Test Prep Time

If you fight reality, you’ll lose every time. So said a modern sage. Parents of Connecticut high school juniors usually understand reality but most teens do not. Here’s what I mean:

The “big life transition” is happening. Like it or not, high school is ending. Oddly, despite the pervasive thought of “I can’t wait to leave high school”, the bulk of high school juniors are so focused on their immediate social life and so programmed from K-12 schooling as their only reality that few realize how radical the change is from senior year of high school to college.

Even in my 50s, I tell our students that there are few – if any- life changes as big as the one they are about to go through. Marriage, while more significant, usually occurs through a gradual process such that the actual ceremony is not a huge transition but rather simply formalizing a process of two people who likely are already living and planning a life together. Having children is enormous and certainly more life-changing than anything else but (1) moving away from home (2) living in a new location (3) being surrounded by new people (4) having a new “work” environment (school) and (5) doing all the “adult” things now required is a huge life transition that is on par with all other life changes.

And, that’s scary. So, most high school juniors put the thought out of their minds. They don’t deal with reality. Part of that reality is the SAT (and ACT). It’s coming – like it or not for Connecticut public school students since it is mandatory – and it’s highly important to control the next move.

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