March is when students take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Preliminary SAT (PSAT). 

High school juniors take the SAT, and sophomores take the PSAT. These tests will be held on March 23rd and take about three hours to complete. 

Before the pandemic, colleges would require students to submit scores, especially if a student wanted a merit scholarship.

After the pandemic, that started to change since there was less availability of testing sites and tutoring.

Colleges like Harvard, University of Connecticut, and St. John’s are becoming test-optional, meaning that students get to choose whether they submit test scores to colleges or not. 

With this becoming increasingly more common, students often consider whether it matters if they take these exams or not. 

Claudio Corte, a WJPS junior, said, “Preparations for the SAT should be taught in school from the beginning of the year.”

Alana Azad, another WJPS junior said, “It’ll help the [college] applications even if most colleges don’t weigh them as much anymore.”

In the end, it’s up to the student to decide if they want their scores to be a part of their application.