Masuk Free Press

Starting this year, the juniors at Masuk have been assigned mandatory SAT practice for their English and math classes through Khan Academy, a website that provides SAT practice to prepare juniors to take the test in March. Many juniors do not know that Khan Academy may be the perfect option for SAT studying. Despite that, students are unhappy with being forced to complete the practice.

The consequence of not completing their mandatory 30 minutes a week or assigned sections is a FLEX session that forces students to finish the missing work. 

“I think it is wrong that teachers are forcing it on students,” said junior Gianna Petilo. “My friend’s math teacher even goes as far as giving them detention if they do not do it.”

Despite being able to track their progress, many students claim to not pay attention to the practice. This, in turn, undermines the actual point of it.

“I think it is good to get the practice in but I also feel like it is a waste of time because people aren’t even paying attention to it,” said junior Sophie Gustinis.

The debate arises of whether Khan Academy should be optional for junior students. But knowing the nature of kids in high school, it is highly likely that a great deal of them would not take advantage of the opportunity to use extra practice. 

“I don’t think it should be optional,” said English teacher Laura Massey. “I think at least in the English department, 30 minutes additional practice is very doable for students.”
There are students who find the website useful to get extra practice in areas that they may not be strong in. Khan Academy has a personalized experience so that students see areas they excel in versus ones that they are weaker in. 

“I feel like it does prepare me more for the actual SAT. There really is no other good way to practice,” said Petilo. 

After all, the SAT is a huge deal for juniors in high school. It could benefit them when applying for colleges in the fall of their senior year, which means that the extra practice is extremely important.

Juniors are also given the opportunity to take SAT prep classes. While helpful, these classes can cost hundreds of dollars. Khan Academy, on the other hand, is completely free for all students to use.

“I think it depends on the person. I learn better in person in lectures and this doesn’t seem to be doing much for me,” said Gustinis.

With cost and preferred learning style in mind, it is beneficial for students to have the options on their preferred study method. Khan Academy is helpful because it targets students who prefer to learn independently through practice problems.

Since this is the first year Masuk has assigned Khan to juniors, it is unclear whether or not it will improve the scores of students. However, a study conducted in 2016 by College Board showed that students who used Khan Academy’s free online SAT prep showed an average score improvement of 120 points on the test. So, there is a fact behind the so-called “unnecessary practice”.

“The skills assessed on Khan are skills that aren’t necessarily tied to content we learn in class, but students still need practice in,” said Massey. 

This is why Khan’s personalized practice can be extremely beneficial to students. 

Although Khan seems like a perfect resource, students do not take advantage of it. Junior year is busy enough as it is. With other classwork continuously piling up, it is easy to put extra SAT practice at the bottom of their to-do list.

“Khan academy is the perfect way to practice, it’s just not a lot of people have the energy or the time to do it,” said Petilo.  “If they really want us to do SAT practice they should do it during class.”

This is why many juniors propose Khan to be a part of their English and Math courses. Classes are already 75 minutes long. With most teachers not taking up the entire time to teach content, Khan can easily be worked into a class period a couple times a week. This way, students can truly reap the benefits this site provides.

If the experience of Khan Academy is changed to be able to better fit the lives of juniors, it is likely most students will appreciate the resource more. And with the changes, juniors could use Khan as an actual study method to hopefully improve their SAT score rather than see it as the chore that it is now.