Izzy Appelt, News Editor
@IzzyAcourant
On Tuesday March 28, the annual in-school SAT will be administered to all juniors running from 8 am to about 12pm, with the exception of students with extra time. According to Assistant Principal Larry Sullivan, this SAT is funded and administered by the state of Connecticut, and therefore all juniors enrolled in a public school are required to take the test. “The SAT has been around as a college entrance test for generations, but about 7 years ago, the state decided that rather than giving students an additional test to take, they would administer an SAT, a test most students were already taking to measure each school’s overall proficiency in core subjects,” he said.
In order to graduate, students must display a level of proficiency in different subjects, and for many students, this assessment is an opportunity to display these abilities. “Generally speaking, our students perform very well on this test. For some students, it becomes their way for meeting graduation proficiency requirements. In addition to having to receive credit in a number of different classes, students have to display proficiency in a number of skills such as reading, writing, research, and math.” Mr. Sullivan said.
The levels of which students are preparing for the in-school SAT has varied based on a number of factors, including how far along in the process they are and how they plan to use their test scores. Junior Jack Sommers is one of a number of students who have been diligently preparing for the upcoming exam along with future SATs. “I have been preparing using a weekly prep course along with taking tests every other week,” he said. “SAT prep has helped me a lot to feel more prepared and confident for future exams, especially going into the March one.”
Aside from state and graduation requirements, this test will also offer a guideline to students just starting to think about taking future college entrance standardized tests. “The majority of students come in and try to do their best on this, whether it is because it is their first SAT or they have been prepping individually for the ACT or SAT,” Mr. Sullivan said. “To some extent, it offers a baseline, and the results will help them identify what they want to work on.”
This SAT, unlike ones administered in the past, is fully online. “Due to the switch over to a digital format, with students taking it on the computer, the results will be given back fairly quickly – sometime in early to mid April. This will allow students to gain an understanding of where they are if they wish to take the SAT sometime again in the future.”
