Excessive standardized testing time-consuming

Though many high school faculty see standardized testing as a
necessity for college admission, many high school students feel
overwhelmed with the series of exams they must face.

With college application season right around the corner and more
students going to college, high school students not only face time
constraints in taking their standardized exams, but also immense
competition to perform well.

Stephanie Hall, former English teacher and current dean of
student services at Arcadia High School, said standardized exams
such as the SAT serve advantages to students.

“Numerous standardized tests are good because the reality
is that people are being tested to go into a certain
profession,” Hall said.

However, she said preparing for standardized exams takes time
away from learning in class.

Adam Lee, a sophomore at San Gabriel High School, often sees
students studying for the SAT in class.

“I don’t remember spending so much time in my math
class preparing for a lesson,” Lee said.

Lee also said he has seen the trend in his other classes and
most teachers are not doing anything about it.

He said students continue to do this because they are
“obsessed” and “pressured” into being
admitted to a top-notch college.

Jenny Chung, a junior at Pasadena High School, also sees many
students using their in-class time as well as their lunch period
studying for the SAT or ACT.

“I use all the free time I have because no one bothers
helping me in preparing for these exams,” said Chung.

Chung also said this practice continues to increase because
over-testing is the norm and many students want to attend
prestigious schools.

“Of course I feel over-tested, but I do not have a choice
if I want to go to Harvard,” Chung said.

But testing is a fact of life all students face, said Joanne
Cortenbach Domenici, head counselor at Arcadia High School. She
attributes this condition to colleges’ use of tests as a
barometer for later performance.

“Colleges need to admit students who will most likely be
successful and stay in school,” Domenici said.

Students in private schools feel the same obligation as public
school students to take the SAT multiple times.

“Most parents put a large emphasis on getting high scores
and the only way in achieving that is taking the test over and
over,” said Ani Raya’Flores, a senior at Polytechnic
School in Pasadena.

But private school officials say they are better equipped to
alleviate this pressure.

“Because we have much fewer students as opposed to the
public high schools, our goal is not to make our students feel
overwhelmed with these standardized exams,” said Alice
Brancale Cotti, a college counselor at Polytechnic School and also
a 1990 UCLA alumna.

College counselors begin meeting with juniors in January and
February to discuss testing options and strategies, Cotti said. She
added that her goal is to help students control the testing process
so they don’t feel over-tested and overwhelmed.

Despite the fact that each senior class at Polytechnic hovers
around only 86 students, students still feel the pressure to score
high on standardized exams.

Raya Flores also said to achieve a higher score, she plans on
studying for the SAT on her own and not take any prep courses like
some of her classmates.

Elizabeth Levin, a junior at Polytechnic School, opted to attend
SAT prep courses with Ivy West.

“I took the PSAT as a sophomore and now as a junior, I am
already feeling the pressure of over-testing,” Levin
said.

Levin plans on taking the SAT I two or three times because she
believes the first score will not be high enough.

And though students feel pressure to take the SAT more than
once, Levin argued that students do not use in-class time at public
schools to prepare for the SAT or ACT.

“People are focused on preparing for the Advanced
Placement exams in class, not the SATs,” Levin said.