Practicing for SAT Subject Tests « Application Boot Camp – College Admissions, Admissions Counseling, College Acceptance Help

Practicing for SAT Subject Tests

Several students recently have wanted to cancel their test scores on either the SAT or SAT Subject Tests. Remember, if you sit
for a test and you do NOT want your test scored (maybe you took
it for practice, which is a great idea if you have the time!), do
NOT leave the test center without asking the proctor for a
“request to cancel” form or you will NOT be allowed to cancel!

Please note that you can’t cancel one test only – ALL tests you
took that day will be cancelled. So, for example, if you took the
SAT Subject Test in Bio, Math II and Literature and felt you
bombed one test, you probably should NOT cancel the test as ALL
scores will be lost. The moral of the story is SAT Subject Tests
should never be a surprise. They are very content-based. If
you’re not doing well on the official practice test, don’t take
the test. Most top colleges require two or three tests.

The best preparation is to take practice tests from The Official
Study Guide for all SAT Subject Tests from the College Board and
see how you’re doing. This guide contains full-length tests and
answers for all twenty tests and an audio CD for all six
languages with listening tests.

We also want to remind you of a few things when taking
standardized tests. And, this is from our own experience with
students over the years!!

* Bring an extra calculator, not just extra batteries. That way if
your calculator dies, you aren’t sunk.
* Bring #2 pencils, NOT mechanical pencils as your test will NOT
be scored if the lead is too faint!
* Bring tissues. Yes, bloody noses have happened during testing
and one of our students had no recourse other than to leave the
testing room.
* Do NOT drink a lot of liquid before testing. Yes, you will get
bathroom breaks, but the stories of suffering and distraction due to
having to go to the bathroom are plentiful. And, there will be long
lines during the short breaks. You get the picture.

Students taking the SAT now are lucky as the College Board changed
their policy on score choice. Note: Any student who has taken an SAT
prior to the policy launch (March 2009) or who registers for the SAT
after launch will be able to take advantage of this new policy. The
students who have taken tests prior to the launch can use the
score-reporting feature retroactively. Additionally, this new
score-reporting feature will be optional to students. If a student chooses
not to select their scores, all of their scores will be sent.

What this MIGHT mean is that students can take the SAT I as many times
as they like and select which test scores they want to show colleges. For
more information head over to:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy

What has happened, however, is that a few schools are saying they won’t
adhere to the new policy and will demand kids show ALL scores (to give
you an idea, a partial list of these schools are Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell
and USC). We guide our students, therefore, to prep before taking the SAT
once late in their sophomore year either at a test center or at home to get a
benchmark and then January and March their junior year for their official
scores.

SAT SUBJECT TEST TUTORING

Need help navigating the SAT Subject Tests? Sign up now for a
three-hour session with our Rogue Tutor, Mike Barrett! Mike empowers
students to “break the SAT code” by leveraging your existing
knowledge. Sign up today, in time for June tests!

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