Standardized stress: sleep, eat, study. This is the daily cycle of the typical high school student. He/she must understand how to learn in very different school environments, then absorb seemingly “crucial” skills. Unbeknownst to many, the stress of daily activities leads to the buildup of cortisol, which, despite its unassuming name, is linked to a variety of disorders, from severe anxiety to persistent fatigue. About 1 in 10 American teenagers suffer from stress-related disorders. The vast majority of this stress is the byproduct of a common and feared tool: standardized tests. Such exams claim to predict college performance objectively and in big bold letters. But they are not as fair as they seem. In reality, the SAT and its counterpart, the ACT, are poor indicators of college performance. High school students often struggle with certain types of assessments in myriad classroom environments. As a matter of fact, learning styles differ from person to person. There are visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners. Auditory learners prefer to listen to lectures, explanations, and stories. Graphs, pictures, and written words are optimal learning mediums for those with a visual learning style. Kinesthetics, on the other hand, are more aware of body movements, therefore excelling at skits, role-playing and hands-on activities. To illustrate, Lee Grayson, editor of the online newspaper Demand Media, revealed that “…standardized exams, including the SAT [and ACT], ask questions that…incorporate questions that involve reading and writing…” (“ Pros and Cons of the SAT Test"). This is important because it demonstrates the areas of intelligence that the SAT and ACT are best suited to, and therefore places students...... in the middle of the paper ......rth Carolina State University, n.d. Web. April 17, 2014. Fleming, Jacqueline and Nancy Garcia. “Are Standardized Tests Fair for African Americans?” JSTOR. The Journal of Higher Education, 1998. Web. April 17, 2014. Grayson, Lee. “Pros and cons of the SAT.” Daily Life. Media and Web. April 17, 2014. Murray, Charles. “Abolish the SAT.” American Enterprise Institute, July-August 2007 .Rooney, Charles, and Bob Schaeffer. Test Scores Do Not Equal Merit: Improving Equity and Excellence in College Admissions by Reducing Emphasis on SAT and ACT Scores. Institute of Education Sciences, 1998. Web.Wade, Lisa, PhD. “The Correlation Between Income and SAT Scores.” The correlation between income and SAT scores. Sociological images RSS, August 29, 2012. Web. April 17, 2014."What does the SAT really measure?" PBS. PBS and Web. April 15. 2014.