Decades of experience as an educator have confirmed a solemn truth most people understand intuitively: earning superior test scores isn’t easy. Even if you know the path–deliberate practice and expert coaching, naturally–execution requires real effort, commitment, and sacrifice.
But why would someone want to work so hard and invest so much in something as uninspiring as a test score?
The answer for most people is obvious: you wouldn’t. A score on a certain standardized exam, no matter how weighty and consequential it may be, is too small and specific to command the long-term toil, trouble, and time investment required to achieve it. Luckily, the score isn’t really what you’re working towards.
High achievers in every form of human endeavor find inspiration in something that transcends their day-to-day training and development. In fact, most of them are driven by a grander aspiration that can only be achieved through exceptional performance. Olympic basketball champion Dawn Staley articulates this distinction well:
“Winning the gold medal is my goal, not my dream. My dream is about playing to win as often as possible with and against the best women basketball players in the world. Winning the gold medal as a goal gives me some direction, but my dream is something I need to live every day. And I’m doing that each time I play to win… When I’m playing to win, that’s when I feel resonance. If I win, that’s great. I want to win, and having the gold medal as my goal forces me to play to win. But what I love to do, what my dream is, is to play to win.”
Earning a superior test score is a GOAL.
Attending your top choice college, ideally on full scholarship, to pursue the learning you are passionate about on the path to future success and happiness is a DREAM.
If you have big goals, figure out the dream behind them, or you may find yourself failing to follow through. When driven by our dreams, we work gladly, intently, proactively. That is exactly the kind of work the highest levels of performance–including top test scores–demands.
Mike Bergin