The bright fluorescent lights glare down on the booklet paper, and after reading a passage about the fluctuation in sea urchin population on the coast of British Columbia from 1984-1994 for the fourth time over, the words seem to blur together into senseless gibberish.

Standardized tests are never fun. At least in the elementary days of Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) testing, candy was passed out during breaks, and how well or how poorly you did on the tests did not determine the outcome of your life as a young adult and possibly beyond.

The ACT and SAT are tests that all high school students must endure at some point or another. Hours upon hours are spent studying and hundreds of dollars are spent on prep classes that lead up to the dreaded test dates, when students must sit in a room with a dozen or so unfamiliar faces. These students all have a few things in common: they are fighting their hardest to maintain their sanity for the next few hours and to achieve the score that they so desperately need in order to gain acceptance into the college of their dreams or to earn grants for scholarship money.

Both the ACT and SAT organizations describe themselves as college readiness assessment tests. All colleges accept both tests, although colleges and universities on the East Coast tend to be biased towards the SAT (the organization was created in Princeton, New Jersey). Most students, and especially those living and planning to attend college in the Midwest, tend to gravitate towards the ACT.

Senior Noah Engel has taken the ACT, SAT and SAT subject tests. He described the SAT as a series of smaller and shorter sections, while the ACT consists of a fewer number of longer sections. “I thought that the SAT was harder. I didn’t do as well on it,” Engel said.

Many students are likely to agree with him. The questions on the ACT tend to be much more straightforward, while SAT questions require more logical thinking.

There are many factors that play into how well a student will do on a standardized test. Along with simply the amount of time spent studying and preparing for the test, things such as anxiety, comfort, how someone is feeling that day or how much sleep they got the night before all have the power to affect how well a student will do and to alter the outcome of their score.

Engel and Clayton High School college counselor Mary Anne Modzelewski agree that standardized tests are not accurate indicators of intelligence, but simply a judgement of how well a student is at taking standardized tests.

“It’s a business, a corporation, an industry fueled by the fear of ‘Am I going to get into college?’” Modzelewski said.

Many smaller liberal arts colleges are becoming “test optional.” This gives students the opportunity to submit some sort of work that showcases a talent, such as essays, videos or a piece of music, rather than submitting their SAT or ACT scores. These schools understand that a student’s grades and the classes that they take in high school are more important than standardized test scores. Therefore admissions offices focus on transcripts and other skills that a student might have to offer rather than their standardized testing report.

Despite all of the stress surrounding the SAT and ACT, they are good practice for tests in general, memorization skills and working well under pressure.

“Standardized tests are good at testing a student’s intuition, and how they can use their intuition to think quickly,” Modzelewski said.

It is important to study for the ACT and SAT, and practice does make a significant difference.

In the future, hopefully more colleges and universities will become test optional. That way students with a wider range of talents, as well as those who are not granted with the gift of excellent test taking skills, will not be discouraged from applying to colleges and universities known to have high requirements for standardized test scores.

In the meantime, for all of you future SAT and/or ACT test takers out there, study as best you can, get a good nights sleep before the test, and try to eat a good breakfast. And remember, the score that you receive in a few months is not an accurate judgement of your intelligence or your worth as a human being.