Every year Desert Vista students are forced to undergo large amounts of homework, intricate projects, and of course the dreaded finals week. When they are not worrying about these things, they stress over upcoming standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, and of course the AZ Merit. But do students really need to be put under this much pressure? If small standardized tests such as the AZ Merit were not required, Desert Vista high schoolers would be much better off.

Sophomore Amanda Batista says, “Personally, I believe that the AZ Merit puts an enormous amount of stress on already exhausted students.”

The AZ Merit is a statewide standardized test that measures how students are doing in academics. The thing is, students are under enough pressure as it is worrying about grades, sports, or their upcoming futures. When these standardized tests are thrown at them, it adds a tremendous amount of tension and stress. This is extremely unwarranted and burdening to everyone.

There are large standardized exams that are sent to future colleges and test a student’s knowledge of certain subjects. Meanwhile the AZ Merit just serves as a rating system. There is no true purpose to the test and causes mass amounts of stress for no other reason than the state’s curiosity.
Overall the AZ Merit has no official use and strikes chaos and panic in students attending high school in Arizona. It is very stressful and takes away time students should have for studying for important assignments or tests. If it were not a required standardized test, students and teachers would be much better off.