Wednesday’s senior assessment tests were the biggest waste of time since Missouri’s 2012 presidential election primary.

Actually, that’s not native to this semester’s tests alone. This whole system is broken.

We understand why the tests exist. The University wants to measure seniors’ level of academic growth from the time those same students were freshmen.

In theory, it makes sense.

The problem is, no one cares. The tests aren’t for a grade. The results don’t show up on any transcript, degree evaluation or anywhere else.

Test proctors across campus sold it as potential résumé fodder. Obviously, none of us has the experience in the job market as most of those instructors, but we’ve been to a few interviews.

We’d call it a pretty tough sell to say that ranking in an upper percentile on a standardized exit-test will get anyone their dream job.

Furthermore, why is the result of a standardized test the bar by which academic achievement is to be measured?

Maybe it’s because of what we do here at The Chart, but we’d think hands-on, real-world experience gained in college would trump memorizing textbook definitions and theories in terms of importance.

Call us crazy, but we’d rather go into a job interview with several years of practical, applicable experience than technical knowledge.

Although, it wouldn’t take much to get students to care about it. If you really want to make this silly test your bar, you have to make sure students don’t just pick ‘A’ on every answer to get finished and get on with their lives.

Hell, a $10 gift card to Taco Bell would have motivated us. Make it count next time.