Naviance Career Test Fails to Offer Guidance for Many

​By Maithri Nimmagadda
 
The existential feelings of not knowing who you are or who you want to be in the world coincide with being a teenager, but part of growing up is understanding yourself. The Naviance Career Test that CR North students take before graduation aims to help in this goal, so many students are eager to take it.
 
Unfortunately, the Naviance Career Test does not aid in helping students find out who they are.  Aparna Dev, a CR North student, highlights one primary issue with the test, “I don't know how specific a personality test with two options can be.”
 
For many, the test seems so vague that it cannot help students, but can only confirm some basic personality traits they are already aware of and in some cases provide inaccurate assessments of personalities.
 
The test attempts to categorize people with simple questions and answers, but the problem is that most people cannot be accurately described with such a structure. This flaw leads to inconclusive or contradictory results for some students, such as Kacy Liang.
 
After taking the test twice, Liang’s results were “inconclusive.” “It [the test] technically said my personality doesn't fit into any of them [the categories].”
 
Such outcomes testify to how the test must be improved with more complex and diverse questions and answers. Students cannot be helped to understand themselves or what to do in the future if the Naviance test provides no real guidance.
 
As a result, several students disliked taking the test, even calling it a waste of time. “It’s stupid," Charlie Alt said. Students become irritated and distraught, and the test becomes counterproductive by creating instead of relieving more angst and stress for students.
 
Thus, the Naviance test structure and results often crush the potential for a helpful experience.  Hopefully, with improvements, the test can help students with accurate rather than inconclusive or vague findings since many students do want to know more about themselves and their most suitable career options.
 

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