High school strives to prepare students for the future.
For some students, this could mean college, and an important aspect of preparing for that is the SAT.
The Standardized Aptitude Test (SAT) is available for students to take multiple times a year, and on May 5, many had the opportunity to do so.
The SAT is a test that is required by a majority of colleges, and many students generally take it around their junior or sophomore year.
“It’s something that takes a lot of time to get ready for. You have to start months ahead of time and work your way through all the stress to slowly get better,” Kevin Moy, a sophomore, said.
Instead of taking the regular SAT, Moy took the SAT Subject Test, which is different from the regular one since students can choose the subjects that they want to be tested on.
“The regular SAT is like the Practice Standardized Aptitude Test (PSAT)… The SAT Subject Tests are one hour long individual tests that you can choose in math, science, language, history, and some other subjects. There are like 20 different subjects, and you can choose to take any of them,” Moy said. “For the regular SAT, it shows where you stand next to others, so if you do well, you stand out more. For the Subject Tests, it really shows off where your strengths are, so you stand out to colleges that match your strengths.”
Like Moy, Alyssa Nguyen, a junior, also took a SAT Subject Test.
Although the SAT is often seen as a significant factor for getting accepted into college, Nguyen believes it shouldn’t be.
“I don’t think that the SAT should really be a huge determinant in college acceptance. A lot of people think of the SAT as being a measure of your intelligence, but it’s honestly not,” Nguyen said. “There are a lot of studies that say the SAT shouldn’t play as big of a part in the application process.”
Regardless, some students still think that the SAT has a huge impact on their future.
“It’s important to demonstrate your skills through a standardized test so you can get into a good college,” Tayler Wise, a sophomore, said.
For Wise, she decided to take the SAT as a sophomore due to many reasons.
“I wanted to get [the SAT] over with and also just to get a baseline score for when I take it again later,” Wise said.
Although it may be difficult not to, Nguyen advises students to not compare their scores to others’ scores.
Nguyen said, “Don’t stress about other people’s scores — it can create a hateful stigma and a bad environment overall. Focus on your test scores, the average for your schools, and what the best score will be for you.”
