Students file into a lone high school classroom on a quiet Tuesday night. They sit with blank expressions on their faces, some fresh out of their sports practices, functioning only by the power of caffeine. Some took their own initiative to be here, but most were forced by their parents.

“Welcome to the training class,” says the instructor. “Now, this test is designed to do one simple thing. This test will tell you how well you will perform in college–that’s it.”

***

Students assemble into various high school classrooms, ready to start the day. However, this day will be different. Students, without any choice, prepare for four straight hours of tests, and four hours of straight up boredom to be honest.

“This test will not affect your grade, but it will help you to become a better student,” says the tired teacher with a 32 oz. cup of coffee in his hand, who could honestly care less. “Now the first test you’ll be taking is the…”

STOP. What is this madness?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a standardized test is defined as “a test whose reliability has been established by obtaining an average score of a significantly large number of individuals for use as a standard of comparison.” In other words, a standardized test is a test that allows its takers to be able to compare their results no matter how big the sample size may be. It’s undoubtedly a good concept, but how many benefits, if any, are these types of tests providing for students? Is the associated stigma about them really true? Are they really what determines a student’s future?

Every high school student knows the drill. The notorious conversation, from either a parent or a school counselor, about how all those numbers, scores, and percentiles can potentially save you thousands of dollars or get you into your dream college. It may not be a lie, and it’s surely beneficial information, but it undoubtedly heightens a student’s stress level beyond uber-extreme and creates a potential for these tests’ significance to be blown out of proportion, and that’s exactly what has happened. The bottom line is, it’s just a test. It’s a test that helps students compare themselves to students all over the country, regardless of what type of high school they went to. It’s a way to create a level playing field for students from all ranges of the country or world in some cases, and it’s not meant to hurt students or hinder their futures. If a student does well, they may receive benefits, but if they don’t, the student should still turn out just fine.

“I think [standardized tests] are good because they give everyone more of an equal ground for college applications,” says senior Natalie Garner. “You could go to a really large and competitive high school based on where you live or you could go to a school where teachers hand out A’s, but everyone takes the ‘same’ test and schools can get an idea of where the students are academically in comparison with other kids.”

If these tests are just meant for comparison, then can they actually foresee the future and tell a student how well they will do in college?

“It depends on the college,” says senior Maddux Snook. “A lot of college classes are test based, unlike high school classes where there are homework grades too.” So, the important test-taking skills that are demonstrated by taking a standardized test will be the same skills that students will demonstrate in their college exams. However, there are so many factors, such as age, subject matter, and simply just having a bad day, that can affect single standardized tests scores and therefore the correlation has to stop here. It’s less about the number, and more about the skills that a student is able to demonstrate.

Yet the question always returns: what about bad test takers?

“In that case hopefully their GPA will balance out their score, and it’s not like you can’t practice for these tests. There are classes, books, etc.; the resources are available if students are willing to put in the effort,” adds Garner.

“I think they should also have the option to not take a standardized test in order to get into college to accommodate people who don’t do well on them,” elaborates Snook.

The bottom line is that these tests are not your foe. The number you get is just a number to get you into college, and in a few years it will be irrelevant. To do well should always be the goal, but it should not be something that drives you off a cliff. The best advice is to just take the test, don’t overly stress about it, and just do your best, as always. Your score only determines as much of your future as you allow it to.