THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260077
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIMBERLY FRIEDMAN, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
THE SILENCE SCREAMS as I sit in quiet desperation staring at the sharpened No. 2 pencil on my desk. Gazing at the hundreds of little ovals marching across the paper in front of me, I realize that my future lies within their confines.
Welcome to the SAT.
From day one of high school, students have their heads drilled with statements such as ``This vocabulary will come in handy when you take the SAT,'' and ``Make sure you get used to filling in the oval correctly; this method is used on the SAT.''
No wonder students believe that the SAT is the single most important factor in determining college acceptance.
That's wrong, says Jeffrey Penn, a spokesperson in the New York office of The College Board, the organization that issues the SAT.
``The SATs measure developed skill, not innate abilities,'' Penn explained. ``It is meant to be an objective test used to measure potential in college.'' Penn added that because different schools offer different courses, have different grading scales and teach at different levels of difficulty, a student's potential for success in college is hard to measure by the high school record alone. Thus, in an attempt to help colleges, the SAT was developed.
Lately, the SAT has been de-emphasized by colleges. Some schools, including Virginia Tech, state clearly on their applications that a good high school record will compensate for low SAT scores, but high SAT scores will not substitute for a poor school record.
On test day, one of the biggest fears among students is that they will be too nervous to concentrate, won't feel good or won't have enough time to finish. There is not a section of the test that asks, ``How do you feel right now?''
What many students don't realize is that colleges do understand that not everyone is feeling great the day of the SAT, according to college recruiters I've spoken with. The reason colleges request essays, activity resumes, a record of courses taken and letters of recommendation is because they realize that students have more to offer than their SAT scores.
``If I had to offer a word of advice to students preparing to take the SAT, I would remind them that SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test. Colleges just want to see if you have potential on a college level, and they are fully justified in doing so,'' said Sharon Haring, honors English and advanced composition teacher at First Colonial High School.
Despite all of the swirling fears of high school students, the truth is that the SAT is not the beastly monster they think it is. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Kimberly Friedman is a senior at First Colonial High.
by CNB