Florida implemented the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), a statewide assessment of students' academic content, in 1996. Subsequently, in 2001, the State Board of Education established passing scores on the FCAT to determine eligibility for a standard high school diploma. As of the 2015-2016 academic year, Florida requires students to pass the reading/English language arts subtest of high-stakes standardized test for graduation, now the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA), and also requires passing an end-of-course assessment in Algebra I (Florida Department of Education 2015b). The purpose of this study was to investigate the following research questions: (1) What do culturally and linguistically diverse students think and feel about high-stakes testing (i.e., FCAT)?; (2) What are culturally and linguistically diverse students' perceptions regarding effective preparation for high-stakes testing (in classes and individually)?; and (3) Do culturally and linguistically diverse students perceive that high-stakes testing affects their academic motivation, resulting in perceived differences in academic behavior? Measures employed in this study included a survey and a focus group interview protocol. Participants in both the survey and the focus group interviews were culturally and/or linguistically diverse students in South Florida. Survey participants included elementary (4th to 6th graders) and middle and high school students, and focus group participants included middle and high school students. All were active in programs that support underrepresented students in their preparation for post-secondary education, offered through local colleges and universities in cooperation with the students' home schools. Responses from study participants, combined with the superficiality and lack of specific responses in many cases, seem to indicate that students may lack the metacognitive skills to assess both their preparation prior to testing as well as that which would help improve their preparation.