We are only 13 days away from the day of gloom, the day of fear and anger, also known as the SAT. There are the ones who have been studying for months, holding their heads high from all the skills they have acquired from Mrs. DeArville’s after school session on Mondays from 5-8 p.m. costing roughly $300 (which is a whole ‘nother thing). Not all juniors may be able to seek the extra help the school provided due to additional costs. With it being the final crunch time, many have just been informed that their SAT date is April 9, 2025 so we have to start somewhere.
Why aren’t more classes offered on other days? If Londonderry cares so much about us being proficient and succeeding on tests they should have more outside opportunities. In the course catalog, there isn’t a course called “Help me not cry through SAT” or “How to get more than an hour of sleep when I have to memorize the whole College Board 2025 Edition”. When in reality, the only thing the SAT tests us on is how well we studied, the main most accessible resource being College Board.
College Board is also a provided school resource that is able to help students prepare for Advanced Placement testing and the SAT. College board provides insights to example math and english multiple choice comprehension questions likewise which could be asked on the test. The school should be priming the college board since it is the best resource that Londondery has to offer. Granted, since we are supposed to be independent individuals we are expected to be able to seek extra help and resources by ourselves.
High school education starts preparing us to become independent young individuals who are moving onto the next advancements in their life. So, I can understand where juniors should have known when the testing date was (As you can find it on LHS Website), even though Director of School Counseling Kaitlin Burkhardt sent out an email with all information on March 18, as well as finding outside information.
Let’s go, juniors! Our application year is officially turning into: Test score required: go us. Although some schools are trying to decide whether or not to “mend” with the majority leaning towards becoming test optional, it has been looking like many schools who have not been tested since the time before COVID-19 are now going that way towards Ivy League schools including Harvard, Cornell, and Columbia.
I remember how confident I felt as I started the college process, touring schools that were a reach but I thought had a chance, really having a care about everything outside of my grades. But now, the Class of 2026 will be going through the mindset (hell) of having to worry whether or not the schools they are applying to are becoming tests required for admission. So now, we go back to being looked at as a number. In reality, the only thing I am worrying about is how well I studied for the test.
I understand how a test score can help differentiate an individual from another, but do the official people forget that some aren’t great test takers? You may be a high honor roll student but if you receive something under a 1035 (average score in New Hampshire), or even an 800 that could affect so many paths in your future. Has anyone wondered about those who take B or Integrated Level Math, English, or Literature courses? Many students including myself, didn’t have the option to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade, or a language leaving me a year behind where a majority of my class could be. Some material hasn’t been covered in those courses. Are you testing me? Or how well I can guess what the random words I see in Black and White mean.
You could have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, had a fight with your mom about taking out the trash, or going through a time. So then, poof. You’re cooked. Your test is bombed. So what about your dream school? You’re a class officer and had all the academic and extracurricular experience under your belt, but your number wasn’t as good as your neighbor’s, so as a result you struggled to get accepted into college and all your hard work was put to waste. Kind of a crazy way to accept individuals into your post-high school education, don’t you think?
But again, you knew about the test the night before, taking ownership and responsibility is a huge motto that ‘Lancer Nation’ believes in. It was your choice to get into a disagreement with your sibling, from not to take out the trash, and your choice to not stop texting your crush before the ripe hour of 2 a.m. His dry texts should have been your cue to put the phone down for the night.
The PSAT is evaluating your knowledge of how well you are able to prepare yourself for a multiple choice section, a written response questions, and a bunch of math questions that have nothing to do with what you have learned in high school. Essentially testing you on how well you are able to process information, rather than being testing on all of the information that you know. With this, we should really be thinking about how important it is to understand that the preparation isn’t what we loved it to be. At the eleventh hour, it’s all about the processes you use to evaluate a question, not the amount of content you know. No matter your number, you may be smarter than you truly think.
