Well, juniors, here we are. The time that everyone has been dreading has finally come: the ACT.

For some of us, that means that we’ve been preparing for weeks, maybe even months to get the score that will guarantee us into the college of our choice because we’re not those geniuses who complain about getting scores above a 30. For others, April 23 snuck up on us, and we’re hoping to just wing it and get anything higher than a 20.

Either way you look at it, there’s no denying that the ACT is a lot of pressure. Ivy leagues are asking us to score above a 30, and Big 10 schools (along with most other schools) are looking for anything in the mid to high 20s.

Junior year has suddenly been filled with numbers: the codes to the colleges we want to send our test scores to, the score we got on our ACT/SAT, our social security number, and more. Every day, students are being treated more as numbers and less as people.

This past month, I attended the annual college night that Niles West hosts. Being interested in the University of Indiana in Bloomington, I headed over to that table to get a few questions answered. During our conversation, the man running the table admitted that Indiana looks primarily at scores, whether it be the ACT, SAT, or your GPA. Basically, in the eyes of the admissions office, I’m nothing more than a number on a piece of paper.

My mother, anything if not humble, then decided that that would be a great time to jump in and tell the man just how talented I am at writing, and all of the things I’ve accomplished at West so far. Taken aback by her outburst, the man decided to rephrase his response by telling me that they might take other factors into consideration, such as essays, letters of recommendation, or previous accomplishments, but still, the primary focus would be the test scores.

Soon after that uplifting conversation, the University of Iowa told us the same thing.

“Alyssa,” my mom said to me as we were leaving, “It’s really important that you get really good scores on everything from here on out. They don’t know you like we do, they’re not going to take all of your skills into consideration, as soon as they see something they don’t like, they’re just going to throw your application aside.”

Her solution to ensure that my application doesn’t get dismissed like so many others?

“Just get a 30 on your ACT. How hard could it be?”

A moment of silence for her endearing, blind, motherly encouragement.

The point that I’m trying to make is that the ACT objectifies students.

Are you an aspiring artist? Great. You may be the best artist at your school, in your district, or even in your state, but because you’re an artistic, creative person, you might not do so well when it comes to testing. The admissions offices in college aren’t going to have sympathy for you if you’re the best artist, the best writer, the best debater, or even the class president.

If what you’re able to robotically spit out onto a piece of paper doesn’t meet their standards, you can say hello to your back up college, and goodbye to your dream college.

Yes, I do sound bitter, but soon, I’m going to have to take a four-hour test that pretty much determines my future.

Four hours. Four hours on a hard chair, in a cold classroom, with a blank, uninviting piece of paper staring back at me just waiting to be filled with what are hopefully the correct bubbles.

Recently, I took a practice ACT for math, and I found my mind wandering every other question. I felt like my brain was a water balloon in the hands of a clumsy three-year-old: I had to constantly remind myself not to let it wander off too far, and pull it back to where it belongs.

The fact that the school, the country, the makers of the ACT, or anyone else who’s involved in this whole process believe that teenagers have the will power to sit in place for four hours and answer question after boring question is beyond belief.

Not only are the expectations ridiculous, but I can’t help but think that the ACT would be a whole lot better were it not for the time limitations. What is the point of forcing students to answer 40 science questions in 35 minutes?

Seven passages where we have to analyze graphs, determine different scientific view points, and make calculations just doesn’t seem fair. That means that we get five minutes a passage.

Junior Emma Lazar admits science is the most challenging portion of the test for her.

“It’s the last one, and by that time my brain is tired and I just wanna give up,” she said.

To my fellow English/history buffs, I’m sure that I’m not the only one to whom the math and science seem impossible. As soon as the questions go beyond freshman year comprehension, I’m lost.

The scores for the English and reading portions for my ACT were great when I took it a few months ago, but math and science killed me. Yet another unfair aspect of the ACT: they expect every student to be perfectly well rounded in every subject, because if you’re not, be prepared for your score to drastically drop.

Many of you probably think that I’m complaining because I’m bitter about my own ACT score, but let me just clarify one thing: I’m not dumb, and I mean that in the most humble way possible. The thing is, though, that I’m well aware of my strengths and weaknesses. My strengths are writing and reading; my weaknesses are science and math, and because I’m predominately right brained, I suffer from a lack of interest in factual date and evidence.

The point is that everyone’s different, and no one is designed to think according to what a few tests want to hear. Some of us are creative and eccentric, and the thought of taking a four-hour test makes us wonder what miracle will help could possibly help us get through it. Others are well disciplined and taking these types of tests are no problem for them, but I’m sure that no one — no matter how naturally gifted they may be — is looking forward to what’s soon to come.

If you do well on the ACT, then more power to you, and I commend you for having the will power and mental strength to fully concentrate for four hours. If you don’t do as well as you hoped you would, then just remember that you are more than just a number, and you have strengths and talents that a test as mundane and arbitrary as the ACT is don’t take into consideration. Just don’t loose sight of what you’re really capable of because of the way the system works.