'Tis the Season when Juniors Go Crazy

Ah, May. The month of beautiful weather and also lots of rain, flowers and greenery, allergies, and standardized tests. Of course, Freshmen think they know what it's like to take standardized tests, but THEY DON'T. Now, I know you will say that you've taken the MCAS every year since fourth grade, and that the MCAS is annoying. But that's all it is. Just annoying. Perhaps you have considered the fact that they give you unlimited time to do the MCAS, that everything is easy, albeit tedious. Perhaps you have scorned the MCAS people, thinking that they underestimate students' intelligence. But don't complain too much about the MCAS, you naive freshmen, until you know what we juniors have to go through.

First, there is the SAT. Now, I was smart and took it in March, but most people have to take it this Saturday. It so happens that May is also the month in which all AP tests take place. All of these College Board tests are meant to filter out the few smart people from the mediocre masses. Whereas the MCAS gives you twice as much time as you need, and offers you more if you ask for it, the SAT and the AP tests want to make it hard to finish on time. Plus, the questions are actually meant to be difficult, and often misleading. And the AP tests want you to remember everything you learned during the school year, so we actually have to do a lot of studying to prepare for these tests. Worse, the AP tests take place in the beginning and middle of May--so there isn't enough time to finish the curriculum. Why is this? I find it, quite frankly, rediculous.

It doesn't take much skill to observe that the condition of juniors' minds is being affected by this. And on top of all that, we are supposed to be visiting colleges, planning impressive activities to put on our applications, and such. So we do the only thing that anyone could expect us to do--GO CRAZY! That's right. Everywhere I look, I see signs of craziness. Take, for example, one of my friends, who upon hearing the mention of visiting colleges, suddenly began to rant about how cruel it was that people's vacations had to be spent visiting colleges, visiting colleges, and, well, visiting colleges. Because, after all, vacations are supposed to be relaxing breaks, and we need this, but alas, we do not get it. But of course, he said, it is useful to visit colleges. After all, when he saw the advertizements of one particular college, it all looked good. But when he actually visited the college, he found that it was just a mass of hippies. Yes, two of the students he met were dressed like Peter Pan, there were boys wearing capris, everyone was saying, "Peace, peace," etc. Another time, when I was waiting for my gym teacher to arrive, I overheard a conversation about colleges. One girl said "Did I ever tell you my plan? I'm going to dig a hole and live in it, and have people feed me three times a day." When you hear that, you know that it's college and testing season.

-Philip