I ended junior year with a 99 in AP Language and Composition. I trekked through the Wildes, the Fitzgeralds, the Thoreaus and Emersons. I scribbled pages upon pages of stories, essays, poems, plays—each critique only enhancing my capabilities.
I walked into the media center on May 9th, 2023, confident in my capability to succeed on the exam, and walked out four hours later feeling victorious.
I got my score back two months later, to my dismay, it was a three out of five. I passed, but my score would not qualify for college credit at all but one of the colleges I was applying to. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
I worked until my bones ached, reading until my eyes shut, writing until I couldn’t feel my hands. I earned the highest grade out of my teacher’s two AP classes and received an academic award for it. And yet, I still scored less than them. Why?
Standardized tests such as the SAT and AP exams score the English curriculum on a scale of correctness rather than creativity. They use multiple-choice questions to gauge students’ comprehension of the material—with only one interpretation earning them the maximum amount of points possible. They do not account for the fact that all test takers come from different walks of life, and thus have different perspectives on the given material. The SAT and AP tests lead students to believe that the only valid meaning is what is decided by the creators. This is not beneficial to the creative thinker.
The English curriculum is expected to breed both imagination and individuality. To embrace the inventive mind and all of its wonderful ideas. The SAT and AP exams encourage students to conform to one standard. One set of rules. One right or wrong. To their thoughts rendered invalid. The future writers and creators of the world are being nailed down, their true potential unseen due to the nature of the exam.
I say this as a journalist, writer, poet, student, and most of all, a certified English nerd. I am one of the managing editors of The Voyager, the president of the book club, the editor of the Poetry In Bloom collection, and the winner of Eastern’s 2024 Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. I have written over eighty articles, been published in the Young Writers’ Annual Showcase, and won a Student News Organization Award for my writing, interviews, and research. I am frustrated by the lack of appreciation for students like myself in the standardized English curriculum. I desperately hope that one day, the creative minds of the world are recognized rather than demeaned by the subject meant to empower their voices.
