Mariah McGlone
Staff Writers
The big clock sitting directly in front of you on the SmartBoard provides no escape from the all-knowing truth; you have twenty-five minutes to complete sections ranging from 25-40 multiple choice questions. You are being tested on your critical reading, writing, or math skills. The first one is writing where you are told to respond to a prompt, formulate your thoughts on it, and write them down in a structured fashion that meets all of CollegeBoard's requirements. This is why standardized testing splits down the middle for people. You can either easily stare a time limit right in the face or you let it consume you and your cognition. For me, it was the way I felt as though my scores would define my intelligence. I allowed for the finite amount of time I knew I had for each set of questions to determine the quality of my responses.
However, people like me would be pleased to know that colleges are beginning to look at SAT scores less. Temple University in Philadelphia is among these schools. It may even be a leader in the movement with its announcement of the Temple Option, which is an admissions path for students whom showcase auspicious potential in academics but do not test well. This goes into effect for applicants of fall 2015. They have the option to apply without sending in their SAT scores. This makes Temple the first public research university to do so in the Northeast.
