October 1, 2021 — The PSAT is getting ready to be copied and distributed to the students of Jamesville-DeWitt High School. Every year, the test prides itself on helping juniors prepare for the SATs. However, this year it feels as though something is missing, but what could it be?
It is October 15, 2021 and PSAT will have to perform its duty of prepping juniors for the SATs soon. It is as ready as it will ever be; PSAT knows all the materials and has its best bubble forms at the ready to be given to juniors. But it can’t shake the feeling that has been gnawing at it since October began: boredom. PSAT was bored of math and English. It’s the same material over and over again, year after year. PSAT was full of guilt because how could one possibly be bored of helping the next generation pass the SATs, the exam that basically determines whether or not one gets into a good college? Nevertheless, all it could feel was boredom and guilt. As PSAT wandered around the school, to get a good idea of what rooms it would be in, it noticed a room that it had never seen before. In all the years it had been here, PSAT had never seen this room. The room wasn’t like the bland and boring rooms it usually worked in. This room had test tubes, graduated cylinders, and tiny bottles labeled with letters and tiny numbers, like NH4, Mg, and H2O. PSAT realized that this was a chemistry room. It has only ever heard of chemistry but it has never learned what chemistry really is. Fascinated by all the lab materials, PSAT decided then and there that instead of boring old math and English, it would learn chemistry instead. Excited for the first time in a while, PSAT quickly opened TikTok to look up fun experiments it could do.
Turning on the bunsen burner and using crucible tongs to hold a magnesium strip to the fire just like the TikTok had said, PSAT watched the flame change from orange to blue and, in a matter of seconds, the fire became a white flame. Out of excitement, PSAT looked directly at the fire, but the white flame was too bright. The brightness startled PSAT and caused it to quickly look away, accidentally dropping the fire onto a stack of papers which burst into flames. The fire was spreading throughout the room. PSAT was in a state of panic.
“TikTok never mentioned that the fire would be so bright!” PSAT exclaimed.
The room was engulfed in flames and PSAT had no way out. As it braced for its final moments, the fire alarm went off and the sprinklers activated. PSAT let out a huge sigh of relief as the fire died down. Frantically running out of the chemistry room, PSAT thought to itself, “Thank God answering math and English questions will never result in a fire.” It looked back to make sure the fire had fully been put out, but when PSAT turned around, the chemistry room was gone, as if it had never existed. But as long as nothing else was on fire, it could care less whether or not the chemistry room was still there.
October 16 was here and PSAT no longer had the feeling of boredom looming over its head. The boredom was replaced with the feeling of gratitude and pride. It was grateful that math and English are the only subjects it needed to provide students with in order for them to pass the SATs. As juniors filled the testing rooms, PSAT finally felt satisfied and proud of its job.
