The SAT can be a trialing and stressful time for students across the country. Taking a test which has such a substantial impact on student’s future profession and their chances at getting into a college of their choice can cause anxiety, and this is the reason why students and staff around Grand Ledge High School take the SAT so seriously.

    The graduating class of 2020 just completed taking the SAT in the past week, and every Junior had their own unique opinions about how the SAT worked. Grand Ledge Junior Tyler McCready, went into the SAT feeling uncertain. His future plans are to go to a four year university and study business, so he felt as if he had a lot riding on the test to get him into a prestigious business school.

    “The test wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be,” McCready said. “Once I sat down, I began to feel nervous about the whole idea of taking one test to determine a big part of my future, but once I got rolling on the first few questions it seemed like all of the regular tests I’ve taken all throughout high school.”

   McCready believes he scored well on his SAT, and he is confident it will be good enough to get him where he wants to go.

   “I think I did well enough for it to get me into any college of my choice,” McCready said. “That is important to me because I am still looking at a lot of different schools across Michigan and the Midwest.”

   Another Junior, Kavion Autrey, had high hopes going into the SAT. He was confident in his chance to score good enough to fulfill his future plans. Autrey is a State Champion in track and field, and he is a star on the Comet football team, with the intent to play one or both sports at a Division 1 level in college.

   “Going into the SAT, I was pretty confident that I’d do well,” Autrey said. “As long as I did well enough on it to get me into college for track and football, I won’t be too stressed about my score.”

   It seems to be a common theme for students to go into the test with some worries, but it seems as if afterward, students feel much better as they finally got it over with. However, students also seem to feel more confident following the test. GL schools have also offered many resources to their students to prepare them to succeed on the SAT, which has given many students reasons to feel confident. The class “SAT Skills” is a resource that many students have used to better their chances on the SAT.  Students have also taken the PSAT since Freshman year, so the SAT seemed like just another standardized test. McCready touched on the comparison to the PSAT.

   “Once you started in on the SAT, it didn’t’ feel much different from the PSAT or the MEAP,” McCready said.“I was honestly surprised how much those [previous tests]  helped me on the SAT.”

   The “SAT week” can be a very stressful time for juniors who are thrown into taking a career deciding-test just days after spring break. Regardless, students who are prepared and have a plan are bound to due well and feel a boost of confidence prior to the test.