The Perfect Score Game: Do You Really Need That 1600?

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  I remember the exact moment that I decided that I was not taking the SAT ever again. It was early-June, my junior year was finally ending, and school was beginning to unwind. Just one more thing needed to happen before I could begin my summer of cool relaxation: SAT scores. I unlocked my phone and typed in my college board username with great trepidation but also with the vibrant, microscopic hope that I would get the illustrious 1600 that I thought would be my ticket into any college of my choice. That hope died as soon as I clicked the “See Your Scores Now!” tab.

At this moment, I knew that I had to seriously reevaluate my college strategy. I didn’t do horrendously on my SATs; my scores from my first SAT actually fit into the 25-to-75 range of my top choice school, albeit the lower section of that range. I had only taken the test again to pursue the distinguished 800 club or the 1600 that would show schools that I was perfect, therefore allowing me to slack off on the rest of my application. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, so I had to ask myself a series of questions:

Do I really want to take another SAT?

Let me paint a picture of my junior year for you. After six AP tests, SATs, and with the overhanging stress of subject tests, summer work, the essay, and actual college applications steadily and quickly approaching, taking the SATs again was the last thing that I wanted to do. I simply did not see myself having the time this summer, with work, summer programs, and schoolwork, to actually make studying for the SAT a priority, let alone do it well.

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Can I afford taking another SAT?

I also realized that in order to improve my score, I would have to try a new studying strategy. For the past two SATs, I had relied solely on self-study, with my trusty blue SAT book always by my side. I realized, however, that to gain the drastic improvement on my scores that I wanted, I would need to invest in some other study method, perhaps a class or a tutor. The simple fact of the matter was that my lower-income family could not afford sending me to a class or paying for a tutor; even the monetary expense of just taking the SAT again, when added to the future cost of SAT subjects and college applications, made taking the test again seem unnecessary.

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Is that perfect score really essential to my college application?

This last question made my decision clear. In order to answer this, I had to evaluate the other parts of my application. My high school transcript, while not perfect, was generally excellent and put me in the higher section of my top choice’s 25-to-75 GPA mark. Throughout high school, I had made it a point to foster good relationships with all of my teachers and my guidance counselor, so I was pretty confident in my recommendation letters. I had never received any disciplinary action nor had I any blemishes on my record. My extracurricular list was intense to say the least, but still credible with many awards, honors, and leadership positions to show my commitment to my activities. By this time, I had already written my college essay, and although I knew that I had a whole editing process to go through, I was satisfied in its content and its ability to speak for myself as a person.

My short answer came to this: I had worked hard throughout high school, and that showed with or without a perfect score. My scores were good for the schools that I wanted to get into, and the financial and physical strain of preparing for another test just for the vanity of a perfect score did not seem worthwhile to me.

In truth, the only person who can accurately judge whether or not you need that score is yourself. Maybe the other parts of your application are lacking for your top choices, so the SAT is really where you want to shine. Maybe you have the extra time and resources that you need to greatly boost your score. The scenarios are endless and different for everyone, but for me, it came down to one easy decision: no more SATs!


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How to Get Through the ACT/SAT By the End of Junior Year!

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If you were to hasten towards a graduated high school senior during their graduation party and quickly ask them about their one regret during college applications, don’t expect a hesitated answer. Almost anyone that recently went through the college admission process will give advice lines of starting something earlier, whether that’s their essays, extra-curricular activities, or getting focused in school. A quick “congratulations” and a thank you for the Target gift card you gave them, and sadly one of your only resources to learn from the best is gone. Now while you may have more follow-up questions to ask, a quick call from their parents for them to start cutting the cake leaves you alone and empty-handed with a bunch of little pieces of advice you don’t know how to execute. Until now…

Your scores on the ACT and SAT, two standardized tests required by a large majority of colleges in the United States, is one of the biggest factors in a collegiate acceptance, wait-listing, or denial in the admissions process. Since test scores, a number on a page that although easily countable to six-year old’s but is a tiring task for anyone, holds near as much weight as your grades and courses, it’s a number that you really want to perfect.

