Welcome to the PSAT. We hope that you enjoy the first day of the rest of your life. Section 3: Time – 3 Years. Directions: For this section, let your valuable high school years pass you by while you’re worrying about college. You may use your remaining youth for scratch work. I hobbled into Smith Rink last Saturday morning, barely awake after a triple shot of espresso, and sat down to begin my PSAT. As I lifted my head, I noticed not only anxious Uppers, but also anxious Lowers filling out bubbles with their heads down. Although I took the PSAT myself Lower year, there was something about the sight that struck a chord in me, an angry chord. Why should Lowers be taking such a test? They are just over a quarter of their way through high school, and yet they choose to worry about college already. In taking the PSAT, they are beginning the strenuous journey that is college preparation. You could argue that high school is one big preparation for college. After all, we go to a preparatory school. But is this much pressure at such an early stage a good thing? Part of the reason we all came to Andover was to discover ourselves. But if we spend all our time preparing for college, how can we achieve our original goal? By the time we get to college we will not have learned valuable lessons that determine our identity. I remember reading my first College Board e-mail. It was January 30th, 2009 and at that point I was so engrossed in my life here that college seemed like a distant thought, something in the back of my head. But slowly, my thoughts of college climbed to the forefront of my mind, and I took the PSAT. One day I was a carefree underclassman, and the next I was thrown into a world defined by worrying about college. Taking the PSAT as a Lower can only lead to college paranoia. I realized how ridiculous the whole scenario was during the required Upper PSAT meeting a year later. At some point during the meeting, the test administrator said something along the lines of “When you were Lowers, you took the practice-practice SAT. Now you are taking the practice-SAT.” It was then that I became angry with myself for fulfilling the status quo and worrying about the test. As for those College Board emails, they just kept rolling in. And, even today, they keep rolling in. But I have become numb to their basic message; worry about college. Because if you don’t, then all your work is for nothing. Your whole schooling is for nothing if you don’t forfeit your precious teenage years to worry about the receding horizon that is your future. That anxiety is what I saw in the eyes of the Lowers on test day. The whole SAT experience represents the worst components of Andover. Picture this: a group of students are herded like cows into a large room where they take a test that spits out a number. This number determines whether they will get into the college of their dreams. We leave Andover with a GPA, our student leadership positions and our varsity letters, if any. But isn’t our experience here more than the sum of those things? Lowers are unique because they are no longer the new students trying to adjust to school, nor are they Uppers, overloaded with work. They are simply enjoying their time at Andover. That is, until the PSAT, which kicks off the college process. If Lowers were simply left alone, they would be able to fully enjoy “discovering themselves,” which seems to be a large part of the Andover experience. I came to Andover in search of the opportunities that were eluding me. I don’t necessarily mean academic opportunities. I am referring to opportunities for self-discovery. Juniors, I challenge you to go against the status quo and to not even think about college until Upper year. As for me, the pressure is on. Ben Talarico is a three-year Upper from Suquamish, Washington. btalarico@andover.edu
