Each year, students across the country prepare for the Scholastic Assessment Test, better referred to as the SAT. Concern, guilt about late nights, and overall anxiety fill students as the date for Mooresville’s test comes up on Wednesday, March 4. How can this feeling become more dormant, and what even is the SAT?

The SAT is a nation wide standardized test, along with others like the ACT. The SAT is Indiana’s official high school accountability assessment, meaning the state uses the performance scores from students to evaluate how the school is preforming their academic responsibilities. For students, the SAT is a way to assess where they are for english and math skills before going into a college atmosphere.

Due to the fact that the SAT is a standard for Indiana, high schools are required to give the test for free once to all students in 11th grade. MHS gives their junior classes the SAT sometime in late 3rd quarter. Students should assess their scores and have a general idea on what they will need to improve on before possibly attending a college next fall.

SAT’s often bring up fear and anxiety from students as they prepare to take a test that helps decide their future academic career, but their are ways to counter the feeling. One of the most common ways is to do what everyone says to do, study! It may seem like a simple thing, but it can and will be the difference in the score someone may get on the SAT.

Senior Cora Craft, who took the SAT last year, said that using her tools to her advantage was a life saver. Using tools such as Khan Academy and the “five finger” method has helped her grow, saying that some of the questions on Khan Academy seemed copied and pasted onto the SAT. The five finger method means you can miss five questions on the first math section to advance to the harder math sections for the second.

Craft also suggests starting early and listening to teachers. Craft started early her sophomore year, but wishes she would have started sooner to build up those test taking skills. Craft also agrees that the PSAT, a preliminary test that sophomores and juniors take, is very similar and is a great way to prep someone over the testing environment.

“Just listen to your teachers, they’ve done it for years. They know how its done, so do whatever guide they want you to do,” Craft said.

Junior Emma Meece has not yet taken the test, but is in serious preparation for the SAT. Just like Craft, Meece has been utilizing her resources such as Khan Academy and Southwestern Advantage, which is a paid app to use. Southwestern Advantage is similar to Khan Academy where someone can specialize what they want to study. She has also taken full length practice tests. Meece started her preparation sophomore year with Khan Academy and started using the app junior year. A mix of independent and teacher recommendations led to the discoveries of these applications.

Meece recognizes that the SAT can cause worry, and for good reason, but says to relax and don’t worry so much about it.

“The SAT does matter. I would tell them to not worry about it as much, because the more you worry about it the less of a score you are going to get. Just try to use your resources. Teachers, apps, Google, try to use something,” Meece said.

Math teacher Sarah Brown agrees with students that the SAT is an important part of the school and college process, but it does not define the future of someones academic career. It’s normal to feel nervous about the SAT.

In Brown’s classes, students utilize Khan Academy weekly to build up skills working towards the SAT. This allows her to give feedback and help students specifically where they are studying. She gives this list to someone who is stuck on where to start in preparation.

• Stay organized on test day. Have your scratch paper labeled and ready for problems.
• Skip hard questions at first.
• Go searching for problems you know how to do.
• Do not spend too much time on one question.
• Secure the easy points first, then return to harder ones if time allows.

While these simple tricks seem like they won’t make or break the test, students and teachers have both agreed that having a strategic going into test day is a great way to prepare someone.