LEXI WEINGARDT On Jan. 6, counselor Wendy Strait announced that the state of Colorado may change their minds about junior testing this year only and go back to the ACT. This would mean juniors this year would take the ACT, while sophomores next year would be required to take the new SAT.
At the time the email was sent, Strait was not positive about what the state would decide, but she promised to send information out as soon as it was decided and scheduled.
Monday, Jan. 11, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) held a media availability at 10 a.m. and allowed student journalists across the state to go to the meeting or call in and listen to updates through a conference line.
During the meeting and in a follow-up article, CDE officially announced that in the Spring of 2016 Juniors in the state of Colorado will take the ACT. This announcement relieved the stress of many juniors.
“I was happy that we weren’t taking the SAT,” junior Heather Hewitt said. “I already took the ACT but [taking it again in the Spring] gives me an opportunity to take a prep class and improve my score and since it’s free that will be really helpful.”
Unfortunately this does not change things for the future classes. “This year’s 10th-graders will take the PSAT in preparation for Colorado’s full transition to the SAT in spring 2017,” CDE said in their article “NEW 11th-Grade & 10th-Grade Exams”.
A common fear that current sophomores have is about how each test affects their chances of going to college in-state.
“I think switching to the SAT isn’t what is best for our school because a majority of colleges, especially in-state, look for ACT scores,” sophomore Savannah Howard said. “By taking the SAT we are limited to colleges out of state, thus requiring us to take the ACT as well if we are looking in state.”
However, in the CDE’s article aforementioned, they made sure to mention “all public colleges and universities in Colorado will continue to use both the ACT and SAT for admission and scholarship-consideration purposes.”
Regardless, sophomore students are still not excited about switching to the SAT their junior year.
“Because going to college is so important, taking the SAT instead of the ACT is jeopardizing our futures in a sense,” sophomore Lauren Lippert said about the test. “I was looking at the differences between SAT and ACT and I noticed that taking the ACT would be more promising for our futures than the SAT.”
