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The MCAS test has always been associated with many aspects of my 10-year long education. English teachers have provided MCAS scoring guides for most every written assignment, and math teachers have provided reference sheets to be used in class. My entire academic career has revolved around one test, the MCAS.

MCAS stands for Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and is a requirement for high school graduation. My MCAS testing began at an early age while I was attending elementary school. These practice tests seemed difficult and time consuming. Now as I look back on it, they also seem like a waste of time.

As I entered middle school, nothing changed. MCAS was still a major part of school, and as spring rolled around, everyone was constantly reminded about the dreaded test we would be taking. Each year, I was issued an MCAS test on either a new or reccurring subject.

The reasons for these MCAS tests - which were tedious but important to my education, according to many of my teachers - began to make less sense to me as I grew older. Toward the end of my freshman year in high school, it was time to take the science MCAS. Science was a new addition to the MCAS requirements for graduation that started, unfortunately, with my class, the Class of 2010. This test was not as easy as previous tests, but did not prove to be too difficult.

With the beginning of sophomore year I was faced with yet another important test. However, this time it was not MCAS. Even worse, it was the PSAT. Opening the test booklet, I became overwhelmed with an unfamiliar format and questions whose answers I didn't know. To make matters worse, the PSAT was timed. This was a huge setback because all of my previous MCAS tests had been untimed. PSAT stands for Preliminary SAT and is a standardized test that measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills and writing skills. The critical reading section includes sentence completions and passage-based questions. Test takers are only given 50 minutes to complete this section that includes approximately 48 questions. This gives approximately 1.04 minutes per question.

Moving on to the math section - 38 questions and 50 minutes. This section includes multiple choice and grid-on questions. The allotted time only allows about 1.32 minutes per question.

Finally, the writing section, which includes multiple choice questions on grammar, usage, word choice, and organization. The allotted time is 30 minutes and includes 39 questions. This allows .77 seconds per question. Apparently, I had better know the answer off the top of my head because I don't have much time to think if I plan on completing the section.

However, if questions are left unanswered, points are not deducted from the final score. For all the wrong answers, one-third of a point is deducted from the final score. Scores are reported on a scale of 20 to 80.

Tenth grade began and I knew it was the big year, the year I had to pass MCAS if I wanted to graduate. Taking that MCAS was probably one of the easiest tests I ever had to take. It consisted of simple math and a long composition essay. The essay was aggravating and time consuming, but not challenging.

After finishing the test I wondered what the reasoning was for taking it. It didn't prove to be difficult and didn't really test my ability to answer problems. I also realized that it would not help me in any way on the SATs, which in my mind is a much more important test than MCAS.

Colleges all over the world require SAT scores and a better SAT score increases a student's chance at acceptance. While researching a couple of colleges I was looking into, I found that SAT scores were under the requirements for acceptance. Nowhere did I see anything about MCAS, which was not surprising.

With a such huge involvement in MCAS over the past 10 years, my skills regarding the SATs are sadly lacking. If my education had involved any SAT practice like it did with the MCAS maybe I wouldn't be so nervous about taking the SATs. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull through with an acceptable score.

Why do we have to take the MCAS? This is a question students may never know the answer to.