Exeter Community Reflects on Standardized Testing Offerings

By  NICK BAKER, ANGELA HE, AARYAN PATEL, ADELLE PITTS, and HANNAH WEI

As the pressure of standardized testing intensifies, students all over campus attempt to balance school work with these important assessments. On Monday, Oct. 21, uppers tackled the PSAT, while seniors also took the SAT recently. Similarly, the ACT, scheduled on Oct. 26, added to the exam season. 

These exams serve as milestones in the college admissions process, but they also come with challenges. Students juggle rigorous schedules, and missing weekday classes for testing can increase academic pressure. Faculty members have mixed feelings, too, as they balance course demands with student absences.

Senior Cole Meyer described his experiences preparing for these tests. “I would say a little bit stressful. I still think it was manageable. I never cut homework out to prepare for it. It was just kind of like an added assignment on the weekend.”

Upper Evan Fan echoed these sentiments. “I wasn’t too stressed about the PSAT, since it’s not as important as the SAT. As long as I feel prepared, I don’t anticipate any differences in my mindset when taking the SAT.”

He continued by describing his preparation for these tests over the summer, and in general, in order to alleviate stress during the term. “I had already done a fair amount of SAT preparation over the summer, so I didn’t have to study much during the school year,” Fan said. “I took a couple of hours the Saturday before to take a practice test and occasionally spent some time doing reading questions on Khan Academy.”

“I was lucky enough to have a very motivated group of friends,” added upper Annie Vo, who took the PSAT. “We all ended up taking a Wednesday and a Saturday and sitting down together for two-and-a-half, three hours going through problems and doing the practice test as a group to mimic the setting of taking the test as a whole.”

Other students took classes that helped them prepare for standardized testing such as some of the Advanced Placement Exams (APs). Senior Byran Huang explained, “I think some of the APs are taught by classes at Exeter. So I’d say that the teachers really helped me a lot to understand the material. I couldn’t have taken the test without them.” 

Additionally, Meyer added, “I think doing some grammar on campus with teachers here is helpful for the SAT.”

Furthermore, classes at Exeter in such subjects as math, which cover topics on the SAT, are often taught in ways that do not appear on standardized testing. Upper Wayne Zheng explained, “Exeter math is a lot harder than SAT math, but just the way that the SAT questions are phrased is very confusing to me because it is unlike Exeter math.”

Though for some that may be the case, for others it can be a demanding process trying to balance school work with these extra commitments. Zheng expanded on this perspective, stating, “I’d say I spent about five to six hours every week on test prep for the SAT, and I would say that they definitely had a big impact on me since preparing for these tests is pretty rigorous and challenging. Combined with Exeter’s workload, it becomes a huge burden that affects me emotionally.”

While studying for these tests is a time commitment, many students appreciate that Exeter serves as a test center, and also provides transportation to nearby test centers. This offers both convenience and flexibility, helping students navigate the demands of testing alongside their other commitments. 

“I think Exeter provides sufficient test-taking resources. Since Exeter itself serves as a test center for the ACT—and sometimes the SAT—it’s very convenient for us to take these exams here, as well as AP tests. And if the test centers fill up, we can easily go to nearby schools like Dover High or Exeter High, with Exeter providing shuttle buses to get us there,” Zheng stated.

Senior Elizabeth Christiansen said, “I do like that I don’t have to go anywhere besides Grainger to take the test. It’s much easier than taking it at home since there’s only one or two offerings in the state. It can be a really long car drive.” 

The convenience of taking one of these tests at Exeter is a huge added benefit to students, especially in reducing the stress of waking up at 4 a.m. to drive to a test center. 

In terms of the atmosphere in the testing centers, Fan described, “Everyone that I could see was quiet and seemed focused, as expected during a test.”

Vo agreed. “It was very quiet, very stern. There were about seventy of us in one room. My only complaint is that because there were so many of us, and we were all spread out, the way that the test administrators distributed information was sometimes hard to discern. When they put information up on the whiteboard, people in the back couldn’t see or hear it. And when we got up, sometimes we got yelled at.”

The standardized testing at Exeter often clashes with classes, sports, and other extracurricular activities. “I missed material for other classes while trying to take my standardized tests,” Huang explained. “It is the way it is, though. I understand why the school doesn’t change it.”