I walked into the dull classroom, stripped of all of its beautiful posters. Bare walls encasing me, I found my seat and sat down. The chair creaked, my stomach rumbled, and I breathed nervously. I had forgotten to eat breakfast! I privately scolded myself for being so forgetful. How could I have forgotten to eat breakfast on the day of the SAT? More people filed into the room. The teacher stood, towering at the front of the room. He began to rattle off instructions. Each word was a count down to THE TEST. Then it was time.

As the test was passed out, anxious glances were swapped across the room. I took another deep breath to calm myself and forced my eyes to stay open. Friday night had been eventful, as it was the night of the high school homecoming football game. After a long week and what felt like an even longer night, I probably only got 4 hours of sleep. I had known that it was a bad idea to go to that game, but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. “Well, you should have planned things out a little better”, a small voice in the back of my mind reprimanded. Frustrated, I jerked in my chair, sounding a large “creeeeaak.” The other test-takers turned to look at me. I straightened myself out in my chair. Confused, I looked around the room, had the test begun? I had gotten lost in my thoughts. I was lucky, though, because at that moment I started listening. The teacher promptly announced, “You may begin”. I frantically opened the test booklet and began the English portion of the SAT.

Circling an answer, I thought about it again, then circled another. I shook my head. “Quit it!”, the voice in my brain boomed. Ugh, I was second-guessing myself again. I sighed and continued answering questions. Only 10 remained. “Time”, the teacher calmly said, “all pencils down and test booklets closed.” I had left 10 questions unanswered in the first section!

Starting the next section of the SAT, I vowed to not second-guess myself. I worked through it bit by bit and watched the time. I finished with 4 blank questions and even had time to bubble random answers for the last 4. The third section was also successful; however, once I arrived at the last section, arguably one of the hardest, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. Working through it swiftly, I managed to finish with 6 left, but I knew that had made many mistakes, which would show in my score. I went home that day feeling defeated and having learned many lessons.

Receiving my score solidified those feelings. I knew that I could have done so much better. Nonetheless, I learned from my mistakes. It is important to get a full night’s sleep, eat breakfast, pay attention to instructions, and plan for standardized exams. Now I know that second-guessing yourself is disadvantageous on a timed test. It is also very important to pay attention to the time. I wasn’t incredibly mad with my score, though. It was my first time taking the SAT and I didn’t do as quite bad as I thought. Now, I have taken the SAT and ACT a total of 6 times. I have studied, improved my strategy, and gotten scores that I am proud of. Make your own mistakes, learn from them, and then you will know exactly how not to take a test.