Did you Test?

By: Alayna Irby-Pi

November 13, 2023

Starting generally around the summer of your sophomore year and nearing December of your senior year comes big responsibility and prep in regard to Collage applications. There's lots of controversy surrounding the debate on SAT/ACT testing and whether they should be taken or not even if they are not required.  

“It gets very confusing when you're trying to decide if you should be taking these tests or if you shouldn't," said Senior Kristan Mason.  

Lots of institutions have disregarded the use of these standardized tests when deciding on a student's admission to the institution. With this new wave of potentially altering information spreading rapidly to Senior students' parents and educators are not sure if their students should even take the SAT/ACT.  

“It's a great opportunity for students who may not financially have the budget nor time to schedule to test outside of school hours or for the rather hefty fee the SAT costs some families,” said College and Career Counselor Dr.Byrd.  

Most universities rely heavily on a student's college essay when looking to admit a student within their institution/program. But what happens when a student struggles with that aspect of their application? There is a grey area where students question sending in those standardized test scores or not and rather rely on the essay.    

“I have never been a good test taker, so I haven't been looking forward to the SAT/ACT which led me to decide I was going to spend more time on my common app essay rather than studying the prep for the SAT,” Senior Grace Huber said.  

Colgan seniors were provided a fee waiver to take the SAT/ACT during the school day if they pleased. Many students were provided with a booklet to study and take home to potentially help boost the likelihood of higher scores. So how many students really took advantage of this opportunity to take their SAT/ACT’s at Colgan? Let's look...