What is so important about your GPA and SAT scores? This topic has been debated over the many stressful years of college admission. Frankly, the two scales hold a lot of importance and significance among students, admissions officers, and parents. But the main question that comes into play is: which scale should be taken more seriously?

The Scholastic Assessment Test or SAT is a widely known test for all high school students who seek to gain admission into a university or college in the United States. This test is designed to time and test a student’s academic level and reasoning ability. The test contains 10 sections: 3 Math, 3 Writing, 3 Critical Reading questions, and one written essay. As a former student who’s already taken this test, I can tell you, it was a really stressful, and very time-consuming. By the end of these tests, I finished off with decent scores. However, the next question that came to my mind was, is this test worth taking while dealing with your school work? I conducted my research and interviews and found out that the SATs may not be as important as they seem.

Within my research, I found many admissions councilors that openly expressed their opinions. Some stated to me that when they glance over the SAT scores, they look over it as a number that ranks their applicants. Other councilors state that their school is test optional. So you don’t need to send your SAT scores. Parents want their kids to take the SATs seriously because a good score can land them into a good college. Though they understand the stress the students have, they push them to study hard because they want what’s best for their kids. When conversing with the majority of the student body, mostly all of them said that it’s just a way of ranking people within our society.

The other scale that the schools use upon students is GPA. GPA is a measurement of all the classes you’ve taken over the course of four years. It involves the class type, the difficulty, and the rate of success. Through my experience, I can express that my score on this scale represents me better as a student. It shows that I’m willing to work tirelessly, challenge myself, and determined on improving my academics. Now the other question I have is what’s the main importance of a student’s GPA? Like I did before, I researched it and the outcome was that there was a lot of appreciation for a student’s GPA.

Through my extensive research, I found that admission councilors focus on a student’s GPA and their transcript because they are able to make a judgment call on if the particular student challenges them-self, or if the student is just sliding by with really easy courses. The councilors also believe that the work done in a classroom is a better measurement of a student’s success rather than a simple test score. Both parents and students agreed that the student’s GPA tells a lot more about a student’s attitude towards their future.

As you can see, there are a lot of opinions towards the SATs and the GPA. To simplify these two terms, the SATs is a widely-used test to measure college readiness and the ability to think critically. The GPA is a measurement used in schools to measure a student’s overall performance and to compare them with other perspective students. These are two complicated scales and will always be discussed through your Junior and Senior years in high school, and throughout the student’s college years. Personally, I believe that your GPA is more important to invest your time in because it shows the willingness of a student to constantly be challenged, and to never slack off.

The debate over GPA and SAT scores will never end because people see GPA as a measure of success in the classroom, or see the SATs as a measure of a students’ capability of good reasoning and making smart, quick decisions. In closing, I ask you my fellow readers, What’s more important: SAT scores or GPA?