The ultimate test终极测试

For Chinese high school students applying to U.S. colleges, the SAT is a big headache.

I spent the last five minutes in Section 10 (the last section in the SAT I test) praying that it would be the last five minutes I ever had to spend on the SAT. When my score came out, I was disappointed by its mediocrity, but I decided not to take it again, for I feared the torture of the SAT.

The real torment of the SAT is not the questions on the test, but the painstaking preparation process. I do not like repeating such a process, during which I had to do practice sets and try to remember vocabulary every waking hour, but some of my friends welcomed the challenge of taking the SAT multiple times.

Taking the SAT more than once requires more patience, for only through more practice can there be a better result. But in my opinion, the ultimate test is mental: it is about how well one can endure mentally during preparation (as well as the actual test).

Before the test, one has to overcome the jitters and fatigue. It is normal to get nervous for no apparent reason, and the distress makes it difficult to do anything. Thus, overcoming such disturbance is key to a smooth preparation process.

The fatigue also matters – my friends had to travel to places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore or even Thailand to take the SAT. The long flights are tiring and usually detrimental to test performance.

But other factors can also matter in significant ways. One of my friends went to Hong Kong alone and got sick after eating seafood the day before the test. It was hard to imagine her coping with illness on her own throughout the night and outlasting the four-hour SAT the next day. But she made it. She completed the test despite great pain in her stomach.

After all, this is how the SAT really shapes people. The test itself will soon be forgotten, but the process of overcoming the difficulties offers valuable life lessons.

对于想要申请美国大学的中国高中生来说，学术能力评估测试（SAT）是一个很让人头疼的问题。

当我做到SAT的第１０节也是最后一节时，我花了５分钟时间来祈祷这是我在SAT上花的最后５分钟。当我那平庸的成绩出来时，我有些失望，但是我决定不再考一遍了，因为我对SAT的折磨非常害怕。

SAT真正折磨人的地方不在于它测试的问题，而是细致的准备过程。我不喜欢重复这样一个过程，在此期间，醒着的每一秒，我都要做练习集和背单词词汇。但我的一些朋友的多次挑战SAT。

参加多次SAT考试需要更多的耐心，因为只有通过更多的实践才可以有一个更好的结果。但在我看来，最终的测试是精神上的：它是关于如何可以在准备过程中（以及在实际测试）忍受精神上的折磨。

在测试之前，考试者要克服因紧张引起的抖动和疲劳。这种没有明显的原因的紧张是正常现象，而窘迫使得人们很难做任何事情。因此，克服这种干扰是顺利地筹备过程的关键。

疲劳也是影响考试发挥的重要因素。我的朋友们前往香港，台湾，马来西亚，新加坡，甚至泰国等地参加SAT考试。长途飞行的劳累通常不利于他们在测试的发挥。

但其他因素也很重要。我的一个朋友独自去了香港，在考试前一天吃海鲜后生病了。很难想象她是如何整个晚上和自己的疾病斗争并且在第二天完成了四小时之久的SAT。但她成功了。尽管她的肚子很痛，她还是完成了测试。

毕竟，这是就是SAT怎么使人们得到锻炼的。测试本身将很快被人遗忘，但克服困难的过程中，人们得到了宝贵的经验教训。