SAT Day: When Hard Work Can Help You Achieve Your Dreams

Editor’s note: Mallory Archer is a senior at Los Alamitos High School and a student journalist. In "A Griffins’ Student Diary," she will share the perspective and experience—from winter formals to college applications—of being a senior at Los Alamitos High School today.

For many ambitious kids such as myself, a four-year university or two-year junior college is in our future.

In order to achieve this, there are many requirements students must meet. Having a good GPA on California’s now 5.0 scale is one major factor. Community service is another, and getting a good SAT or ACT score is extremely important.

There are many ways to approach these tests. Some students start prepping freshman year, while others wait until they’re seniors. In my opinion, the best year to begin the process is sophomore year.

Any student can take both tests as many times as they want if they sign up on Collegeboard.org ahead of time. Taking each test at least once before paying for prep courses is a good idea. Many times, a student is better at one than the other. The SAT is more of a test for people with an aptitude for English, and the ACT is a science and math person’s test, but everyone takes them differently. When I took each, I did horribly on the ACT but exceptionally on the SAT, so the process began.

I took it a few times throughout my sophomore and junior year, but as senior year approached, it was time to buckle down and study. My mom and I searched for a tutor, and, after finding one, we set up dates to start meeting and preparing. I had tutoring every other week for 12 weeks. I would review and review and review old SATs. Then, before I knew it, the first SAT of my senior year was already here.

On the Friday night before the test, I studied briefly, ate a good dinner and was off to bed around 9 p.m. The next morning, I woke up, ate a good breakfast and showered, so I was wide awake for the first SAT of the year.

With nervous thoughts and sweaty palms, I walked into my designated room. It was a long four hours answering math, grammar and reading question after question. When it was finally over, a sigh of relief and hope overcame me. I only had to take it twice more—not too bad.

After getting the test results back, I knew what areas I needed to study more and what areas I was already good at. I took it from there to practice questions in the reading section—my weak subject—and, each time I took it after that, I improved.

Although taking the SAT or ACT may be drag, a little preparation and dedication can go a long way, and it can help everyone to improve their scores in order to impress the college of their dreams.