The Perfect Score

The CSAs are the backbone of the novel’s internal and external conflicts, and they become a motif that represents The Pressure Inherent in Expectations. At the beginning of the text, the CSAs are little more than a distant trouble for the students and Mrs. Woods alike. They disrupt classes and lives minimally, though it is clear from the attitudes of the students that the tests are an unwanted distraction from more enjoyable parts of school, such as recess and read-aloud time. As the novel progresses and the significance of the tests increases, the children find the CSAs taking over more and more of their lives. This includes the art program and recess, and by the time the children decide to cheat, the CSAs have become a source of anxiety since failure carries far-reaching consequences for all of them. As a result, the pressure that the CSAs put on the children and teachers is far more than academic. The lengths that the children will go to so that the CSAs can’t take away the tiny amounts of control they have over their lives conveys the unnecessary and harmful pressure that the tests put on everyone.