Clare+H's+Op-Ed+Article



=**SAT: Stupid And Tiring**=

media type="file" key="clareh-muckrakers-2012.mp3"

I had never known what it actually stood for. However, after arising much earlier than I would normally choose to on a Saturday morning and sitting through 5 grueling hours of mind-numbing continuity and dullness that required extensive amounts of cranial activity, I discovered that it in fact stands for Stupid And Tiring.

Why colleges think it is a plausible idea to judge students based on the score they achieve on a Sickeningly Atrocious Test is beyond me. Furthermore, I find it very difficult to comprehend why Such A Test is taken early on a Saturday morning, when Students Are Tired and mentally drained from a long week of school.

Also, the examination is timed. This brutal time constraint limits each section to 25 minutes, therefore further preventing students from performing to their absolute best potential, because in the back of every test-taker’s mind is the lurking stress that accompanies a time limit, the nagging thoughts that constantly remind you that time is tick tick ticking away. And, as it is proven that the human brain cannot concentrate on more than one thing simultaneously, whilst one’s focus should be on nothing but the exam, the clock serves as a distraction, seducing the brain, and one’s eyes cannot help but flit back forth from the test to the clock, Stressing About Time.

And, as though the time limit isn’t bad enough, there’s also the fact that test-takers are presided over by two administrative onlookers who are equally put out with having been forced to return to school in the early hours of a Saturday morning. Now, these authoritative figures may differ from testing room to testing room, but if it so happens that you are assigned to rooms 14 and 15, you will find yourself under the jurisdiction of a Strictly- Acrimonious, Terrible demon in the form of a Stout, Androgynous, Terrifying woman, who flies into a fury if a student is caught prematurely opening a test booklet or placing a calculator upon their desk without being duly instructed to do so.

This lovely woman was accompanied by a mute man who would stare at you intensely with dark, beady eyes as he stalked up and down the rows of desks, a chain dangling from his belt loop that would clang softly as it gently swung, keeping rhythm to the pace of his stride. This, combined with his Stubble And T-shirt, created a janitor-like style of his that is in no way welcoming when seen in your peripheral line of vision as you struggle to focus your concentration on the test.

The SAT is a sad excuse of a college requirement.