Are test scores a good indicator of student proficiency?Hamdan Abdulla Alremeithi12/13/2013Esl 015Ms.Wenli ZhangExams, tests, quizzes--all types of college assessments and schools today--have a meaningless approach to assessing and developing student skills, where students are taught how to get an "A" on an exam rather than learning the actual material. Studies have shown that many of the students who graduate from collage with high grades are not ready for real-life tasks and tend to perform poorly when given the opportunity. The ability to study for the test leads to higher expected test scores but lower skills, suggests Neilson, William S., the author of the article “High Scores but Low Skills.” This indicates that high exam scores do not identify competence (Liu, L., & Neilson, W.S. (2011)). This is a significant sign of poor assessment and teaching, which consequently creates a huge unemployment problem for graduates. One of the most important issues in education nowadays is whether or not students around the world benefit from the education system. This article will argue that high scores do not show a student's true abilities. However, although some believe that higher scores are the best indicator of students' abilities, this is not reflected in reality. This article will demonstrate that practical intelligence assessments are a better indicator of a student's achievement than test scores. Many educational institutions have relied on the grading system, which assumed that high scores were clear evidence of greater knowledge of the individual. The system starts from the idea that test scores differentiate between high-achieving students and low-achieving students. This system was used for a long time only on a few occasions that produced qualified people. However,