Sophomore and junior students walk into their designated test centers with pencils in hand, ready for the next three and a half hours that will determine the course of their lives. In the whirlwind of the stress, anxiety, and tears students get ready to face their biggest fear. All the practice tests and prep classes will finally come to use, but will you do as well as you hoped to?

Everything you have worked for is put into one score, and for those who aren’t good test takers, you are out of luck. Most colleges look at your SAT scores, and in that moment you are just viewed as a number. No matter how much you care about school or how hard you work in class, in that moment, the score on your transcript carries a decent weight.

The SAT,  Scholastic Aptitude Test, created by The College Board is offered to high school juniors, and seniors from October through June. It is by far one of the most stressful examinations of all time.

Ms. Beck the college counselor said, “The larger the school, the more likely they are to rely on SAT scores as a deciding factor. This is because the test scores provide another way of weaving out the huge number of candidates.”

Most of the time, students start preparation for these examinations a year or two in advance. Over two million students take the SAT a year, thus  the stakes are high and extremely competitive. When the comes to take the exam, you have to sign up for a spot in one of the testing centers located throughout New York City. “I think the SAT is unfair because it makes your high school grades irrelevant. You could do really well in high school and be top of every class but you could do poorly on the SAT and not get into the colleges you were hoping for,” said Wiktoria Zysk, a sophomore at the iSchool.

A lot of schools have a cut-off score, meaning that if you get below a certain score on the SAT, they will not consider you. This is absolutely ridiculous, because some kids do extremely well in class yet don’t do well on tests.

“The college process is supposed to be about students learning about themselves, but the SAT creates a lot of stress on students which takes away from doing so. However, the test taking skills are also important because you are going to have to take hard tests in life just like the SAT,” Ms.Beck said with a smile.

Students realize how important these tests are, and it creates an overwhelming pressure to do “good.” Gabriella Sosa (Sy) Medina, a junior, said, “[The practice for the SAT] stresses you out because while you are practicing you realize how important these tests are, and that this practice is essential because you cannot mess up.”

The SAT is also setting students up to do worse due to the time allotted for sections. In some sections, the time given was less than the amount of questions, forcing students to rush instead of taking time to find the correct answer. Mollie Zoldan, who took the PSAT in October, said, “I don’t think that the SAT is fair at all. The questions are fine, but the time isn’t enough.”

The SAT is an extremely unfair test in general, as Mollie Zoldan said in an interview; “Tests aren’t the best way to measure student’s intelligence,” yet The College Board is doing exactly that, and it needs to be terminated in the best interest of students’ futures.