It’s almost the halfway point in the second semester here at Jefferson Morgan, and with the ending of a grading period comes testing; whether it be Keystone tests, SAT practice/ SAT test, or finals in a weighted class.  This time of year juniors and seniors alike are signing up for their SAT tests, and some are taking their Keystone tests, in Literature, Algebra, or Biology.

The keystone tests start on May 16^th with the Algebra tests and end on the 27^th with the Biology keystones. For any students who are taking must pass all the tests by their senior year to graduate. The final sign-ups for SATs for this school year are April 22^nd for mail and April 26^th for online and phone sign-ups. The test date for those sign-ups will be on May 7^th, and allows for score delivery right before graduation.  The SAT’s this year are very different from the last year’s version. According to the board that generates the test, they say that “The test has been fit more to reflect more what students have learned in classes, and is built to look like something they may have worked on in class.”

The SAT are one of the things that cause a lot of stress among the student body who has to worry about doing good on their SAT’s. The College Board recommends that students should take the SAT’s 3 times, once as sophomore, once as a junior, and once as a senior. There is a big advantage of taking the SAT’s multiple times mainly because of the improvement that may happen each time they take the test.

The second semester always brings this rush feeling and the SAT’s and Keystones just add more stress to the already impending calamity of finals, and the percentage point push that seems to happen every nine weeks before grades become final.