Students Take SAT To Prepare For Future

Students said they’re used to taking pop quizzes and tests, but they’re glad they only have to take the four-hour SAT once a year.

Nearly 17,000 public school juniors across Idaho took part in the first Idaho SAT School Day today. State law is implementing new graduation requirements to help students feel better prepared to go on to college or the workforce after graduation.

“What we’re providing is an opportunity for all students to be better prepared for life after high school. We know that 60 percent of the workforce requires some form of education after high school,” said Tom Luna, State Superintendent.

At Skyline High School in Idaho Falls, roughly 700 students took the SAT today. School administrators say it was a learning process testing that many students at once.

“I don’t know if the SAT test is the right test for this,” said Scott Miller, Skyline High School Principal. “As I said to you earlier today, we started at 8 a.m. and the students just got out at 1:30 … that’s a lot of time for that many kids to be sitting at a desk with very short breaks in between.”

Legislators said that beginning with the high school class of 2013, all students must complete a college entrance exam before the end of their junior year. Schools will offer the SAT during regular school hours at no cost to the students or their families.

The SAT is already given to all public school students in Maine and Delaware, as well as in school districts throughout Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey and Texas.

Idaho lawmakers say the total cost of administering the SAT to juniors throughout the state is around $970,000.