This year the SAT and PSAT have changed significantly compared to years past. The tests have changed to being completely online, the reading section is significantly reduced, you can use a calculator on each math section, and the difficulty increases as you move through the test. Despite these changes, there are still students who will put pressure on themselves to do well on the tests.
GCHS staff members don’t want students to feel too much pressure for the SAT. Lori Mitchell, the GCHS Counseling Department Chair said “that’s not what we want, we don’t want anyone to feel pressure.” Sophomore Hannah Schmidt felt better about her PSAT experience this year, than as a first-time freshman. [It] wasn’t as nerve-racking as last year,” she said. If students feel less nervous about the tests because they have already taken the SAT before, that can highlight the importance of the PSAT. Cunningham said “I think doing a routine of doing the test a few times before you take the real thing is like pretty important.”
Though these standardized tests strike fear into the heart of many students, there are those who don’t feel the pressure because they don’t think that the test says a lot about a student’s academic skills. Brynn Cunningham explained how she views the importance of the SAT. “I think that the SATs itself is objectively not that important. I think that a lot of people don’t learn and take tests the way other people do,” she said. Mitchell also touched upon this point when explaining the argument for test-optional schools. “One score doesn’t define a person and how they might do in college,” she said. She later added “I don’t think someone should not feel proud of their score [if] it isn’t as high as someone else’s. Not everyone is a good test taker.” Cunningham also thought that test-taking does not fully define academic intelligence. “I think test taking is something that not a lot of people are naturally as good at and it just depends on the people themselves,” she said.
Starting this year, Grayslake Central ran the SAT online versus on paper. With the change, there have been lots of opinions forming about the new test. “If you miss [the] bubble [of] one thing, you’re going to spend valuable time trying to erase and go back and fix that. Whereas in the computer, you didn’t have to do that,” was a point brought up by Mitchell, backing the structure change. Mitchell also had good things to say about the switch to the computer, “You can like flag your answers. You can see your time or if you want it or not,” she said. There are things that the online test offers that the bubble sheet one doesn’t, and it seems that most students and staff feel those changes are good.
No matter your feelings about standardized tests, like the PSAT and SAT, it’s important that students don’t put too much pressure on themselves to do well. The tests don’t fully assess academic strength because some people are simply better at sitting down and taking a test than others. The Grayslake Central community hopes that the computerized tests can help limit that stress.
