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SAT Tests: The "Monster in the Closet" on Paper Every 3 to 4 months they cause parents distress. As they approach, the heartbeats of parents and students all over the country rise. A person is made or broken in life around this one event. This event is one that can solely guide your life into a pleasant lagoon of luxury or a hurricane of destruction. Before this event is over, the nails of people all around the country are chewed down to microscopic proportions. If any reader that has taken the SAT’s is reading this article they would have little trouble guessing the "event" I am discussing. SAT is an acronym for "Scholastic Aptitude Test." Students pour weeks, months and sometimes years into training for one day of their lives, the day they take the SAT. Is this really something fair? Is it right to put so much value on one day of a persons life? It is well-known fact that to require admission into the college of your choice, your SAT scores need to be good. To receive these desired scores students spend a lot of time and energy into studying for the test. Once they sit down in that chair, however, all the preparation means precisely nothing. As soon as the student sits in the chair nervousness takes over. The voice of their parents saying, "We’re counting on you, honey." repeats in their head like a stuck tape recording. Looking at the answer sheet all memory of any concept learned is lost. Slowly, but surely, the student can feel the gears in your brain creak and stop, elevating the state of nervousness he/she feels. With all this pressure put on the students, does this test really achieve what it stands for? If you would, recall one of the NFL semifinals between the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons. The Vikings fell short of victory in overtime that game. However, they had a season record that was better than Atlanta and were expected to become Superbowl contestants. However, one game destroyed all those hopes and propelled the Falcons to the Superbowl. Is this justified? The Falcons are an excellent team, but the Minnesota Vikings certainly deserved another chance to prove themselves. A best of three series would have provided a far more accurate judgement of which team was superior. I suggest it be the same case with the SAT. An average of three SAT scores would provide much more accurate results than one test. This solution would, I feel, lower the amount of stress caused by the test. I feel that if students find the first test in the series of three too hard, they can feel at-least some sense of relief that they have two more test to increase their "average score." Some people might argue that this scoring system would give students a chance to "relax" during some tests. They however did not consider that all these scores are averaged together and one poor score can severely damage the average score of the student. Several critics of the test also fee that the credibility of the test is lost. With so much value placed on the SAT, there is a truckload of instructional resources available to students taking the test. They say, and I agree, that the SAT no longer accurately measures the actual ability of the student because he/she can easily have an advantage over others if he/she is able to purchase more books. There are tutoring classes for the SAT available, however, they are only available at a steep price. The prices run as high as 4000 dollars per session (45-60 minutes). These sessions can cater only to the multi-millionaires and the tycoons at these ridiculous prices. The reliability of the test scores is becoming worse, if not lost already. The SAT is a test that single-handedly decides the quality of life for people that take it. It is not right to have such a major decision made within a day of your life. The overflow of books providing information on the SAT must be narrowed to an acceptable and comprehensible number. Until all the changes are made this test cannot be titled the "Scholastic Aptitude Test." Date posted: February 28, 1999. What do you think
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