Standardised tests. A single number that travels between institutions.
It is an institution or public programme.
It exists to relieve Prove worth to institutions that will decide the next phase. That is the whole reason it is here: nothing enters this map without a human problem behind it.
It could not exist without Testing organisations. These are the quiet preconditions — remove any one and the solution stops working.
Solving that problem created new ones: One exam decides too much. Follow those and you find the next generation of products built on top of this one.
4 organisations in this map sell it, 1 of them publicly listed.
Its neighbourhood
Everything this entry connects to directly. Click any point to follow it.
The line back to a human being
2 hops from a person at a phase of life. The further a thing sits from the person, the more abstract it looks — and the more it tends to be mistaken for something that came from nowhere.
- SolutionStandardised tests
- FrictionProve worth to institutions that will decide the next phase
- Life phaseAdolescence
- Rooted inStatus
- Rooted inUncertainty
Relieves
Created these new problems
Second-order frictions. This is where most of the modern economy actually lives.
Requires
Who sells it
| Organisation | Value | Type | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson | $10B | public · PSON | textbooks, Pearson VUE testing, virtual schools |
| College Board | nonprofit | SAT, AP exams, CSS Profile | |
| ETS | nonprofit | GRE, TOEFL, Praxis | |
| ACT | nonprofit | ACT test, WorkKeys |