Throughout the course of a student’s K-12 schooling, the words “standardized testing” will have become familiar to most. On average, a student in the U.S. public school system will take over 100 standardized tests between Pre-K and the end of 12th grade. Arguably the one that stands out the most? The SAT.
The Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, is an optional standardized test taken across the U.S. comprising a reading and writing section as well as a math section. It plays a key role in college admission decisions and is designed to measure and predict a student’s readiness to enter college-level courses. The exam dates back to the year 1926, from an Army IQ test developed to test Army recruits during World War One, and was eventually adapted and administered to young college hopefuls. Ever since, it has been a staple of American secondary schooling.
Starting from the year 2016, the SAT has been scored on a scale from 400 to 1600, and a final score is the sum of the scores on the two sections. While most students take the SAT in their junior or senior year, there are no age restrictions—the rare few may even take it in their freshman or sophomore year.
Sophomore Oliver Lin took the PSAT this past school year, a practice exam for the SAT that gives students a glimpse of what’s to come. “I think it was fine, I didn’t study too much for it and I got an okay score.” Lin used Khan Academy to study for the exam and is planning on studying more thoroughly for the real deal. “For the PSAT, I did Khan Academy stuff so I think I’m probably gonna do more of that for the SAT.”
Junior Betu Kirubel has also made some efforts to study for the SAT over these past few months, which will take place Mar. 19 at RM. “So far I haven’t been too well prepared because I’ve been studying for other classes,” Kirubel said. “I’ve been taking Pre-SAT like, retaking, retaking, retaking, retests, and my friends have been trying to prepare me too.” Kirubel plans to take the SAT sometime in March or April and feels a flurry of emotions at the prospect of it. “I’m nervous for the actual test because I feel like I’m gonna fluke it somehow but otherwise I’m feeling kind of excited, like I wanna just get it over with.”
Lin also expressed some feelings of anxiety. “Since there’s so many more topics, I think it goes up to precalc, I guess I’m a bit more worried about how much stuff there is.”
Biology teacher Bessy Albaugh, who took the exam in 2008, recalls it being an anxiety-inducing endeavor. “Unfortunately for myself, I was alive during the time where they did the essay SAT where you had 45 minutes to write a whole essay,” Mrs. Albaugh said. “I was always just a nervous test-taker so I would just be completely depleted after taking tests.” She also has some tips and tricks for students who are unsure of which answer to choose. “If you don’t know the answer between A and B, I always go B, it tends to be very popular in standardized testing, B and C.”
Some students believe that the SAT is somewhat unnecessary in terms of its practicality. “I think it’s necessary to an extent but after that certain extent, I feel like they should be testing for who you are rather than math, english and other things that you’re not gonna major in,” Kirubel said. “One of my friends…hates it because she thinks that it’s unnecessary for testing, especially to get into good colleges, she thinks it’s unnecessary to test on school subjects rather than things about yourself.”
Mrs. Albaugh also expressed that the SAT is beneficial in some ways and not so much so in others. “In some ways, yes it tells you a lot but at the same time…is it just testing how well you can test, or is it actually testing based on your knowledge,” Mrs. Albaugh said. “I think we work it out to be this huge thing in our lives and I don’t think it’s as huge as we make it out to be.”