Many high schools’ recommended track for testing, which is taking your test with the school in the spring of your junior year, puts many students on a track that leaves little to no time for improvement. First generation students, the first child in a family, or anyone who’s just naive to the college admission process may fall into this trap, and may be the same senior giving a speech about starting early before quickly diving into your graduation cake.

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While not having the tests scores you want not only adds stress to your junior year, it completely delays the rest of the college application process. Since your practice test scores can’t be sent to your colleges, and thus you’re practice test improvements aren’t official, you can’t create a college lists with accurate safety, match, and reach schools based off of your profile, as you don’t know if your test scores are an accurate representation of match, safety, and reach schools based off of your academic profile. This results in you either having to send in scores blindly, which no one wants to do, or not having the flexibility to apply to colleges and universities early action or early decision, both deadlines that require you to submit your application earlier than in January when most regular decision deadlines are. The timeline below is one that can (almost) guarantee all of your testing is done by the end of your junior year, allowing you to get a good amount of sleep each night.

September-December: Introduction to the testing life

The beginning of junior year is the best time to get exposure to the SAT and/or ACT, as you’ll have plenty of time to get practice tests. While some high schools and school districts have the PSAT and practice ACT requirements for their students, it’s also good to take the extra initiative and take a real version of this test on your own, to gain more exposure and experience. Once you get the scores back from the test(s) taken in these few months, you can see if your satisfied with that score if you’re going to put in some additional practice, if that means doing self-studying or private tutoring, which you can read about in the article here: https://yougotintowhere.com/2016/08/22/sat-prep-courses-what-i-learned-and-my-experience/

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January-April: The testing grind continues

The cold and rainy months are a great time to do more work when you need it. This is the time to have the work ethic push you did in the fall and beginning of Christmas months show in the scores for the tests for these months. You can either schedule the test on your own, wait until you take the test with your school, or both. Just make sure you pace out when you take each tests so you can balance out your school work, extra-curricular activities, and everything else you have going on.

If after your extra studying, you found that you found your score didn’t move as much as you would’ve liked, this is a great time to possibly take the SAT instead of your normal go-to of the ACT (or vice versa) to see if you do better on one than the other naturally. You may find one test easier than the other, and thus find improving your score easier to do as well. At this point, you could’ve taken full length practice and/or real exams upwards to four times, which will hopefully have you at the score that you’d like.

May: AP Season 

If you are taking AP classes, and are taking the exam, May is the one month you want to take a break on the SAT and/or ACT and focus on AP exams. While AP exams are heavily rumored to not have near as much weight as your regular test scores, it’s important to make sure you focus on AP exams if you're already registered for them, as they do cost a lot of money per exam.

June: The Last Attempt-SAT subject tests and the last time taking the SAT/ACT

Some more selective colleges either recommend or require SAT subject tests also known as SAT IIs. These tests are one hour exams on one specific subjects. SAT subject tests are offered in a myriad of foreign languages, US and World History, two levels of math, English literature, biology, chemistry, and physics. You can take three of these subject tests on the same date.

I found the easiest way to end the school year stress free and to not worry about these exams is to take the subject tests in the corresponding honors, or AP and IB courses as applicable. So if you took AP Spanish and Honors English Lit during your junior year, and studied hard for the AP exam and the final exam at school, you’ll be more than ready than the subject test in June.

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They’re a plethora of colleges, including but not limited to Duke, the eight colleges in the Ivy League, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan, that require or recommend two SAT Subject tests. It’s important to check with the schools you may have slight interest in to see if they recommend or require them, so you can sign up! To check your testing schedule availability and registration dates, click here: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat-subject-tests/register/test-dates-deadlines

Standardized testing is one of the most stressed portions of the college admission process. With much weight that it can hold in your acceptance, or how adding one point to a score can be the difference between a half and whole tuition to your dream school, you want to be able to have the best shot as anyone else. This timeline allows just that, with a schedule that gives you many opportunities to improve your score to your maximum potential!

