April 21, 2023
By Justin Mayewski
Staff Writer
For the past two years, LHS has offered a six-week SAT prep course to juniors in the winter. The course took place four days a week during lunchtime, with two meetings per week led by English teacher Dr. DiMaggio and two meetings per week led by math teacher Ms. Fernandez. This course is both necessary and effective, which is why LHS should offer it as a half-year elective.
The SAT is very important and has a lot of value for students because ultimately it can become a major factor in college admission. If an SAT class were offered to students during the school day, students would gain confidence and do a lot better on the SAT.
Even though, as of right now, most colleges and universities do not require the SAT, that can very well change in the upcoming years. Furthermore, a variety of institutes, scholarships and programs still require an SAT score. For example, many colleges and universities offer accelerated medical programs such as a 3+3 or a 4+3, which improves a student’s chances of gaining admission to that institution’s medical school, physical therapy school, occupational therapy school and more.
Lunch is not a conducive time to learn, and students are basically taking on a ninth class, which is a lot. By only offering the SAT prep course at lunchtime, students must rush to complete their work. This is unhealthy and causes extra stress on students and their digestive systems. Students also miss out on other club meetings when they attend the SAT prep class.
Not every student uses the same strategies when it comes to completing a test, so teachers in this course could take the time to get to know their students and equip them with techniques tailored to their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Another positive aspect of having an SAT prep class built into the school schedule is that it would allow teachers time to thoroughly go over the material. There is a lot of information to get through, and lunch is too short to provide students with meaningful lessons and time to practice what they learned.
Not only would this course better educate students on the material in the SAT, but it would be a nice GPA booster for students who take the course. The class should not have a high level of difficulty. Rather, grades would primarily be based on participation and completion of homework assignments. This would be especially beneficial for high-achieving students who have a substantial workload in their other classes.
This class would be an elective, so all of the students enrolled would genuinely want to take the course and better themselves. This would provide a great learning environment for the students, as they all would have the same end goal. Students who are surrounded by other students with similar aspirations are known to better the quality of their comprehension.
Just like every other course at LHS, teachers use or recommend outside resources for students to reference. This class would allow teachers time to incorporate SAT prep games and modules into the curriculum and encourage students to reference them on their own. An sAT prep course would also give the teacher an opportunity to assign work that is catered to that individual student. Through programs, games and additional information online, teachers would be able to personalize students’ learning and help them develop the skills they need.
One of the biggest obstacles that students face when taking the SAT is not the material itself but being able to manage their time to complete all of the questions. Not every student uses the same strategies when it comes to completing a test, so teachers in this course could take the time to get to know their students and equip them with techniques tailored to their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Practice is always beneficial, so providing students with the opportunity to take this course would be very beneficial for their educations and their futures. This year, LHS adopted a rotating drop schedule with 55-minute blocks. This would be an ideal timeframe to cover material that appears on the SAT and have some built-in practice time as well.
Every year, LHS introduces new classes to its students, and an SAT prep class should surely be the next one.
