Knowing what you know now, what is one piece of advice you'd share with younger students? by Sarah

Knowing what you know now, what is one piece of advice you'd share with younger students? by Sarah - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

I'd tell any student younger than me that tests, grades, and results don't determine their worth. They don't measure somebody's potential; they don't know anyone: they are numbers and numbers alone. I didn't understand how important this understanding was until last year. Throughout high school, I compared myself to the academic achievements of my peers, a group that happened to be in the top five percent of my graduating class. I took the smallest amount of AP classes out of everyone in this group, choosing to do seven, and I also tried to shape my extra-curriculars to be as numerous as theirs. These were the kind of people who earned mid-30s on their ACTs without studying and 5s on their AP exams without cracking open their textbooks. I put a lot of energy into keeping up with them; I thought it would justify my intelligence and my place in academia. I changed my interests and my priorities to "stay the course". I didn't alter my schedule to learn more: I did it to maintain their pace, to have the numbers, to get into an Ivy League school. I felt like an idiot if I didn't see empirical results.
This advice fell on deaf ears until the week before I took my first ACT. At that point, I felt like tests were dictating my life. I remember racing downstairs, test prep book and pink notes in hand, to my parents. Tearfully, I told them that if I didn't do well on the ACT I would have to join the military because no school would ever accept me if I didn't score over a 30. I had decided that succeeding would make me a superstar, but that under-performing would release my unquestionable stupidity out into the collegiate world. It was in that week that I realized how ridiculous that notion was. I wondered, if I was studying so much for this exam, why didn't that effort contribute to my score? That was when I realized that although effort mattered to everyone I knew, it wasn't quantifiable. The scores measured some answers, but they did not cover the breadth of my knowledge or skills. A few questions didn't encompass what I had learned from my first 17 years of life, but I had thought they did. They did not accurately assess my aptitude for art or my complete comprehension of imaginary numbers. They just happened to ask questions some kids knew the answers to and others didn't.
With this said, I would tell younger students: "Don't ever let a number measure who you are or what you can do". I don't want anyone else to become a slave to competition or statistics on an exam. I don't want people to take as many AP classes as possible so that they stay in the top five percent or get that seat at Princeton. Princeton is a marvelous school, but you should go there because you think it will help you develop as a human. Going there just to say you went isn't productive, holistically, but that's why I lot of people pursue that school. What is productive is for someone to learn. It is most constructive, I believe, that one should slow down and challenge their heart in addition to their minds. A student should absorb Ralph Waldo Emerson to understand and feel his messages, not memorize him to simply get a 5 in AP Lit.
Exam is short for examination. A pure examination analyzes what you know, both in your head and in your heart. Those aren't multiple choice exams; they are paperless, introspective ones. Those are what matter because they see the immeasurable. Humans are so complicated that they can never be summarized by a number. This is what needs to be preached instead of ACT Prep. Young students should hear, "You are more than a number. You decide who you become and what you value, as an individual".
They should listen when they are told they are special. They are.