As your SAT test packet is thrown on the desk, your pre-test stress dissolves under a wave of realization: everything you have done for the past semester has been in preparation for this moment, and you are ready.

English teachers Kris Daughters and Tonja Reischl and math teacher Michael Snow expressed excitement about the upcoming year because of the great success the SAT Prep class had last year on Liberty students’ SAT scores.

In the past, an average of 150 students from Liberty took the SAT. Last year, however, Liberty’s numbers grew, with around 230 students taking it. In addition to the almost 80 person increase in overall people taking the test, the overall scores went up by an average of 60 points per test category, which in some cases, could be the difference between getting into University of Washington or not.

“Normally we would have already expected the high end students to take the test, so we not only broadened the number of kids that were taking the test, we also raised the scores, which is a double positive because we now have more kids that are thinking ‘hey college might actually be an option for me,’” Snow said.

Snow explained that when students take the class and improve their scores, they increase their chances of getting into good schools as well as earning scholarships. Last year, twelve students were able to get perfect scores on the math end of semester exam because of the skills they gained in this class.

Snow emphasizes the importance of taking the test. He wants everyone to be as prepared as possible for the test in order to do their best.

“An ‘A’ in [my] class does not necessarily translate to an ‘A’ in a Kansas City class,” Snow said. “Colleges don’t know what the GPA really means, but they do know what an 800 on the SAT means.”

According to Snow, most students study a maximum of ten hours for the SAT, but this class gives students more than 70 hours of practice, including taking full length in-class practice exams five or more times before the actual test.

“There are only so many ways you can ask a certain question, and if [students] get into the habit of taking these tests with low pressure,… the probability and the likelihood of them doing well on the test when they actually take it will be significantly higher,” Principal Josh Almy said.

With two full periods of the class available this year, both Almy and Snow hope success of the class continues as more students understand how helpful this class is in preparing them for the SAT.