The SAT took place on April 12 and the PSAT and Illinois Science Assessment took place the following day on April 13. All juniors were required to attend both days to take the SAT and ISA. Freshmen and sophomores were required to take the PSAT.

For many students, the SAT is one of the most important academic tests and scores can affect future colleges and scholarships. Joliet West offers all students opportunities to take SAT prep courses in order to prepare. Students who chose not to take a prep course could also find SAT prep books available in the library or could purchase their own to study independently.

The SAT has both reading and mathematics sections. A junior, Diego Fernandez, who took this year’s SAT said, “It wasn’t that bad. I was prepared for math but not reading. I didn’t take a prep course but I did buy my own prep book and studied on my own.” When asked about how the ISA went, he continued, “I didn’t do any studying, I just gave it my best guess.”
However, students that may not choose to go to college feel that the SAT isn’t as vital. Connor Brown, another junior who took this year’s SAT said, “I didn’t stress myself out with the SAT. I plan to go into trades and feel college wouldn’t be as beneficial to me as it might to other people.” Brown continued to say, “The SAT was pretty easy. I didn’t do any prep outside of school and when I saw my score it was good.”
The PSAT is tests students’ skill levels and is used to determine classes and what skills they should continue working on. Since the PSAT is practice for the SAT, there is no studying or preparation that students need to do to take it.
Sophomore, Emilee Rudman, who took the PSAT said, “A lot of the questions on the PSAT were familiar and there were only a couple that were new to me. The test is pretty easy but I really didn’t see the point in taking it.”
All scores for the SAT have already been released and some students said they have gotten their PSAT scores. However, other students may have to wait an additional week for their PSAT scores to be released.
All scores can be viewed by signing into your College Board account. With testing now over, the last few weeks of school should fly by.