MR. CURCIO | English Back in 2002, Allen Iverson, the retired, hall of fame basketball player for the Philadelphia Sixers, stepped up to the microphone and proceeded to say the word “practice” 22 times to sarcastically rant about how he was being judged for not “practicing” hard enough. More than 15 years later, this response has become the topic of a documentary, an allusion response to whenever someone even talks about practice, and yes, even a meme. Albeit Iverson successfully mocked the concept of practice, he did not minimize the importance of practice in everything that we want to do well. The SATs are a stressful time for a lot of high school students. I vividly remember taking the SATs with a set number in mind because my goal was to attend Penn State University. Of course, I do not remember that exact number, but currently, a typical Penn State student earns a score of 530-630 for Reading and Writing and a score of 560-670 for Math. For those wondering, to get into Harvard, a typical student scores between a 710-800 and 720-800, respectively. Being a student-athlete, I respected and valued the importance of practice. If I struggled with a certain play, I redid and replayed it over and over again until I got it right. If I needed work on my track start, I read articles on strategies and techniques until it was the best that it could be. YouTube wasn’t necessarily a thing yet. Just like a game on Friday, you can’t practice exactly what will happen on “game day” for the SATs, however, you can practice - which is where the PSATs come into play. The PSAT literally stands for Practice SAT. Not only this, but based on how well you do on it, you can qualify for scholarships strictly for practicing. As an analogy, this is like wrestling someone at practice and because you pinned your teammate, you automatically letter. Some of you may have laughed at that comparison, but it’s not that far off: a letter is something you work for and earn… just like scholarships. At this moment in time, it’s probably too late for you to take the PSAT, as the dates this Fall were October 16th, 19th, and 30th. However, the test is not going away. My advice to any underclassmen is to take the PSAT whenever it is offered, especially if you have goals of earning scholarships or getting into a particular college. Before you take the PSAT, choose three schools that you are interested in and find out what a typical student there usually scores to be admitted. Write these numbers down because these three numbers are your goals. Once you get your scores back, cross-analyze and see where you are. If your scores aren’t good enough, keep practicing - you can take the PSAT as many times as you wish. If you’re comfortable with how you did, then get prepared for the SAT - when it matters. Allen Iverson tried to diminish the importance of practice by mocking it. It’s not mentioned as much as the quote, but the year before, his team made the NBA Finals. After his rant, he never won another playoff series as a Sixer. Yes, the SAT is the game, but the PSAT is more than “just practice,” especially if you want to win. MR. CURCIO | English
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