by Dr. Aimee Weinstein
Taking any standardized test, especially one designed for college admissions is a nerve-wracking proposition. The head of the College Board, the company that administers the new SAT, understands that all too well. “I’m in the anxiety field,” David Coleman acknowledged this week in an interview with The Washington Post. What Coleman forgets is that it’s not just the test that stresses students to the max. Beyond testing, there are grades, social concerns, and even family time included in the busy schedule of a high school junior or senior. These kids need a toolbox for managing all the stress in their lives, particularly the testing, where concrete methods for success actually do exist.
The new SAT, according to Coleman, is designed to test what the kids are learning in their classes, which should take some of the hard line pressure off of them for preparing for the test, but that is not the case. Until the universities themselves take away the focus on the testing, the pressure to do well on the SAT and ACT will remain high. The call for test preparation – and the associated anxiety – also rises exponentially with each change in the test.
Those changes are rampant. For example, the ACT writing changed in September from a simple “take a stand” type of prompt to one that asks kids to compare responses to a question and align themselves with one of the three given. The SAT changed just this month from an argument essay to one of literary analysis. These essays are optional, but given the number of schools to which each kid applies, he or she is better off sitting for the essay of the test just in case one of the schools requires it.
If it is available, test preparation can help immensely with lowering the anxieties about the tests. It is more than just knowing information; the key is to understand how the test works, what the best strategies are for looking at the test – and the essay – and figuring out the best way for each individual to study. Some kids will do well with Khan Academy, as the College Board hopes, since that is a free service with which they have aligned for test prep, but many kids do better with more individualized, face-to-face attention.
There is no way to completely remove the anxiety surrounding standardized testing. But at Inspiring Test Preparation, we can lower the pressure and help our students feel comfortable with the tasks at hand. From verbal and math classes to essay classes, to simple strategy, our goal is confident kids. If the students can go into the test believing they have the tools to succeed then the odds are they will.
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