New testing implemented for underclassmen

By Caroline Kammerer

Wednesday, Oct. 14, will be a testing day here at Badin for freshman, sophomores and some of the juniors. This year, testing looks a bit different, and not just because of the coronavirus. For juniors, the PSAT is now optional. As for freshman and sophomores, it’s been done away with entirely.

Taking the place of the PSAT is new Pre-ACT testing, which hopes to better prepare the underclassmen for the real ACT later on.

Mrs. Thaeler, the new testing coordinator, believes that this new form of testing will help students be better prepared for the real ACT.

“The Pre-ACT testing is giving our freshman and sophomores extra practice so that they can keep track of how they are progressing academically. If a student is wanting to go the college route, the more practice they have with the ACT the better they will do. And obviously the better you do on the ACT you have more options for your colleges,” Thaeler said.

With COVID-19 complicating things with testing centers this year, many colleges are making the test score part of applications optional. However, the real question is, will colleges ever go back to requiring standardized test scores?

Regardless of the answer to this question, Badin wants to be prepared for any outcome.

“Because of COVID, this might be the final transition of no more ACT or SAT. At Badin, as long as colleges want these scores, we will provide testing,” Thaeler said.

The Pre-ACT testing has not been a recent idea. This new testing has been in the works for about a year now. The previous testing coordinator, Mr. Keating, believed that students needed something more beneficial.

“The primary reason is that the overwhelming majority of students take the ACT college admissions exam and until junior year, they don't get a measurement on where they score. This new testing will benefit students more than the PSAT,” Keating said.

Decreasing the importance of the PSAT for students who don’t plan on taking the SAT can be helpful in reducing the general stress of standardized tests. Having the test be optional can be very helpful for students who want to focus more on the ACT.

“With making it [the PSAT] optional, seniors didn't see value in it and thought that it wasn't effective because most students don't take the SAT, and younger students are aiming for a better ACT score,” Keating said.

You might expect many high school students to opt out of an optional standardized test and take the day off, but this was not the case for the class of 2022.

“The Scholar Leader Academy has to take the test, but other than that it’s optional for the juniors. I expected only 10-15 students to take it and 55 are signed up,” Keating said.

While standardized tests might be dreaded by the high school population, taking these tests can be helpful even beyond college applications.

“Throughout your life to get licensure --for me it was education-- I had to take a standardized test for that. Taking any standardized tests will always give you more practice for testing in your future,” Thaeler said.

Good luck to all who are testing tomorrow!