As a young girl, I would always be asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” my answer would always be “an engineer.” all throughout elementary and high school I would always excel at math and science, English on the other hand not so much. I’ve always been a logical thinker, if this does this, then it does that. math and science were easily grouped into those rules. English on the other hand has always been confusing to me. why do certain words need capitalization and why does there need to be a semicolon instead of a colon? English has always had all these rules I felt were made up and couldn’t be proved on why we needed them. The SAT is grouped into two categories, math, and English. I had always done great on the math section of the test, but the English section I would bomb. this just averages each other out resulting in a low-test score. The SAT hardly scratches the surface of my capabilities, and it should not be used to determine my worthiness of getting into a college. not everyone is good at all subjects or just English and math. because of the limited topics on the test, it does not fully evaluate the intelligence of the student. some of us are also terrible test takers and will bomb tests based on anxiety or what we were feeling that day. having a test that is so general and does not even fully assess the strengths and weaknesses of a student should not be mandatory as well as be one of the main contributing factors of admission. The fact is I have applied to dozens of colleges with both SAT mandatory and optional. I have even applied to the same college twice once with my SAT scores and one without, the one I applied with the scores I was rejected from the program, whilst I was accepted to the program when I did not submit my scores. This just shows how general and shallow the test really is. If that score is below the range that is “required” they turn the other way and don’t even read the rest of the application. Your true potential in college should not be based on a few numbers from a test you took. At least not a test so general that does not evaluate your entire being. The SAT has gotten people rejected from colleges for an unfair reason. We cannot all be great at all subjects, us logical thinkers tend to be more math, science and social studies biased as well as the more liberal thinkers tend to be more English, art, and creative thinking biased. Humans are usually one or the other its rare to find both.