As I'm typing this, I have already taken my second ACT test. The first one I took at my high school in April, and while I received an average score, I wanted to retake it because I wanted to see if I can do better. The college I'm applying to doesn't really need it because it's a local community college. Sadly, my class was the last class at our high school to take the ACT because the rest of the classes will be taking the SAT.
A freaking number should NOT define how smart we are or whether colleges think we're good enough. Some students may be extremely smart but may not be excellent test takers, which happens to me. I don't do well being timed. English is my best subject, along with Science. Math and Reading are my weak subjects. Math has always been a hard subject for me. Some of the problems on the test I've never even learned because I'm not in advanced or AP math courses. First, I do the ones I know and then, if I have to, I guess. 35 MINUTES is not enough time for my brain to process so much boring, especially if the reading is so BORING. Science is sometimes difficult to comprehend the graphs or tables, etc.
Going through all that is excruciatingly exhausting. The days leading up to the test day is filled with so much anxiety. Anxiety is what kills me during the test. The what-ifs roam my mind.
Why must be go through that pain of taking standardized testing? Just so colleges can tell us you're smart enough to attend our college? Hell no. Good for those who score a 36 or 1600 on the SAT, but not everyone is good at test taking.
The point is, tests shouldn't define who we are. No number shouldn't define us.
