Handling the college prep stress

One month into junior year at Hewlett High School and the workload has increased each day. Between countless essays, textbook outlining and tons of classwork between numerous Advanced Placement, Honors and college classes, it gets increasingly difficult to enjoy leisure time. Extracurricular activities lead to increased stress levels and procrastination becomes the new norm. Although the notorious junior year is known for all of these, there is one reason why junior year remains so dreaded: the preparation for the SAT and ACT exams.

The SAT and ACT both have substantial effects on one’s high school and college career. Test scores determines which colleges he or she can apply to and lays down the official start of the circuitous route to college. The preparation for these tests takes up many hours per week and requires a significant amount of effort.

It demands countless hours of studying, whether it is mastering the skills and strategies needed to do well or memorizing complex vocabulary words. Many students choose to take the exams multiple times, to ensure they receive the best score they can to submit on their college application.

There is no doubt that the pressure of studying and preparing for the exams is very stressful on juniors. While studying in the Hewlett High School Library for my next test, I sat down next to my good friend and fellow junior, Divya Lall.

Divya confessed to me, “I’ve decided to take both exams. Preparing for both of them has been really hard. It takes a lot of work and time and can get really stressful. Being on the varsity tennis team, my afternoons are packed with practices and matches, while during the evening I do my homework and study for tests in my classes.”

She continued, “I barely even have time to eat dinner, so studying for the SAT and ACT is difficult since I barely have any time right now to study, but I make it work.” Finally, she said, “It’s tough, but that’s what junior year is. I am certain that although it is hard now, I will be satisfied with my scores on the exams because I am putting in a lot of effort now for the long run.”

The stress can be overwhelming at times, especially adding in co-curricular activities such as sports practices. But like an athlete, who practices hard to perform well in a game, all the studying and doing well on the tests will be rewarded when applying for colleges.