The May SATs have just passed. In what was supposed to be a relaxing week of vacation, many ISB juniors and sophomores felt overwhelmed by the pressure of studying for the most important standardized test for students applying to US colleges.

Chris Krueger, a junior, says that he ‘destroyed his weekends’ studying for SATs in a special prep course that cost several hundred dollars. Alex Park, another junior, states that her mother made her take ten hours of lessons over the week leading up, with many more hours at home so that she essentially 'wasn't able to do anything else.'

All this, plus the 70$ international fee, to sit for four cramped hours taking a test that most US colleges find pretty important. Seems like quite an ordeal?

I took the SATs around October of this year, and without studying I got a high score, roughly equivalent to an A or A-. But because I was of the opinion that that wasn’t high enough and that with some studying I could raise it, I chose to sign up for it again.

In retrospect, that choice highlights how deeply the academic, over-achieving culture is rooted in me. Why am I paying my parents’ money and spending my time in discomfort, just to satisfy that part of my ego tied to these stupid numbers?

Still, a lot of students go back to take the SAT a second or a third time, hoping and trying to improve their score.

In an ideal world, people would send off their college transcripts reading, "my name is (e.g. David Borgonjon) and I don't really think that the SATs reflect my value as a human being." But, in the eyes of most universities, quantifications of aptitude and ability are a reflection of a student's value.

That's never going to change, so I'll have to quit crying over spilled milk. What's really worse is that so many of us at ISB believe it, and actually tie our worth and value to arbitrary numbers. Like me, for example.

P.S. I actually have to take the SAT Subject Tests next year, which test aptitude in specific subjects, not just overall. I find these slightly less questionable, since they are similar to the exams and tests we take in class. However, multiple choice answers for tests with a strong element of subjectivity like Literature are always open to debate.

What do you think of the SATs?