The eerie silence of a room—only broken by the occasional click of a mouse and the light tapping of a person’s foot—is something that most students are familiar with while taking standardized tests. In an attempt to create fair tests that compare all students on the same spectrum and decide where students are placed academically, primary and secondary schools created tests such as the CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) to administer to all. Similar to the tests students take to determine their placement in high school, some colleges utilize the SAT as a determining factor in their admissions.
“There’s so many kids applying to college that there has to be some metric,” AGHS Career Center Technician Trisha Oksner said.
The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is a test administered by the College Board and is used by many colleges as a part of the acceptance and admission process. Many California colleges do not require students to take this test. The different requirements for different colleges can confuse students and leave them uninformed, unless they do their own research.
“I think communicating and marketing is one of the hardest things about being at a school this big,” Oksner said. “We have so many channels for communication, and I think people just get kind of saturated so then they tune out.”
Despite its importance, the SAT is no longer administered at AGHS, leading it to not even be a thought in students’ minds. So, many students do not take it because they are not aware of it or are unable to drive tens to hundreds of miles to actually go take it.
“The vast majority of kids [taking the SAT locally] were from out of the area,” Oksner said.
The closest places to take the test are in Santa Maria and Bakersfield, which are both out of the way for many students. Because the school does not administer it, they are not obliged to advertise it or even bring it up. This leaves it entirely up to the students to take the initiative to be self-sufficient and seek out the information themselves.
“I’ve posted [SAT information] for the seniors on the senior Google Classroom, the career center update, and the weekly newsletter,” Oksner said.
Timing is important when it comes to taking the SAT because there are only so many times it is offered and there are strict deadlines students have to meet when signing up. Those deadlines could be hard to meet if students don’t know more about the test, which then creates problems for students who want to take the test.
“I [try to] show them that [the virtual classroom] is there, it’s updated, and it’s dynamic,” Oksner said.
However, not all schools require the SAT, so it is not a priority for all students. UCs do not require the SAT, so many students do not think they need to take it. Even though it is not required, it can be a helpful tool for colleges to look at when deciding on their admissions.
“When they did away with [the SAT], suddenly the applications flooded in and the pool of accepted kids got even smaller and tighter,” Oksner said.
There are many advantages to taking the SAT that students sometimes miss out on. The SAT is not a test that all students have to take or even consider taking, but it can be very important. It could even be the difference between getting admitted into or getting rejected from college. UCs are considering bringing back the SAT, so exposing students to how it works is important.
For more information on how to sign up, go to: College Board
