Student Outlook On The Sat

’s Essay, Research Paper

The Sat, scholastic assessment test, is used for colleges to measure what a student may be able to do on any given day. Colleges use it as a basis for whom they accept to their college. The SAT is administered by the ETS, or educational testing service. Overall, the SAT is a long, grueling test that tends to cause mostly anxiety among the test-takers.

The SAT is a three hour-long test including two ten-minute breaks after Section Two and Section Four. The SAT is divided into 7 sections, which can appear in any order. The sections include: two thirty-minute Verbal sections with analogies, sentence completions, and critical reading, one fifteen minute Verbal section with critical reading, one thirty minute math section with quantitative comparisons and grid-ins, one thirty minute section with regular math, and another fifteen minute section with regular math. Included among the different sections is a thirty-minute experimental section, which could be either math or verbal, but this section does not affect the test-taker s score.

The SAT is scored on a scale up to 1600, where you can gain a point for a correct answer, but lose a fraction of a point for an incorrect answer. You neither gain nor lose points for omitting a question. Also included in your score is an automatic 200 points on both your Math and Verbal sections. Additionally, at least a C on the SAT is equivalent to an 1100 on the test.

The SAT is administered by in a student s high school years, but anybody can sign up to take the test. After a survey of random high school students, grades nine through twelve, results proved that older students tend to recognize the importance of the SAT s while younger students didn t understand the test as well. Many students believe that the SAT is not an accurate view of how a student will succeed or perform at college level. Student s also agreed that colleges should not consider SAT scores for admission.

The majority of surveyed freshmen did not have much knowledge on the SAT, let alone an idea of how it may affect their future, as far as education is concerned. However, the freshmen with knowledge of the SAT feel that it is important to do well on it and score high. They believe that they must study hard in their first years of high school in order to feel that they are ready to take the SAT. Many of them agreed that taking special classes and taking the PSAT s might help to better prepare them when their time comes to take the test.

The majority of questioned sophomores felt that they still did not have much information on the SAT s, and did not really care to learn more about them. They felt as if they would like to do well, but would not feel it was worth their time or effort to make an attempt to better prepare. However, some felt as if this was their year to actually begin training and preparing for the SAT s. At this point most students felt that the SAT should not be used in their future, and should not be weighted as heavily as it is.

The majority of juniors shared different views about the SAT then those of the freshmen and sophomores. The juniors felt as if there was more of an emphasis about the SAT s then what was recognized earlier. On the other hand though, they felt that that SAT s should not only have no importance in their future, but also will not. They agreed that by now it was too late to start preparing for the test, so they should give up hope because they were not aware of its importance a couple years ago, and if perhaps they did have some more knowledge about it then they might be better prepared for it.

The majority of seniors are generally concerned about their scores on the SAT s. They agreed that if they did not do well on the SAT s, then perhaps they may not be able to go to what might be considered a good college, and therefore may not be able to get what might be considered a good job. They all generally asked, Why is their so much importance on it, maybe the one day that you take the SAT s it was your off day?

The teachers agreed with mostly what all the students had said. They believed that it was inaccurate way of testing one s knowledge, and students may not do as well if they haven t taken certain classes yet.

In conclusion, perhaps the SAT s are not an accurate measure of what a student may be able to do on any given day. Perhaps the SAT s should not be used to determine whether or not you should be accepted to a certain college. Perhaps they should change the SAT s so that their questions are more recognizable to students. However, as it stands, the test is long, grueling, and seems to just be another stress and anxiety cause in most students lives.