For some juniors at Niles West, it is their first time back in the building since March of 2020. That’s crazy, isn’t it? I don’t imagine that their first time back in a year has been the most thrilling, considering they have to take the SAT. With that being said, let’s get into how the juniors felt about going back to school for the day and the test overall.

“Going into school for the first time in a while felt kind of strange, but it was nice seeing a lot of my friends and interacting with the school staff again. I thought that the organization of everything was handled very well, and we were on schedule for the entirety of the test,” junior Leighla Sedghi said. “Kids were well behaved, so I was able to focus on myself without any distractions. The proctors were very kind and eager to help us if we had any questions before the test. Overall, I thought it was a great experience.”

Although the aura of the building was positive and friendly, that didn’t stop the nerves from coming out. This test is a big factor in determining if you can get into certain colleges and universities, even with the new test-optional alternative schools have been promoting. You could imagine that the students taking this test feel immense pressure and would only like to do well in the end.

“Taking the SAT made me feel stressed, but after completing the test, I had a sense of accomplishment. Personally, I’m not the best test taker and this being a factor on getting into certain colleges freaks me out a bit,” junior Abbey Adams said.

Nervousness is a commonality between students taking this test. Similar to how Adams felt, junior Nabeela Suleiman felt almost the exact same.

“Going into the SAT, I was super nervous and didn’t know what to expect. This year it’s been hard to try and study for it because of the pandemic and finding the motivation to study for it, but I tried my best. When the test was over, I felt relieved that it was, but also a pang of anxiousness because of my future score,” Suleiman said.

As Suleiman mentioned, the anticipation of finding out your scores is nerve-racking, and if you are an impatient person, it is probably worse. The desire to find out scores is also a commonality shared between all juniors, and the waiting game for it all is the worst part.

In one section, you can knock it out, and it could be easy for you, and in another, you can take up the entire time needed and still feel like you did bad. It happens to everyone.

“I was a little nervous when I first sat down to take the test, but once I got it going, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Some problems were pretty easy and took no second thought to answer, but others were pretty challenging and confusing. I’m anxious to receive the scores, but I feel pretty confident in my ability to score high,” junior AJ Mikos said.

Let’s all wish the best of luck to our juniors and hope they received test scores they are satisfied with. If you’re a junior and missed the April 13th test date, make-ups will be held on April 27 and May 18. More information will be forthcoming, so frequently check your emails if that pertains to you.