Yonas Singh, junior

Were you planning on taking the SAT essay or any subject tests during 2021?

Yes, I was planning to take some subject tests during 2021. I was not planning to take the essay for the SAT though.

How do you feel about CollegeBoard phasing out the subject tests and essay?

I think it’s nice that CollegeBoard is phasing out these two things, even though I was planning to do one of them. I feel like if CollegeBoard is phasing them out, then colleges will put more focus on grades and extracurriculars which everyone works on throughout all of high school. In my opinion this is better than looking at scores from these tests that you take in a day.

 How do you think this change will affect people at CHS? What about students all around the nation?

I think this choice by CollegeBoard will definitely help students at both CHS and across the nation. Taking out these two things, even if they are relatively minor and not even applicable to everyone, will allow students to focus more on other important things like grades, extracurriculars, and important exams in this difficult time.

Chris Nguyen, junior

 How do you feel about CollegeBoard phasing out the subject tests and essay?

I would say I feel upset about the CollegeBoard removing the subject tests and essay because before they did so, I had taken a lot of time studying the subject tests and practicing the essay. I certainly feel that I am stronger in regards to writing essays, so I feel like this removal would ultimately have a negative effect on my SAT score.

 Do you think they could’ve gone a different way to reduce demands on students during the pandemic?

While I understand that CollegeBoard has been trying to reduce the demands for students on the SAT, I certainly feel like the removal of the essay would not have been completely necessary. I believe that the removal of the subject based tests would help with reducing the demands on the SAT, but I think CollegeBoard definitely could have kept the essay.

 How do you think this change will affect people at CHS? What about students all around the nation?

I think this will affect many students at CHS who had already taken a lot of time to study and practice for the essay and subject based tests, so I believe that many would be upset about studying for something they ended up not taking. I think this same idea would apply to students across the nation as well.