The commencement of senior year comes with excitement and relief but also accompanied by stress and anxiety for Oxnard High School seniors looking to retake the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This exam is important for high school seniors since universities consider the results representative of a student’s college readiness.

To better prepare herself for the upcoming SAT, senior Samantha Betts said, “myself and a few other people at Oxnard are taking a SAT prep class with Kaplan…its a lot of work but it is helping us.” Betts said, “[I’ve] been taking practice tests and my scores have already started going up so…fingers crossed.”

Similarly,  senior Jose Adan Govea said that he is studying “by buying a SAT book and…doing SAT related questions.” Score improvements are what these individuals hope to accomplish. Govea said, “I believe [studying] will improve my scores.”

These students are working hard and investing their time with studying to impress their desired colleges with above average scores.

With different goals in mind senior Anakaren Gutierrez said she is studying for the SAT since “ I needed to balance out my grades.” Meanwhile, Betts added, “personally I want to be an engineering major and its really hard to get in almost anywhere…so I’m trying to make myself more competitive and get into a good school.”

All of the seniors’ studying comes to line when they retake their test. Gutierrez said, “I’m nervous to take [the SAT] because I don’t want to get a bad score…[but] I will be looking forward to it because I know that I will do better.” Likewise, Betts said she is scared, but feels better-prepared to take the test.

Now these seniors must await their test date and show that their studying paid off. Govea said that raising his SAT scores will be beneficial since he will “have more university options and a better chance of being accepted.”