Do you ever wonder why SOLs were a thing? It causes too much stress on students when it comes time to take the SOL. You might be wondering if tests and homeworks are already putting stress on me, SOLs are going to put more stress on me, and you are correct. 49% of students are stressed because of school on a daily basis. Why are there SOLs, and if you want more information on it, read more to find out.
SOLs (standards of learning) for Virginia Public Schools set minimum expectations for what students should know and be able to do by the end of every grade. Every SOL is reviewed by Virginia classroom teachers for accuracy and fairness. The SOLs are on TestNav, and practice items are available on that app, so students can get comfortable with TestNav by testing day. Other than this, there are other ways to prepare for the SOL. Sophomore Mika Malaespina said, “I used solpass which helped me in new units this year. I also used to do this thing where I brought all of my papers from the year’s unit, opened a blank google doc and summarized everything I could before testing myself with the sheet.”
The maximum anyone can get on an SOL is 600. Anything above 400 is a passing score and 500 is an advance passing score. If you get below a 400, then you have to do a retake. In high school, if you fail the retake, then you have to redo the class. In high school, it is required to take four SOLs, two in freshman year and two in junior year. It is required to take the Science, Math, English, and Writing (2 parts) SOLs. There used to be a History SOL as well, but starting in 2024, they used in-class projects instead of taking the SOL.
There are many ways to relieve stress. One way is to get more physical activity. Doing 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week is recommended. Another way is to eat a balanced diet, such as eating whole foods instead of eating processed foods. Junior Reena Sinha remarked, “The things that I do to relieve stress is I listen to music, be in nature, exercise, and watch Youtube videos.” Mika also mentioned that she usually listens to music or uses her stress ball to relieve stress.
While SOLs are right around the corner, start to prepare using the methods given or any other methods that you know because it is important to pass the SOL four different times, and if you don’t, you can’t move on.
