The SAT is an extremely important exam and it plays a major role in scholarship opportunities for students. Nowadays taking the SAT is no longer mandatory in many universities, but some students still decide to write them since some universities require them. The first exam of the season took place on December 3rd. Some students are planning to take an exam in spring or summer, but others started preparing earlier. It seems the exam was chaotic and some students were left displeased, so we asked GZAAT juniors to share their stories and experiences with last week’s exam.
We asked our junior student Ana Kharabadze, to share her experience with the SAT - when did she start preparing for exams, what did she find difficult, and how pleased she is with her work. "With both math and English I started preparing in September, so with approximately 2 months of preparation, I am proud of how I did. Most of my classmates decided to take the exam in March, but I thought if I procrastinated I wouldn't have enough time in case I wanted to retake the test. SAT is no longer mandatory, but I think universities still value them a lot." She shared her difficulties and how she thinks she handled them. "For me, the hardest part was time management, especially the verbal part of the exam, which was way harder than the mathematical part of the test." She told us that her hopes are up and she expects 1400+ score, but if she isn't satisfied with the scores, she will retake the test.
Another student told us that the mathematical part of the exam took more time to prepare for, while for the verbal section, she started preparing in October. Often a student's stress has a huge effect on their work and our students were no exception - while interviewing, our student shared that she started strong, but during the exam, her stress and anxiety increased. Overall she is proud of her work, but will still be taking another exam in spring.
As mentioned, the exam didn’t go well for everyone. Our Junior student Elene Javrishvili was ready to take the test. She started preparing in September, worked hard, and was confident in her work, but unfortunately, when she got there, she was informed that she couldn’t take the exam because there weren’t enough tests for her. She couldn’t do anything, so she left disappointed. This was not the only case where students were left disappointed, as one of our senior students, who is graduating this school year and doesn’t have time to wait for spring, also didn’t get to write the test because of the board's incompetence.
We asked Elene to share her experience with us. She said everything was normal at the beginning and she went in like everybody else. “When I got there everything was going great, I gave them my phone and passport and was ready to take the test. Everyone’s names got called, but not mine. I just thought I would be with the last group, but then a man came by and introduced himself. He told us that not enough tests were sent out, so they gave the ones they had to students that came first, but we weren’t late or anything, we were on time but because some people came before us they got to write the exam.” The students were told that those who didn't will write the exam on December 17th. Several other students shared Elene’s fate, not just from our school but others.
Edited by: Natalia Tutberidze