This Tuesday marks the beginning of the ACT for juniors.

As a senior, I know how it feels to be in the home stretch and almost to test time. So let me offer you some words of advice.

I know many teachers spend time throughout the year helping you study and prepare for the test, burning into the back of your head that this score “dictates your future.”

But I am going to let you in on a secret: it does not dictate your future at all.

The main source of your stress comes from the voice in the back of your head, whispering about how you NEED to do well because this decides where you will go to college, how many scholarships you will get, and so on.

But does it really?

I spent all last year with my head in practice tests going over equations and story problems, and I still did not do as well as I thought I would.

When I got my score back, I was shocked at how poorly I had done.

The week after I got my score, I moped around thinking of a new game plan because I thought that my future was ruined.

I kept asking myself, “How could this one test ruin my entire future?” The answer was because I had let it.

The science behind the ACT is just the fact that no one knows what is coming next. There is no way to predict how easy or how hard the questions will be, but just know that most students taking the ACT, are just as confused as you are.

You will spend three hours of your life staring at a test that does not make sense to you at all, but that is the point.

For me, I felt like it did not test my knowledge. It tested my ability to take a test.

Out of all the students that will take the ACT, some will do worse than they thought, some will do better, and some will be perfectly content with their score, and that is OK.

The truth of the matter is that you can, and should, take the test again, and again, and again.

You can take the test two times, five times, or even 12 times if you would like.

The college that you go to will know how many times you had decided to take it, but they may not even care.  The college you choose to go to will look at your highest composite score, and how you improved with each test. That is what matters to them.

So before you begin to really stress over the next week about the test that “dictates your future,” just keep in mind that this test does not dictate your future. You do.

So sit back, take a deep breath, and relax your mind, because the ACT will not have affected the way your life turned out when you look back at your life 40 years from now.