SAT
Pick your SAT Subject Tests carefully!
This week we would like to focus on the all important SAT Subject Tests (formally called SAT IIs). Why are they so important for top colleges? In short, they help colleges interpret your grades and equalize grading scales from high school to high school. How does an A at school X compare to an A in school Y? Well, if one student scored a 770 on the Bio SAT Subject Test and the other scored a 580, we’d know that the first school had a much “truer” grading scale and that the competition was simply not as strong at school Y. In effect, these scores either show that a student deserved the high grades he received, or that the school simply hands out many A’s. With that being the case, students usually have to submit 2-3 SAT Subject Tests at most competitive colleges.
Students should consider very carefully WHICH tests they sign up for – most students don’t even realize that the average test scores are totally different on every SAT Subject Test! Most assume that the mean score is 500, but that is NOT the case. Take the Math IC and the Math IIC. Many students take the IC thinking it’s “easier,” but the average score on that test is a 588. If you miss a handful of questions, you will not even score in the 700’s! Compare that to the Math IIC — the AVERAGE score is 659! That means you can get a bunch wrong and still be in the 700’s(on a recent test, you could get 7 wrong and still score a perfect 800). In other words, every test has a different group of test takers — the kids who take the IIC are a smaller group, but a stronger group. Take exams like the Chinese — since almost all the kids who take it actually speak Chinese, the average is very high: 752! Here’s another fact to keep in mind: the percentile scores do NOT get reported to colleges, only the grade. Most admissions officers don’t differentiate or even worry about if you 750 was “high” or low for your test. So those who get a 752 on the Chinese test (the highest average of all the SAT Subject Tests) score only 50%, but the score still looks strong.
The message is, it pays to study the average scores and pick tests based on your ability and the scoring curve. The average information is available on the College Board’s web site and is actually printed on the score reports you receive back after taking SAT Subject Tests. Use them to your advantage! You can study over the summer and take subject tests in October if you
missed the May/June test dates.
Enrichment Tutors
Your children go to school every day, where they receive a standardized, one-size-fits-all education. What happens when they come home? Enrichment Tutors is a new service offering full-time, live-in tutors to clients all over the world. The service provides each client with an Ivy League-educated tutor with teaching experience, a laundry list of references, and a proven track record of bringing students success.
Enrichment Tutors are teachers, mentors, and role models WHO continue your child’s education outside of the
classroom, working with your child to identify his or her learning style,
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academic gap. In addition to the other roles that your Enrichment Tutor will play, he or she will also be a live-in agent for ABC’s program, enforcing our lessons, providing the test-prep that we recommend, improving our students’ grades, and offering an all-around improvement to students’ applicants.
Contact Anthony@ApplicationBootCamp.com for more information about the Enrichment Tutors program and for pricing information and availability.
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.
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!
Norming the SAT
We received another excellent question today about testing. Read on for another tip from Michele.
Q: I enjoy reading your newsletter and find it most informative. I do have a question that a parent asked: is it true that taking the SAT in March that a student will be competing with a more “intelligent” group of test takers and that the scores are graded on a curve? Hence wouldn’t it be better to take it in May or June?
A: That is NOT true actually – the college board norms tests against all the test takers in a year for SAT I, not from one sitting. So it makes no difference who takes the test on a given day. In fact, a lot of our kids do better in March, but if you look at kids who take the test in January, March, and May, the more important trend is that they tend to do better each time!
Are two tests better than one?
Here’s a question that came in today. We thought that many of our blog readers may be wondering the same thing, so we decided to post it along with Michele’s answer.
[Read more]
Private versus Public High School
Many parents ask us if for college admissions purposes it’s better to attend a well known private school versus a public school. The key to this question is, “for college admissions purposes.” The truth is, parents should not make ANY decisions based purely on college admissions odds – that’s the wrong way to address a crucial choice that involves far more variables than simply college admissions. One valid reason to send your son or daughter to private school is if you want him or her to have smaller classes, specific classes not offered at your particular public school, a different social environment, athletic opportunities not found at your local school, etc. The worst reason to send a student is in the vain hope of bettering college admissions odds. Most of the Ivies admit roughly 25% of their populations from private schools and roughly 65-70% from public (the rest from parochial or home-schooled), but that merely reflects the fact that more kids from publ ic school apply — again, the acceptance rates are usually about equal.
Calculate your Academic Index
The Academic Index is a formula the Ivies use predominately for recruited athletes (not to be confused with applicants who happen to have played sports in high school; if you’re being recruited, you know who you are!). It combines SAT scores, SAT Subject Tests and a student’s class rank. Even for non-recruits, it can be a helpful guideline to show students how they stack up among Ivy applicants.
More on Score Choice
The Harvard Crimson noted today that Harvard will honor the new SAT Score Choice policy:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=526072.
Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that Harvard admissions will embrace the Score Choice policy and he believes that it will reduce stress among applicants.
This is turning out to be a heated issue among admissions folks with Stanford, USC, UPenn, and Pomona rejecting Score Choice and demanding that students report ALL their SAT scores.
The University of Chicago has joined Harvard in supporting Score Choice.
Stay tuned! We here at Application Boot Camp spoke directly with the College Board individual heading the Score Choice issue who asked to remain nameless. At that point, early on in their announcement of Score Choice, we were told that schools could not go against their new policy. Hmmmm…we’ll see about that.
Admissions Blogs
Many colleges are beginning to create blogs written by admissions officers. These blogs are helpful resources no matter what grade you are in because often some interesting insight is shared. Take some time to check websites of colleges that interest you and read their admissions blog, if they have one, if not, read the school newspaper online.
Get Some Testing Done Early
Unfortunately, many students only start their standardized testing in junior year and as a result have no SAT Subject tests. The last thing you ever want to do is wait until spring of junior year and then take all three Subject Tests (most top colleges require three Subject Test scores) on the same test date!
8th Grade Standardized Test
By: Michele Hernandez
In October, the College Board launched a new standardized test for eighth graders. “ReadiStep” is a shorter and easier version of the PSAT designed to measure students’ readiness for rigorous high school courses and later, college. You can think of it as “pre-pre-pre SAT” as the College Board does – the test results will be seen only by teachers, parents, students and the current school. This is nothing revolutionary – the ACT has offered “Explore,” pretty much a pre pre ACT, since the early 1990’s – just like score choice, it seems the College Board is trying to keep up with and compete with the ACT.
Congratulations Everyone!
Michele’s students had record breaking acceptances in the early round of college admissions results for the Class of 2014.
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Ivy League Admissions Statistics
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