 


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SAT Prep Courses: What I Learned and My Experience

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Four days a week, four hours a day, I sat in a freezing, green classroom. I was at Elite Educational Institute taking SAT Prep classes. After completing their eight week summer program, I have learned and experienced a lot. Here’s what you need to know about SAT Prep courses.

You must be self-motivated.

The main reason why I decided to take an SAT Prep course is because I didn’t believe I would be disciplined enough to study by myself. Yet, I found that with a SAT Prep course, I was unsatisfied with the instruction I was receiving. If I really wanted to learn the material, I had to read and complete the workbooks and practice problems I was provided on my own. You have to be willing to learn in order to improve.

Measure your success based on yourself.

Unless you’re the smartest in your class, you will hear people complaining about their “low scores”. Their lowest score might be just above your highest. It honestly feels like a kick in the stomach, but you have to relax and focus on your progress. This is about YOU getting better and feeling bad about yourself isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Pay attention to test taking strategies.

I always struggled with section three of the SAT: the no calculator math section. I would leave at least five of the free response questions blank because I simply ran out of time. The worst part was when reviewing my test, the free response always seemed to be problems I knew I could get right. The other problems that held me back in the multiple choice section kept me from a higher score. In my prep classes, I learned to do the free response portion first and do the multiple choice portion after. That way, if I’m running out of time, I can at least make a guess. Another strategy I learned was in the reading section. The two-part questions involving textual evidence are so much easier when you find the textual evidence first and then compare it to the previous question. All these little techniques are probably what have raised my score the most.

Your score will fluctuate.

When I first registered for classes, I had to take a placement test. On that placement test, I scored the same score that I had in the seventh week of classes. What happened was that I was given an easier PSAT test as a placement test. When I took my first real test on the first day of class, my score was about one hundred points lower than the previous test. Even as I made the climb up one hundred points, my score would decrease a little every few weeks. This happened to everybody in my class as well because the tests were sometimes a little harder and sometimes a little easier. Unlike the real SAT where the score is curved, my academy had a fixed grading scale with no curve. Be wary of this and don’t be disappointed in yourself if your score goes down!

SAT-LogoAll in all, I don’t regret taking the SAT course over the summer, and will be continuing in the school year for another five weeks. I feel a lot more confident taking tests, and it gets easier to sit down and focus for such a long period of time. I’ve also met a group of great people who I can compete with in a friendly way to help myself improve. SAT courses aren’t for everybody, but I recommend it for people who need something to help them along the path to a higher score.


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Of SAT Scores and Self-Worth: Realizing Your Value When the Pressure is On

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“This is it. I might as well just kiss my dreams goodbye and say hello to community college, because with these scores, it looks like that’s where I’m headed.”

Those words are verbatim from what one of my close friends told me in an emotional phone call back in May, when scores for the March 2016 administration of the SAT were released. She was absolutely devastated because her scores were not where she wanted them to be, and had overanalyzed everything that could have gone wrong: her nerves distracting her during the test, fallible study methods, and even the incessant ticking of the clock that had been hung on the back wall of the classroom.

Her statements to me, albeit on the dramatic side, are similar to the panicky thoughts that a lot of rising seniors, including myself, are having as the new school year quickly approaches. With the notion of not being good enough for colleges when it comes to standardized testing constantly looming over students’ heads, it is easy to see why so many get caught up in and are discouraged by their scores.

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Headfirst Into the Abyss

It is the case for many students to feel as though they have been suddenly thrown into the real world without a parachute during their final two years of high school. I remember having a breakdown near the end of my junior year regarding my own future as I signed up for standardized testing, feeling like I wasn’t adequately prepared for the heavy expectations of the future.

We are taught that standardized test scores are the foundation of a college application and that if they are not satisfactory, our chances of getting into the university that we desire go down exponentially. Our parents shell out the hefty fees for the SAT and ACT and we walk into our testing rooms on the assigned dates with the frightening idea that our futures are dependent on a mere few hours full of scribbling inside of small bubbles and reading passages that we will later joke about on social media in order to ease our stress.

When scores are finally sent out after a nail-biting period of time, students are sent into a frenzy and adolescents pace the floors of their bedrooms in panic. The fact that so many of us are petrified of checking our scores in fear that our aspirations will crumble in front of their eyes is heartbreaking, for we should not believe that simple numbers on a computer screen dictate the rest of our lives.

