High school students stress over drama, grades, and colleges. However, one other area truly brings stress for students: SATs.

When junior year hits, students make SAT’s their first priority as they begin to move into the realm of looking into colleges and doing whatever it takes to  get the highest score they possibly can on the SAT.

The SAT was originally designed as a predictive test to see how good an individual will do in college, based on prior knowledge they’ve learned throughout all their years of grade school. Today, things have changed. SAT Prep classes teach you ways to sneak through the SAT based on how it’s designed. For example, when you’re in the reading section of the SAT, prep classes teach you to answer the questions that  ask for definitions first before the ones that ask what the paragraph is  about. Using tricks and shortcuts defeats the purpose of the SAT’s true meaning. I don’t believe in taking SAT classes or prep courses, because I want a college to accept me for what I am and what I show on the test.  I want no type of false advertisement. This attitude also helps me in knowing that if I get accepted into a university that, I am well-suited for, I can prepare for the rigors of that university. Paying $300 for a course that prepares you and teaches you tricks of the test  doesn’t make any type of sense to me, and I feel that all SAT prep classes should be banned. This will clearly separate those who have truly worked hard in school and prepared on their own from those who do well based on what they learned in such a class. Otherwise, it’s really hard to tell who really knows their stuff and who knows how to get by a subject test. Also, many people in this world cannot  afford these classes or prep courses, so they have no way to get the extra help that other people get.

Colleges should not base their admissions too highly on SAT scores, but they should make other aspects like recommendations, extracurricular activities , and one’s overall GPA more important to the process.