The long sad nights of staring at a lifeless textbook or study guide is a common pre-testing ritual that some are all too familiar with. At some point, everyone has to deal with a test that almost makes their hair fall out and potentially can end the world if they don’t pass it.

The terror of tests hardly even pay off in the end, except for the potential A that might be gained. Tests are to see if you have learned everything you have studied and reviewed in class, but we have become so blinded by the the grade that we forget what the tests original purpose was.

If the student is cramming the night before or worse yet, they didn’t study at all then what is the point? I understand that we have to complete units in each subject in order to be “college ready” but the way we display our knowledge of this is not right. Not only do we forget the knowledge after our tests but the way some individuals stress about them is not beneficial at all.

The pressure can come from parents, peers, teachers or even the students themselves but the sad fact is that in extreme cases, a weighty test can cause so much stress, depression, and even suicide.

According to Dexter Roberts, (http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-05-15/china-exam-system-drives-student-suicides) most suicides in China happened in the second half of the school year, from February to July. This is because of the horrid zhongkao and gaokao exams. These tests determine which high schools and universities students can attend. These, among the other tests, were the reasons for 79 elementary and high school suicides in China.

In Aurora, our own issues with the upcoming PARCC tests have many stressing and others rebelling.

Even the mention of PARCC angers the sophomores, juniors and seniors, after being promised this dreaded test was no longer required after freshman year. At the same time, juniors are breaking a sweat trying to recall everything they have learned in their year in preparation for the ACT. This test determines their future in some ways but the problem with this is the fact that because of all the previous testing, and cramming throughout the year, they can hardly remember anything, and they become buried in study guides and homework.

This could have been easily avoided if only we had a different system as far as tests. I suggest that instead of cramming for tests, we should spend more time studying, and working on our memory skills, then we should take a test that has no grade value whatsoever.

The only thing a test or quiz should display is if we are ready for the next unit, and if not then try focusing them on the unit they failed until they thoroughly understand it.

Testing has become more about the grade and less about the knowledge. If CCSD recognizes this soon, we could be the first school of many to revolutionize testing for the better.