Driving to Ferguson Senior High that morning felt like I was driving toward my imminent death. I'm sure my classmates would also agree. Waiting in line to enter the building is a mix of emotions between nervousness, exhaustion and stress. Then hearing the supervisor say “come on!” » and it's a race against time and against your future! Only one acronym has the ability to make any high school student cringe: SAT. The exam will be the most stressful four hours of your life. The silence of the room, the pronounced ticking of the clock and the frenzy when the proctor announces that there are five minutes left. This anxiety will consume you and knock you unconscious if you don't prepare properly. Believe it or not, the only thing worse than taking the SAT is waiting three weeks for the scores to be posted online. In the few seconds between clicking a button and the screen displaying your scores, you feel a range of emotions; from fearful, to nervous, to hopeful, and back to fearful. Students may claim that the purpose of this exam is to crush your hopes and dreams, perhaps even knock your self-esteem down a few notches. However, according to the College Board website, the SAT serves as a method for universities and other institutions to measure your potential abilities in college. To put it bluntly: your future depends on these scores. The SAT is meant to be based on a scale that will allow every student to display their potential for success regardless of their socioeconomic status. Many colleges use it to determine which students will receive financial aid and qualify for other opportunities such as specialized programs. This explains why students could spend thousands of dollars on private tutors, test preparation materials and preparation...... in the middle of paperwork...... or across the country we will settle our alarms at midnight in the hope that when we see our scores, we can be satisfied with them and enjoy the happy fact that we will never have to suffer from this nightmare again! Works Cited Chan, Amanda. “The SAT is not a fair measure of skills.” Penn live. Advance Digital, January 3, 2012. Web. November 14, 2013. .Rabinowitz, Nancy. “What does the SAT actually measure? » PBS. WGBH Education Foundation. Internet. November 14, 2013. .Strauss, Valérie. “SAT score results in one chart.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, October 9, 2013. Web. November 14 2013. .