Students, parents stuck in rat race mentality

What’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

According to many parents, college counselors and even my dentist’s receptionist, it’s the magic number 2400.

This isn’t much of a shock to anyone at a competitive high school. I took the SAT back in October. I was happy with my score, and I thought I’d never have to take the SAT again. My friends thought likewise. So when I proudly stated my score in front of my parents and their friends, I expected them to greet the news with applause and approval.

So it was to my surprise when they told me that my score was inadequate. They urged me to retake the SAT until I reached an impossibly high score—ideally, 2400.

I was discouraged and disheartened by their remarks. I studied assiduously (adj: constant in application or attention; diligently) for three months for the SAT, doing so many practice tests that I ran out of them. I researched how my scores compared to others; except for a few schools such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, my score exceeded the average score for all universities I looked up. How could this be considered an inadequate score?

But even if my score falls short of perfection, it’s no big deal. The SAT is perhaps the most overrated test in the world: Parents may use it to determine their children’s worth and students use it to gauge their future options, but it’s only a three-hour, 45-minute snapshot of a student’s ability to answer highly frustrating and confusing multiple-choice questions. According to Matt McGann, Director of Admissions at MIT, most colleges recognize the test’s shortcomings and and try to weigh other factors equally or more heavily.

The point of the SAT test is to get into college, but some parents — and students — treat it as a rat race. They try to get as a high a score as they can, retrying time and time again. Very few actually achieve the holy-grail score of 2400, and countless hours are wasted trying to achieve a task that has little practical benefit or weight in the real world.

One cause of this behavior is that parents use it as a way to show off to others. By seeing that their child’s SAT score is higher than some other parent’s child, they feel validated and proud. Also, students often compare SAT scores with each other, further encouraging the “rat race” mentality. 

Both I and most colleges think my score is good enough. Why should I put myself through the nightmare of SAT preparation again and risk getting a lower score for a mere increase of only some tens of points?

Please, parents, don’t force your sons and daughters to retake the SAT if he or she is already satisfied. And students, please don’t focus your life on a single test score out of 2400. There’s enough stress in the world without fretting over getting a perfect score on a highly debatable test.