When one has received their acceptance letter into their first college, they feel a sigh of relief. They reflect upon how they had spent hours upon hours studying for their standardized tests and it has finally paid off because they feel they are going somewhere in life. After all the money both the students and parents spent on tutors and prep books for the SATs and ACTs, it’s finally over and you feel that you are done taking standardized tests.
Unfortunately, that thought is false. Many majors require a test in order to get into graduate school or even to just be able to finish your degree, in order to get a job in the field of your major. So that feeling falls right back into place and you are back buying prep books and spending hours in coffee shops or the library trying to study material that you most likely learned in high school, but have forgotten throughout your college career.
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With the SATs, there was a focus on learning the strategies to taking the test more than learning the material that is on the exam, but with exams for jobs or graduate schools, they are more focused on learning the material and being able to answer the questions under a time constraint.
I’m not sure about everyone else, but I am not a test taker. I hate taking tests, especially important ones, such as the SATs or Praxis. I am in the process of taking the Praxis, which is the test in order to get into graduate school for education. I have bought my prep-book and already taken the exam once, but unfortunately math is one of my weaknesses and although I briefly remember learning these concepts in high school, I have not taken an algebra or calculus class in college. I passed the reading and writing section with flying colors, as that is my major and what I want to teach. I had to have my friends help me study for the math section and asked one of my friend’s who is an engineer to tutor me because I want to only have to retake this section once.
Although it is not the worst thing to retake a section, it prolongs the wait that you have for hearing whether you are accepted into graduate school or if you have received that job you had applied for.
My best advice for those of you know have just finished the standardized college entry tests is congratulations, you’ve finished part one of standardized testing, but don’t completely throw those strategies out of your mind because you will need them to reappear later in life, when you are ready to jump into your profession.
Know that it’s going to be okay, no matter what happens. For many tests you are able to retake them, but try to put your all into reviewing and studying for them for the first time. Many of the topics that will be covered, I guarantee you have learned before and for some reason you just have to be able to pass them again in order to continue into the next professional steps.
Enjoy the break of standardized testing throughout the first few years of college, but keep in mind that they are not completely over and you will most likely have to take another test in order to fulfill your profession.
