Pleasant Grove High School - Grove Yearbook (Texarkana, TX)

Page 52 text:

Mind Bogglers Soturdoy morning tests put pressure on students he room is deathly silent except for the buzzing of the fluorescent lights and the sound of busy No. 2 pencils coloring small dots. The air is cold, and heads are pounding as time ticks away. Faces show signs of bemlderment as students ponder over the irksome problems and wonder what possessed them to rise at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. Somehow everyone falls vic- tim to the testing dilemma. The ACT fSAT tests are designed to show overall high school achievement and determine entrance to colleges and universities. While the college tests show overall knowledge, they also infest students with anxiety and stress. Kim Wal- ton explains, lf your test date just happens to fall on a bad day, or a day when you're sick, it could affect your score. lf the test date happens to fall on an off day, students are allowed to retest as many times as they want. Senior Mark Hawkins took the SAT sev- en times. Mark said, The first three times l took the test l was nervous, the second three times l was a little relaxed and by the last time l felt very confident. He added that he seemed to score bet- ter if he went out and partied the night before in- stead of staying home to study and go to bed ear- ly. Of course the testing is not free: the SAT test cost S-11.50, while the ACT costs 510.50 a test. Both tests are usually given about once a month. To eliminate the need to retest, some stu- dents go to vast extremes to prepare for these mind bogglers. Preparation books for both exams are the most popular and inexpensive source of help. These books range in cost from five to twelve dollars. Preparation courses cost close to two hundred dollars. Either of these methods can help but they won't do much good unless you have previous knowledge of the testing areas. Besides the college entrance exams, stan- dardized testing in the form of CAT fCalifomia Achievement Testi and TEAMS fTexas Education Assessment of Minimum Skillsj were given to un- derclassmen. Of course, seniors were excused but freshmen, sophomores, and juniors fell victim to the moming's long confinement for a series of days. Finally the testing is over and students walk out into the fresh air and release their tension. Brains are drained of every last thought, and sto- machs growl at the 12:00 time. For the moment, the pressure is off . . . until scores are received and the process begins once again. b -'-H-24-..-... ,Ni MM .....,,:-ii., i-nw.-W. 5 .. -Le. . .Sai 48E?tCademics WHILE TAKING THE FEBRUARY ACT TEST at Texarkana Com- munity College, Seniors Chad Merchant and Brian Norton re- lax during a five minute break. K -Q an .wa AJC- AA Page CLEM I-30 at

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'X KEVIN TAYLOR WORKS DILIGENTLY TO STAY AHEAD OF HIS assignments in Computer Science ll. Many stu- dents considered Computer Science a hard class because of the amount of work involved. XNJ TAKING NOTES IN ALGEBRA l, STUDENTS TRY TO KEEP their heads above water. For many students Al- gebra is hard , but for some it is a step forward in taking the advanced route in math. nam classes 47

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A RARE SIGHT WAS FOUND DURING CAT TESTS as the whole senior class met together for Enolleh ln the lecture hall X untr- - QUIETLY COLLABORATING DURING SENIOR ENGLISH Ann LaCour and Alan Boyd discuss an upcoming college entrance RELAXING HER BRAIN AFTER THE CAT TEST Jlll Court wntes a note to a friend. Nlnth graders took both TEAMS and CAT tests dunng the year