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Extra Schoolwork During Advisory??? Perspectives from Students and Teachers on SAT Prep BY SAMUEL HIERS
Since the beginning of the second semester of this year, things have been very different about Advisory that may be reinforcing productivity for students - or giving them more work and less freedom. Sophomore and Junior Advisories at CHS, due to a Rhode Island state initiative, are now using the block for mandatory SAT and PSAT practice.
For many students (and teachers) at CHS, Advisory is a very important block of time during the week that they can use in many different ways. After all, it is a full hour and a half of time where students can catch up on homework, study for quizzes and tests, visit teachers for extra help during Academic Lab, spend time chatting with friends, or do whatever they find to be productive – all at their own pace.
However, since the beginning of the second semester of this year, things have been very different about Advisory that may be reinforcing productivity for students – or giving them more work and less freedom. Sophomore and Junior Advisories at CHS, due to a Rhode Island state initiative, are now using the block for mandatory SAT and PSAT practice. Since the SAT and PSAT have recently gone to a digital test-taking format and some student scores on the tests have not been so good recently, CHS administrators and advisors are now encouraging students to use their time during Advisory preparing for the upcoming test in April on different test-prep websites. Utilizing Khan Academy and ALEKS to prepare for English and Math SAT-style questions respectively, administrators at our school are hoping that making students use these resources on a regular basis will help them become more used to the types of questions they will see on the SAT and better help them succeed on test day through months of practice. While the idea of preparing students for a huge test in advance is great in every possible way, multiple aspects of SAT prep during the Advisory block have proved controversial.
While the platforms of Khan Academy and ALEKS have been received well by advisors, students have had mixed to negative opinions on the idea due to SAT prep interfering with their free Advisory, that the long amounts of time used to prepare could be spent on other things, and student do not like the websites used in general. As one anonymous student put it, “Since I am bad at English, I feel like the SAT Prep is very time consuming. I constantly have to do more and more work to get enough questions right to move on.” After all, Khan Academy and ALEKS both require students to complete more questions or completely start over lessons if they do not get a certain amount of questions right, making practice for a test seem like a chore. On top of that, ALEKS is already widely used by CHS students for math classes, further making test prep feel chore-like.
On the other hand, teachers have a positive view of each website’s approach to graduated learning and how students are exposed to SAT-style questions and strategies. Mr. Brew, a Junior Advisor, recognized that without the necessary time students needed to understand the types of thinking SATs ask for, they might feel way too overwhelmed to score well on test day. “Seeing that the SAT is going to be digital, students may be uncomfortable with the tools they can use and the strategies they will need to master the types of questions,” Mr. Brew remarked. “Having it during the advisory block is a perfect time. Students will have additional time to work through at their own pace, and I think the two platforms will be useful and it will help each student identify individual strengths and weaknesses.” Mr. Brew’s insight goes to show that teachers are looking for the best strength-building resources that students will need well in advance of the test. In Brew’s eyes, test prep will serve as a learning tool and experience during Advisory, and that practicing during a “relaxed period” will help students naturally feel less stressed and more confident in themselves before the day of the test.
As expected, students had a vastly different opinion about the SAT and PSAT test tools and felt that they infringed upon the precious time that they had in Advisory to do “more productive” things. To many students, it was not just about spending more time with friends being taken away, but they felt that time to study for other classes, tests, and more important subjects was being cut down. Junior Brandon Hargreaves thought SAT prep far earlier in the year than the test was a “double edged sword”. “I think that we should be doing SAT prep, but I do not think we should be doing it over a three-month period,” Hargreaves said. “It takes away time that I could be using more wisely during Advisory. Me and my friends all like to do homework and get more important things for other classes done during Advisory so that we can chill when we get home.” What frustrated Hargreaves the most was that ALEKS was being used for math test prep, a website that was commonly used for long homework assignments in his Algebra 2 class. “ALEKS is a very ‘buggy’ system for me, as it does not work all the time and it is not that rewarding for me with the amount of questions and skills it makes you master.” As many other Sophomores and Juniors probably feel, Hargreaves seemed to be voicing the classic student protest against academic programs, curriculums, and styles. Many students wish that learning and studying could be more interactive, hands-on, and at their own pace, and having to do assignments that do not consist of any of these seems to defeat the purpose of a free Advisory. “Advisory used to be fun,” Brandon somewhat jokingly said.
As demonstrated by the new SAT and PSAT practice process, it can really be helpful for students to receive the extra practice and familiarity with topics and tests that they crucially need to be successful in life. At the same time, though, it is still okay if students may feel that too much practice is infringing upon the time they value so much and want to use wisely. Advisory may not be “free” anymore, but what matters most for a student is the path that they would like to choose to go in life and find the best resources they need.