The Real Test
In elementary school, it never crossed my mind to compare myself to others. I was one of the kids that was considered “gifted,” who got to occasionally go to the back of the classroom and learn separate, more advanced topics. In other words, life was good. I wasn’t an arrogant kid, but I didn’t constantly have thoughts of feeling stupid. Then came middle and high school. As a kid, testing was very rare; when it did occur, I was always reinforced with candy, and notes that said I was going to do great- and I flourished. Then, along came the big leagues, where I was tested every week, tests were a significant portion of my grade, and my intelligence was determined by how well I could problem solve. For the first time, I started …show more content…
No one told me this then, but thoughts are everything. Today, I thoroughly believe that had I not gone into these tests already believing I would fail, I would have done significantly better. Flash-forward to the PSAT that year, a test that would show how I could potentially score on the SAT. I still remember taking the test in vivid detail; I remember the room, the obligatory speech they do every time about electronics, #2 pencils, and calculators, and the impatient shifting of all the students more than eager to get the test over with. I remember flying through the reading section as I usually do, and enjoying the grammar section of the test. Particularly, I recall thinking that the math section was fairly difficult, and that I didn’t even finish answering the questions. Afterward, when everyone spoke of how easy the math was I tried not to think about it. Now, I took this test pretty seriously- I’d dreamed of far off colleges since I was in 6th grade, and the colleges of my dreams weren’t taking low-scoring students, so in my eyes the SAT was everything. Of course, the PSAT is not the SAT. It is a preliminary exam that allows you to see how well you would have done, and what you can improve on. However, when our scores came back later that spring and my math scores were significantly lower than I would have hoped, this was not my way of …show more content…
It has become custom for our school systems to teach us less and assess us more, with no one stopping to think that the reason our test scores are so low might actually point right back at them. With districts dictating exactly what teachers should do, how they should do it, and when they should have it taught by, we are being taught more in preparation for an assessment and less for the actual purpose of learning. Another thing that “Big Brother” did not seem to want me to know is that I have talents and skills that can’t be measured by questions and answers. Thanks to examinations like the PSAT (or the SAT), I grew up believing that sure, I may be musical, and self-sufficient, and capable of reading books in a day, but if I could not manipulate and dictate trigonometric equations on paper, I must surely be
In elementary school, it never crossed my mind to compare myself to others. I was one of the kids that was considered “gifted,” who got to occasionally go to the back of the classroom and learn separate, more advanced topics. In other words, life was good. I wasn’t an arrogant kid, but I didn’t constantly have thoughts of feeling stupid. Then came middle and high school. As a kid, testing was very rare; when it did occur, I was always reinforced with candy, and notes that said I was going to do great- and I flourished. Then, along came the big leagues, where I was tested every week, tests were a significant portion of my grade, and my intelligence was determined by how well I could problem solve. For the first time, I started …show more content…
No one told me this then, but thoughts are everything. Today, I thoroughly believe that had I not gone into these tests already believing I would fail, I would have done significantly better. Flash-forward to the PSAT that year, a test that would show how I could potentially score on the SAT. I still remember taking the test in vivid detail; I remember the room, the obligatory speech they do every time about electronics, #2 pencils, and calculators, and the impatient shifting of all the students more than eager to get the test over with. I remember flying through the reading section as I usually do, and enjoying the grammar section of the test. Particularly, I recall thinking that the math section was fairly difficult, and that I didn’t even finish answering the questions. Afterward, when everyone spoke of how easy the math was I tried not to think about it. Now, I took this test pretty seriously- I’d dreamed of far off colleges since I was in 6th grade, and the colleges of my dreams weren’t taking low-scoring students, so in my eyes the SAT was everything. Of course, the PSAT is not the SAT. It is a preliminary exam that allows you to see how well you would have done, and what you can improve on. However, when our scores came back later that spring and my math scores were significantly lower than I would have hoped, this was not my way of …show more content…
It has become custom for our school systems to teach us less and assess us more, with no one stopping to think that the reason our test scores are so low might actually point right back at them. With districts dictating exactly what teachers should do, how they should do it, and when they should have it taught by, we are being taught more in preparation for an assessment and less for the actual purpose of learning. Another thing that “Big Brother” did not seem to want me to know is that I have talents and skills that can’t be measured by questions and answers. Thanks to examinations like the PSAT (or the SAT), I grew up believing that sure, I may be musical, and self-sufficient, and capable of reading books in a day, but if I could not manipulate and dictate trigonometric equations on paper, I must surely be