Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Lynne Bronstein

The SAT

It is a Saturday morning in 1968
And we are taking the SAT.
Achievement tests will be in the afternoon.
Booklets on our desks, pencils in hand.
Monitors at the doors, ready if we need
An escort to and from the restroom.
Begin. No let up until lunch.
I breeze through the English section.
Math, however, is my nemesis-I take a deep breath
And plunge in. The math section contains verbal problems.
I read:
“Twenty-three boys were discussing their birthdays.
“Ten boys had birthdays in October. Three had birthdays
In December.”
It goes on that way. I am supposed
To somehow compute the percentage of boys
With birthdays in each month. But that is not what is in my head.
I am wondering
About the idea of twenty-three boys
Sitting around---in a circle, perhaps?
Discussing the topic of birthdays. In what universe?
This isn’t a math problem. It’s sociology.
Gender studies. Frankly,
I can’t even fathom twenty-three girls
Having such a discussion.
Next problem:
“Jane told a secret to Mary who told it to Judy and Lisa
Who each told it to three friends who told it to seven more friends.”
I would like to know what the secret was!
Who wrote this SAT anyway?
I’d rather answer these problems
With an essay in the Writing Sample.
Somehow, in some struggling way,
I complete the test.
After lunch, I do the Writing Sample,
And Achievement Tests in Spanish and History.
I do not remember the results of my SAT and College Exams.
All I remember is those dopey math problems.
I don’t remember how I finally answered them.
But I was accepted
By three colleges.
And still, if I read something with numbers
That also has words and a story line
It is the words and the story
That will grab my attention
And challenge my mind and imagination.

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