país, llevándola a ser de excelente calidad y evolutiva.” (Universate, 2023)
Even though this policy might be seen as a rushed action, we can conclude that it is very necessary for the TCS seniors to get good grades and try to pass the minimum requirements. Like any test, it should be taken with seriousness, and it can raise pressure and workload.