Students applying to college may see that their application will require a test score from the ACT or SAT. However, many colleges make them optional, with the scores only being applied to scholarship considerations. Specifically, the SAT is used to differentiate already-high-achieving students from one another for top colleges.

The issues begin with the fact that the state is no longer paying for the ACT, so due to that lack of government funding, families will have to pay for it themselves. For many families, both of these tests are too expensive to take. Also, because students don’t have a strong grasp on whether these scores will benefit them at all, only the families with the means to throw a certain amount of money at this risk are able to freely take these tests.

This summer, the SAT was only available an hour or more away from Fargo, and much later in the year than what is encouraged and preferred by colleges. Students who are unable to stay in a hotel overnight or even get there just had to forget about it. The rooms filled up quickly, leaving many students to believe, for several months, that they would be unable to take the tests at all. Others will have to resend their scores in after their college applications even get back.

The PSAT is offered at Fargo South, and it may appear to be a practice test, but a few major, major scholarships are based on that instead of the actual SAT.

There are many faults with the current national SAT system, and it makes an already hard test be a worse experience.