(May 25, 2012) — Sitting at her assigned desk, engulfed by the sounds of pencils scribbling and test booklets’ papers flipping, junior Joni Kang takes the CSTs for the last time. “[The testing] is tedious, but when all is said and done, is necessary,” said Kang. “Whenever I think of the CST, I think of it like a burden, but colleges look at your score. It makes me feel so good that I won’t have to take it again!” Over the course of three days last week, freshmen, sophomores and juniors spent the beginning hours of their school day, trying their hardest to do as well as they could on the benchmark. A part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, the CSTs (California Standards Tests) cover grades two to eleven in mathematics, English/language, history and sciences. While the testing is intended as a way to measure what students have learned in relation to their required standards, as well as where the schools rank amongst each other, some students and faculty say that the testing may be tiresome. “The CSTs are a way for the government—the powers that be—to know the learning that is actually going on here,“ said teacher Carol Pettegrew. “It’s really important to Clark primarily because we get funding and recognition. I see it as the whole school asking all students to take it very seriously. It’s not the CST that’s important, it’s that this is a reflection of you and the school, and that always matters.” While some teachers spent time reviewing for the tests, others focused on the Advanced Placement testing that occurred the week before and during the week of the California Standards Tests. “They [the CSTs] seem like nothing in comparison to APs,” said junior David Khachatrian, “since the APs are so much more difficult.” For Advanced Placement students preparing for the AP tests, their AP preparation also helped them get ready for the standards tests as well. “Coincidentally, English AP gets you maybe a little over prepared for the English CST,” said Pettegrew. “Although there are some small things that we miss because we’re focusing on kind of a different picture for AP.”