By Kara Hallam
Staff Writer
Many students sighed in frustration while others sighed in relief as they read the Facebook announcement that the Dec. 7 Standardized Achievement Test was cancelled due to inclement weather this past Friday.
The roads of Coppell were completely iced over by an overnight sleet storm. Temperatures dropped below 30 degrees and nearly all grounds were covered with sheets of ice.
Coppell High School was a testing site for the Dec. 7 SAT but the test was inevitably rescheduled. The decision was made after the school was closed for the day and it was determined the weather would not clear up by Saturday. The SAT has been moved to Jan 11 and will still take place at CHS.
The roads in Coppell could hardly have been considered safe to drive on the day of the test but that does not help ease test takers irritation.
“I just really wanted to get it over with,” junior Silpa Gollapudi said.
Gollapudi had been taking classes at Karen Dillard College Prep since her freshman year. She decided to take the SAT earlier in the year like several other students, so she could take multiple SATs in the year in an attempt to maximize her score.
“Now I will not get my scores back in time to see how I am doing before I take the Jan 25 SAT,” Gollapudi said.
SAT scores take up to 20 days to be delivered. Since the January test is scheduled for the 25th and the remake of the Dec. 7 one is on Jan. 11 there may not be enough time for students to get their scores back. Students could have used these scores to evaluate what areas they need to work on and better prepare them for the next SAT.
“The remake is now only a week before exams,” sophomore Saman Hemani said.
The following Wednesday, Jan 15, of the make-up SAT marks the beginning of CHS midterms. A four hour exhausting test can throw a wrench in students’ studying and double their stress levels preparing for both in the same period of time.
Some also take the test early on to gain the highest curve possible on test. In December there are less people taking it with less preparation for the test and the curve on the test tends to be higher in that month. Students have lost this competitive edge now that the test will be graded nationally along with very few other schools who rescheduled the test for Jan. 11.
However, students now have more time to prepare for the SAT. They can use this extra month to study SAT prep books or go to more tutoring sessions at an SAT prep course. A month of extra studying can have a valuable impact on students’ scores.
Now students have the two week winter break to prepare for it. They also get the advantage of friends from other schools telling them how it went since most of the other schools in the area are making it up on Dec. 21.
The unfortunate weather shook things up for the Dec. 7 SAT takers. They have gained valuable study time but along with that prolonged stress that has surrounded preparing for the SAT.
