Do standardized tests accurately predict how students will fare in college?

Senior year is a stressful time for every student planning on attending college; if you’re not gathering teacher recommendations, then you’re sending out your transcripts, or applying to your dream college. But the most stressful time for students, is the constant waiting to find out your SAT score. This test determines whether or not you get accepted into a school. In my opinion, I believe that the SAT should not be the most important criteria to be accepted into a school. Studies have shown that women scored lower on the SAT then males, but overall women have better grades in high school and college. I agree that these tests should determine part of your acceptance, but the main criteria should be your grades and participation throughout your high school years. I find the SAT to be biased, if you’re not strong in math, you really don’t have a chance in doing well on the SAT; unless you scored extremely well in the critical reading portions. My cousin did extremely well in high school, every year she was on the honor roll, and she took every advanced placement class offered; but when it came down to her SAT score she didn’t do as well as she hoped, and worried that she wouldn’t be accepted to her dream school. I find it unfair for colleges to deny you to their school just because you’re not the best test taker. There are students that don’t do anything in school but are just naturally smart, and then there are students that work extremely hard, study, and get extra help whenever needed. So I believe it’s not right to judge someone’s future on one test and not on their whole high school career. If colleges were to focus more on the accomplishments of four years of high school rather than one test, they would be able to determine whether the student is a hard worker or a slacker.

Dreaming

Have you ever thought about the different dreams you have each night and how they may relate to real life. Every person dreams something different; if you’re not being chased to your death, you’re dreaming about love, or you’re even dreaming about what happened in real life the day before. The point is everyone dreams, and just the thought of that amazes me. I think it is so intriguing to hear the different types of dreams people have, and what they thought of it. Not every dream you have, you will remember, but I find that the dreams you do remember are probably the one’s that mean more to you. No matter what you look like, the different talents you possess, or even the things you own; everyone dreams and that is the one thing in life everyone will have in common, and can never be changed. I thought the movie Inception Staring Leonardo Dicaprio, was just brilliant it showed you the ideas about dreaming and even talked about ways of controlling it. Whether you believe it or not dreams mean something, not just while your asleep but in reality. One thing I find really cool is that you can go online and there is a website where you can type in your dream and find out what it exactly means. Sometimes you will even have reoccurring dreams you haven’t had since you were a child, which could me you just recently found a fear you used to be terrified of. When I was younger I always use to dream that beetle juice was hiding under my bed waiting to kill me, and just recently I watched that movie and I had that reoccurring dream I used to have all the time. I believe that parts of your dreams contain something that happened in that day. Every time I have a dream it always deals with something I encountered or thought about that day, so I truly believe that dreams mean something.

Favorite Music Genre

My favorite music genre would definitely have to be pop. Don’t get me wrong I love many different genres of music, but I feel that pop has so many different styles and artists. I find that with pop music not only is there variety in their music, but even the way artists dress separates them from others in the music business. I find creativity and variety to be very important factors when listening to music and pop is the one genre were people dress different and don’t have the same old songs all the other artists have. Some of my favorite artists in the pop genre are Rihanna and Katy Perry; I enjoy that sing about experiences and the things that bother them. I believe that every pop artist has an amazing voice and great hit songs. The pop genre will be around for years and there will always be new artist’s to join that genre. If you think about the pop genre is listened to when you’re at a school dance, driving in your car, or even when you’re just cleaning your bedroom. Without the pop genre there would be no such thing as some of my favorite artists. Pop music shows so much emotion, and really shows that type of person you are by listening to it. People never really think about it but music is a huge part of everyone’s daily life and without it; you can just say good bye to any variety. If you ever watch signing shows on TV, the main genre people enjoy to sing is pop. My second favorite genre of music I like to listen to is country, my mom got me hooked on country because that’s all she would play on long car rides. Know I don’t enjoy every country song that’s out there, but artists I enjoy listening to would be Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride.

3 Favorite Movies

I would have to say that there are so many movies out there I absolutely love. If I was to narrow it down to three of my favorite movies it would have to be War of the Worlds, Harry potter and the Goblet of fire, and A Cinderella Story. I really liked watching war of the worlds because the whole story line was just brilliant. I love the whole thought of aliens one day trying to take over the world and ridding the planet of humans. I loved the actors in the movie, I thought they were well chosen and fit the part perfectly. The movie kept me on my feet the whole time because I never knew what was to come next. This is the type of movie I can watch repeatedly and never get tired of watching it. My second favorite movie is Harry potter and the Goblet of fire, just because when I saw the first Harry Potter of the series I knew I had to see the rest. I loved the fourth movie of the series because I thought it was suspenseful, and I loved Harry was stuck participating in all these different events for The Goblet of Fire. Not to mention Robert Pattinson was in this movie, which made it even better. My third favorite movie would have to be A Cinderella Story, because I love the whole fairy tale story and I’m the type of person to enjoy cute girly movies, and this movie fits that perfect. Not only was the movie absolutely adorable, but I loved how it’s based off of a movie I used to watch all the time as a kid, but it’s now made to fit modern day life. If you haven’t seen any of these movies I recommend you see them, because their amazing.

