In the Commonwealth of Virginia, state mandated standardized tests (SOL's) have become ridiculous. As a student, we spend the year learning what the teachers believe will appear on the SOL's because no one truly knows what is on them except for those who create the the tests. These people are hours away from Northern Virginia in Richmond though are out of touch from the many other school systems within the state. Unfortunately they do not understand that the average student is not able to pass the new not so average SOL test. These "educators" for a reason everyone has no understanding of why are not alarmed by scores dropping at schools (ex. 80% passing rate to a 20% passing rate. This problem has arisen during this 2011-2012 school year as the math tests were changed. However this is only the beginning as over future years many other subjects of the tests are going to become more difficult. This pattern is depicted all too well as science is going to feature these more complex problems next year. These new tests are unethical as they are not only too challenging but also take many people, including myself, multiple hours to complete (many take at least four). Hence, Virginia needs to reevaluate their methods to judge if a student has passed a class as the SOL's are not efficient in doing so. Signing this petition will help the state who has wrongly focused a student's education around the test to understand the problem in which they are causing, bringing them out of their naive darkness and into the light of this state-wide issue.