Over one million high school students took the SAT on Oct.1. Most would think they would be relieved and stress free by now; however, this not the case. The relief — or grief — only comes when the scores are released, and for the people who took the test in October, those scores are released this Thursday.
Juniors Neha Jagathesan, Aarushi Shah and Theresa Lee talk about their thoughts towards their scores being released and the stress that comes with it as the date gets closer and closer.
“I’m anxious and kind of stressed because if I don’t do well on this SAT then I’m going to have to take it a long time from now,” Jagathesan said. “I’m worried that [if I don’t do well and have to take the SAT again] I’ll have lost my SAT practicing skills by that time.”
Jagathesan explains how she felt after taking the real SAT for the first time. She indicates that while she was thankful it was over, she knew the harder part was still ahead.
“I was definitely relieved [after I finished the SAT] and I wasn’t really thinking about [the scores],” Jagathesan said. “[But] I’m anxious about seeing my scores [this Thursday].”
Jagathesan also feels there is extra incentive to do well in MVHS, specifically because of the ambitious environment. Everyone always wants to compare scores and see what others have gotten to know where they lie in the spectrum of skill.
“[The competitiveness at MVHS] adds to [the feeling of] ‘I have to have gotten a good score or people will be like “Oh she’s dumb”’,” Jagathesan said. “I think, especially in MVHS, we have this pressure [on us all the time].”
Shah explains about how she felt far less stressed after the actually taking the SAT because of the initial wave of relief that most students get after they finish the test.
While Shah felt relieved after taking the SAT, she also is becoming increasingly nervous, similarly to Jagathesan, as the score release gets closer.
“It didn’t actually hit me until today.” Shah said. “Before it was like ‘oh I just don’t want to think about it’ but today it [feels like tension is] building up.”
Lee dealt with the stress similarly to Shah in that she also was trying to avoid thinking about scores too much and focus on other things.
“I didn’t really want to think about [scores],” Lee said. “I’m not the type of person that likes to analyze everything after I take a test.”
Lee explained that with the SAT pressure from MVHS students creates additional stress which is what Jagathesan and Shah felt as well.
“I think because everyone is always talking about […] all their high scores [there is] more pressure,” Shah said.
