As a student going into my junior year, standardized tests have been a part of my life ever since I can remember. The first of these tests being the NJASK, is given starting in the 3rd grade, and even then I can remember dreading NJASK week. Not only did we have to waste a whole week taking the test, instead of doing fun activities and learning new things, we had to spend weeks preparing for the exam that did not affect us at all. As I grew older, it became apparent to most of my peers and I, that the NJASK was a time to relax, as each class period during the day was shortened and the test didn’t count to our grades, and most of us slept through the preparation and guessed on half the test. Now, standardized tests are more of a real, threatening, and sometimes frightening thing for all of us. Midterms and finals count for our grade, and can make or break your grade for the entire year. If you fail those, you could end up with a C rather than a B, or a D rather than a C, and you can’t wing it like you did with the NJASK. Now, it has become evident that these exams are not just tedious, but they are crucial and at times, can be the death of our grades. But all these tests are almost a waste, as we are now expected to throw most of the traditional testing out the window and take the PARCC exam. From what I have heard it is very difficult and is online, making the math portion in my opinion that much more terrible. For me, math has always been very hard, even when I was able to write it all out and take my time to figure out the problem, I still rarely get above a B in math. On this exam, you are expected to transfer the problem and then solve it, in a minimal amount of time, which is exactly the opposite of what is comfortable for not only me, but many of my fellow classmates. On the PARCC exam, you are expected to understand how to problem solve and think critically, as a college student would. Even some colleges in New Jersey are revising and taking part in the making of the exam. Schools like Drew University, Fair Leigh Dickenson University, and Monmouth University, are taking measures ensure that the students are experiencing real college problems. The New Jersey PARCC website says, “The PARCC assessment measures real world skills that colleges value.” I’m not sure who came up with this system of tests, but how do you expect a bunch of teenagers to understand the “real world” when they haven’t experienced it yet? Is it accurate to believe that students in the middle of their junior year can comprehend the things they are putting on the test? To me and I’m sure many other students, there is a fine line between challenging us and overestimating us and the PARCC exam may have the potential to cross it.