Lessons Learned After Taking the SAT by Bryton

Lessons Learned After Taking the SAT by Bryton - July 2023 Scholarship Essay

During my junior year of high school, I dreamed of achieving a high SAT score. I had spent weeks throughout the summer preparing for the test, in addition to my preparation at school. As test day was coming up, I had set a goal of scoring at least a 1300 on the SAT. Nevertheless, after getting my SAT scores, I did worse than expected, receiving less than a 1200 on the test. After that day, I gave myself a 3-month window before I had a second attempt on the SAT. Nonetheless, after taking the SAT a second time, I was devastated when I discovered I scored the same score on the test again. This is not to say that less than a 1200 on the SAT is a bad score, but rather, I felt disappointed with myself because I felt like I could have done better on the test. As a result, it seemed like all the hard work I put in toward the SAT was in vain.

That being said, my biggest failure during my education was not achieving at least a 1300 SAT score, like I had always wanted. Undoubtedly, my experience with the SAT has been my biggest failure regarding education because I feel like I gave my maximum effort towards the test. For example, I dedicated many hours to my studying and bought multiple prep books. However, I didn't get the results that I had hoped for, which directly affected my decision to apply test-optional during the college admissions process.

Apart from my underwhelming results on the SAT, I feel like my journey has shaped me into a person that believes that they're capable of practicing self-love despite not always accomplishing specific academic goals. Looking back, I know that I had negatively compared myself with all the other high scorers on the SAT, and doing that hurt my self-esteem. Consequently, I had to learn how to develop a mindset of knowing that my academic results don't define who I am as a person. Instead, I am a person that is defined by how I dedicate myself to my passions along with how I respond to any adversity. Indeed, failing at something can be disappointing, but now I look at all my unsuccessful ventures as a learning experience. Furthermore, I no longer put my self-worth into any outcome but rather judge myself by how much effort I put into achieving my goals. Ultimately, if I exhausted my ability to prepare myself for something academically, like the SAT, I recollect with no regrets; because I know I exercised a high level of diligence and commitment.