Stress And Torment: Taking the SAT

By Lauren Oyler
Hurricane High School

Much to the dismay of high school students everywhere, “the man” (otherwise known as the College Board and the Educational Testing Service) administers the SAT seven times per year.

This standardized test generates anxiety from more than 2 million reluctant test-takers per year, calling upon students’ logical reasoning skills, college-preparatory mathematical knowledge, vocabulary and, although testing services do not explicitly state this, stamina.

“It seems like they make the format much harder than it should be,” said Cabell Midland junior Isaac Sheets. “It seems like the goal [of the test] is to leave you mentally disoriented when you leave the room.”

Sheets is referring to the seemingly random framework of the test. There are three sections each of math, critical reading and writing plus one cruel, unknown experimental section that could effectively be described as a waste of 25 minutes because it does not count towards the final score.

These sections are divided into 20- or 25-minute increments and vary from test to test, a tactic used to combat cheating but does nothing more than bewilder test-takers.

However, if the ETS is so concerned about the integrity of its tests, perhaps it should pay more rigorous attention to testing security?

“The test proctors [at my testing site] seemed more concerned with eating Easter-colored jelly beans. The kids around the room, who could have been cheating, were only an afterthought,” Naseem Seyedtalebi, a Hurricane High School junior, said of her recent SAT testing experience.

Seyedtalebi also said that test-takers were free to sit anywhere in the room and that the proctors would often leave for long periods of time. To add insult to injury, the drawn-out testing process lasts nearly four hours, not including the time allotted for well-deserved breaks.

“The SAT has become more of an academic endurance competition rather than a fair indicator of the student’s logical reasoning skills,” said Hurricane junior Nick Schamp.

This aspect alone is enough to severely disadvantage most students. And although some students who receive extended time accommodations may seem fortunate, they are actually pitiable; they have to spend even more time with the SAT.

Despite the time and costs involved, the fact remains that the SAT is a necessary evil that most high school students will have to face at one point. Unfortunately, neither this test nor any other can measure the entire spectrum of one’s academic ability or intelligence.

Though college admissions offices claim that they know this, that these standardized test scores are not the be-all, end-all of the admissions process, many students and parents hype the importance of the SAT to extreme levels, often causing panic attacks, anxiety and ultimately, poor performance.