Ah. The Scholastic Aptitude Test – or should I say Sadness and Tears, cause really that’s all the SATs really are to me. I won’t say that I’m the worst student out there, if the few awards I’ve gotten throughout my many academic years are any indication, but I’m not gonna say that I’m the best student either. Through my many endeavours in my school life, I’ve learnt one thing, I genuinely suck at math. I understand the majority of what I’ve been taught, but when applying it to sets of questions, I always end up with “SYNTAX ERROR” on my calculator or just an answer that if way off from the right one.
If any of you who are reading this (I doubt there will be many) don’t know what the SATs are, I’m sure you can guess by now that it’s a test, hence the name. It’s a very important test to many students in the world who follow the American curriculum or want to apply to American universities, or even un-American universities that require it. It is scored out of 1600 and has two sections, math and reading/writing, each scored out of a 800 and you essentially automatically get a 200 on each section if you write your name correctly. I have nothing against the reading and writing section other than the fact that the reading section bothers me because of the fact that the things we read can be interpreted in many different ways and I always eliminate answers until I get two that I think are correct, but ultimately end up choosing the wrong one because of my interpretation (or my misunderstanding). Don’t get me wrong, there are questions where I the fault is in me not knowing what certain words mean or just not understanding the text in general, but I will say that my score is brought down because of such differences in interpretations and it really sucks.
The math section is similarly perplexing. All the math-lovers out there may think the SATs are just a small hurdle to jump over, but for someone like me it is a wall that Donald Trump has built to keep me from getting the right answer. I’ve done enough practice tests with my AP English Language practice and my few SAT practices to get the gist of what the College Board wants with the answers from the Reading and Writing sections, but you can’t find patterns in the math section, despite the fact that math is literally based on patterns and what not. There’s always one answer and one answer only and one miscalculation can lead to a whole domino effect that gives you a 550 score on the math section. I’m sure some people find math fascinating because of this and that’s cool, but we all have out opinions on this and I definitely don’t like math that much. To be fair I do sometimes enjoy it when I figure things out, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I sulked for a whole two hours when I took my diagnostic test for the SAT math section.
I’m not going to say that the SATs are unnecessary and unimportant because they are. Universities and colleges used them as a basis to determine who makes the cut and what not, but as a person who doesn’t test very well – it’s a huge hurdle to overcome. Although it sucks and is a bit unfair to people who can do well in other areas other than Math and English, it poses a challenge that a hard working student must overcome, and I guess that in itself is what universities want to see. It’s able to build our work ethic even though the multiple mental breakdowns that may or may not occur.
I’ve recently begun studying for the SATs, but I genuinely don’t know how to – especially with the reading section because there isn’t anything to follow like with equations or grammar rules, so a lot of practice has to go into that, and the same goes for my math skills. Because it’s summer, I’m hoping to spend a lot of time on studying, but because I’m stressed about things like my Etsy store and the future in general, I’m not sure if I’ll get my scores up in time for the December test date, which is when I’ll be taking it.
If anyone can relate or has any tips for me, please do leave a comment somewhere because I genuinely could use some help. Thanks for reading!
On a brighter note, though totally unrelated to the SATs, I’ve painting this awesome painting that I’m really happy about and I’m hoping to sell it on Facebook marketplace, but I’m not sure how that’ll go. My Etsy shop has been getting a little more views, but no one has bought anything.
-Cindy
Contact information:
Instagram: @blooloopeep, Shop Instagram: @wishfulcreationsshop
Email: cindy121343@gmail.com
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WishfulCreationsShop?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
chasing the unknown 