For the first time, Austin Independent School District (AISD) will pay for all juniors to take the SAT; the standardized tests used for colleges in the United States. All students have to do is show up to their testing room on Tuesday, April 9 with a calculator, two pencils and a desire to do their best. 

The entrance exam is a multiple-choice test administered by the college board, it is a way for colleges to understand the students’ abilities in various academic fields. Junior Payton Lord will be taking the exam this year. 

“Although the SAT can be stressful, it’s a really good opportunity to see where you place on a college level test and it’s really not too bad,” Lord said. 

This year, AISD has decided to save each student and their families the registration fee of $65, which is just the cost of taking it once. Junior Taylor Hubbard is one of all the juniors that will take the free SAT. 

“I am very grateful that our school is paying for juniors to take the test, because it will save money and give us the opportunity to see if we’d like to take the test again,” Hubbard said. 

One way for students to practice for the SAT is to link their PSAT score to their Khan Academy, which will personalize problems according to your score. This strategy is used by many students, like junior Andrea Otti. 

“So far I have prepared for the SAT by doing Khan Academy,” Otti said. “I also have bought the SAT preparation books from online.”

Taking SAT preparation classes is another way to practice; they provide tips and tricks that can help students during the exam. One student, junior Rhea Dharwadker, chose this method of preparation as it is the most helpful for her.

“I took classes with More Than A Teacher, which helped me improve on my math and reading skills and also taught me a lot of helpful tricks for the test,” Dharwadker said. 

The SAT measures critical reading, writing and math knowledge, while determining college readiness and future academic success. Students receive three scores on a 200-800 scale for each subject, and the scores are then accumulated to get the final score. 

“I think that the SAT is a stressful situation for a lot of juniors, but since it is necessary to get into college, it is definitely something worth studying for,” Dharwadker said. 

Juniors will be automatically registered for the pre-paid exam that will occur in the beginning of April.

“I think that it’s really cool that AISD is paying for juniors to take the SAT because we get a chance to go in and not be stressed out about wasting money,” Hubbard said. 

The ability for AISD to give students the opportunity to take the SAT free of charge alleviates stress of many juniors who are trying to balance school and stay encouraged for the test, according to Otti. 

“I think having the opportunity to take the SAT for free is highly superb, giving us a better reason to be motivated and take the test,” Otti said.