We do not have to allow ourselves to be hindered by outrageous expectations. We have the power to set standards for ourselves and be comfortable with who we are, not who we are not.

The Value of Valuing Yourself

There is a saying that goes, “It is not what you are that holds you back, it is what you think you are not.”  I love the way that Maimuna Abdi Yussuf puts it in her article, Dear Rafiki, You Are Not Your SAT Score, in which she states that nothing is really what it appears to be and that everything is what you make of it, meaning that you should not take your scores at face-value and should instead use them as merely a catalyst that will propel you into your future that will mean so much more in the long run than what you made on your SAT.  I reiterated this to my anxious friend, and asked for her to remember everything that she has accomplished over the duration of her high school career; when she finished her list (and boy, was it long), she was wiping away her stress-induced tears and reaffirming the validity of her dreams.

I am writing this to tell you, whether you are an upcoming freshman just beginning to get your feet wet in the depths of high school or a senior feeling like you are about to drown, that your standardized test scores do not define you as a person. As human beings, we are sums of many parts, and as students, we have a lot more to put on college applications than our scores on a couple of cumulative tests.

The journey to realize your self-worth can be a hard one, especially when us students are being pitted against each other all the time when it comes to things like class rankings and test scores, but it is necessary to go down that path because it is ultimately up to you to make the decision of whether you will allow your test scores to represent you as a whole or not.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin your quest for self-worth:

1. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

It’s an old mantra, but an important step in realizing your self-worth is becoming aware that when you are not satisfied with something, you have the ability to change that. Even if you refuse to allow your test scores to define you as a person, it is important to know that you are in complete control of how you handle them. Be proactive. Skip the nervous breakdown and sign up for the next scheduled test. Find study methods that work for you. Make a study schedule and stick to it. It truly is simple; as long as you pace yourself and work hard, the results will come. Don’t focus on the scores that you didn’t get; concentrate on those you did instead, for you made them yourself with your own hard work and effort and you should be proud of them no matter what.

2. Don’t take the bait of others.

Many students are of the Type-A personality: ambitious, competitive, and aggressive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but the problems come when they need constant validation, like that one friend in your English class who always turns to you and asks what you made on the most recent test when they know that they completely aced it and that you struggled with it a bit. People like these are always trying to find ways to fuel the rat race that exists in all schools, but you have the ability to keep yourself out of it. Know that your standards may not match up with theirs, and that it is completely possible that what they think is horrible may be perfectly adequate to you. As long as you are happy with your scores and the progress that you are making, what they think should not matter to you. If they ask you how you did on your standardized tests, you have the right to keep the actual numbers to yourself and tell them that you are satisfied with what you made instead.

3. Remember everything else that you can bring to the table.

Let’s face it: anybody can be in the top ten of their class or make above a 30 on the ACT. In order to truly value yourself, you have to keep what makes you unique in mind. For example, you may not have the highest test scores, but you’re the surefire editor of you school’s popular newspaper, or maybe you’re a piano virtuoso behind the scenes. Colleges do not only look at your scores, but at your extracurriculars as well. They want to know if you can contribute something extra to the school and that you aren’t just another intelligent student who is going to graduate with nothing to provide them with except another brain. If you are a well-rounded student, you don’t necessarily have to have the best test scores or fall in the top five percent of your class; you just have to be aware of your assets and use them to your advantage by putting as much emphasis on them as you can. Colleges don’t look for perfect students because there would be no reason for them to further their educations if they were on that level. They instead search for students with unique perspectives and experiences who can further the minds of the people around them.

tumblr_o52urptpSA1ut1kpfo1_1280Whenever you are in doubt of yourself, recall this advice and the fact that standardized tests do not measure your worth as a human being. You are so much more than the answers that you bubble in inside of a testing room. As long as you try your best, it is impossible for you to be labeled as a disappointment. You have so much more to contribute to the world, and as long as you are determined and assert yourself, you are definitely bound to make changes in it.


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