Favorite Novel

My all-time favorite book as of now would definitely have to be The Last Song. I love everything about it; the plot, setting, and all the characters. Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors, so just the fact that he wrote this novel makes me love it all the more. My favorite type of book is something involved with romance and heartbreak. Sparks does an amazing job of getting you to connect with the characters. This book is all about a young girl Ronnie, from New York, going to live with her father for the summer, along with her little brother, where she meets a guy; she ends up falling in love with. She starts to become that happy person she used to be, and gets back into playing the piano. The book comes to an end with her finding out her father has cancer, and there is not much time for him to live; the last days of his life, she spends finishing a piano piece that her father had started. I really like how the title describes the story perfectly. I absolutely enjoyed reading this book because it described real emotions, and things that happen in life. This book has the perfect characters, I really love how Nicholas Sparks made Ronnie resent her dead for moving, and then at the end she becomes closer to her dad, and ends up resenting how she took everything for granted and didn’t respect her father. Even, the details on how Ronnie felt when she met Liam, or when she found out her dad was dying of cancer were just brilliant and well written. I enjoyed being able to read this book, and feel a connection to it; this book had me balling my eyes out. This book was even made into a movie, staring my favorite person ever Miley Cyrus, so I was extremely happy about that. Last Song had me never wanting to put down the book, and that rarely happens for me.

How Influential Music Really Is

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if there was no such thing as music? I can honestly tell you that without music there would be no variety or creativity that sets people apart from one another. There would be no such thing as musicals, there would be no TV shoes based off of signing like American Idol, Glee, and even the voice. Music is a huge part of people’s everyday life, and is the one thing that makes people different. Everyone may listen to music, but not everyone has the same taste when it comes to what they listen to. There are some many different genres of music, such as pop, country, classical and so much more. Can you imagine how boring life would be without music, because for me I listen to it every day, and somehow it always makes me feel better when I’m in the worst of moods? If you really think about it a huge majority of your life is music, you listen to it while you’re driving, writing a paper, and even when you’re cleaning. There are probably twenty million more reasons as to why you listen to music, but the whole point is that music brings people together, and it shows us how to relax and be calm. Music can even bring people out of their comfort zone, and show them how to have fun. Another thing that would have never happened if music was never born would be dancing; People would never think to just do random dance moves without having listened to an inspiring beat. All I can say is that music has made life better for me in so many ways, it has helped to distract me during a long car ride, it relaxes me when I’m trying to sleep, and it even helps me to sound out my mom when she is being annoying. I absolutely wouldn’t be able to live without music, and I’m so thankful for it.

Thanksgiving Traditions

For thanksgiving some yearly traditions my family all takes joy in, is having the whole family come over to my house, and bringing the same dish every year. One of the biggest traditions my family takes part in, is sitting around the table before we eat going around the table and sharing what were thankful for. Every thanksgiving dinner we have turkey, ham, cheesy potatoes, salad, bread, and of course some kind of casserole. After we finish dinner, we go straight to cleaning, and then the best part of the whole night dessert. The desserts consist of apple pie, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and of course ice cream. Once everyone is finished eating we all join in for a game of catch phrase, then it gets more intense and we play scat, which is a card game and everyone puts in three dollars, at the end whoever wins gets all the money which happens to usually be me. When we’re not celebrating thanksgiving as a family at my house we go to New York to visit our second cousins. Every time we go down there, my cousins, my brother and I always go to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. All I can say is that if you have never been to a parade, then it’s one of those things you have to do before you die, because it always puts me in such a good mood. When were finished at the parade we head back to get ready to go to are great aunt’s for dinner. I must say they make the best food because my one cousin is a chef for bravo, and every time we visit she makes the best turkey, and cheesecake. When were all done eating my cousins and I enjoyed going down to the basement and playing some Nazi zombies. I hope these family traditions continue on as I grow older.

Favorite Holiday Ever

Ever since I was a little girl, I considered Christmas to be my favorite holiday. I love being able to have the whole family get together and celebrate. It’s really nice when family members from out of state even come to visit. Another reason Christmas is my favorite holiday is because you receive most of the things you have been wanting and asking for. Not only do you receive gifts, but you get the pleasure of thinking about someone else that means very much to you, and showing that by also giving back. There is nothing better than being able to put a smile on someone else’s face. Christmas is times for forgiving, and showing love for the one’s you care about. But the main reason Christmas is such an important holiday is that it gets people to join family and friends to join together and celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Even the weather that comes with Christmas, adds to why I love the holiday so much. I absolutely enjoy sitting around the Christmas tree with my family opening up gifts, and being able to see the snow falling outside. Christmas doesn’t just involve getting all the gifts you can ever imagine, but it also brings with all the food you could ever dream of. Christmas dinner is my favorite part of the holiday, my family serves turkey, ham, cheesy potatoes, and so many more delicious foods. But of course desert is what everyone saves their appetite for, because there are always a million pies and cakes to choose from. I absolutely love Christmas, I enjoy being able to visit all sides of my family, because it’s rare that I see these people. I also enjoy being able to see what other people get for Christmas, and how they react to it.