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.

First, many schools give course credit or advanced standing to
students who score well on individual tests – usually you need at
least a 3, if not a 4. So that’s an obvious reason for taking the
test seriously. Even if your intended schools don’t recognize AP
credit, if you’re a junior you still want to do at least as well
on the exam as you did in the course—getting an A in the course
but a 3 on the exam will not look good! If you took an AP course
and did NOT take the corresponding exam colleges will wonder why
not?  It will raise a flag.  If you’re a senior, it might be
harder to motivate for the AP tests, but if nothing else, you
should view them as a culminating achievement and a way to
acknowledge the effort that you—and your teachers—have expended
throughout the year. 

REPORTING AP SCORES

We find that there is still much confusion about AP tests.  AP
tests are part of the College Board – the very same people who
bring you the SAT I’s and Subject Tests, and yet, the sign up and
score delivery are different. For those taking AP’s, there are a
few things to keep in mind.

If you take an AP test and you are SURE you did horribly — a 1,
maybe a 2, you have until June 15 to cancel your score BEFORE it
is scored. You must notify the College Board in writing if you
choose this option and your score will be gone forever
(interesting enough, an AP representative actually incorrectly
told us on the phone that the date was July 15 and that you COULD
see your score before deciding to cancel, but he was wrong as we
confirmed after several hours more speaking to AP supervisors –
nice to know there are those who actually work for the College
Board who have no idea what their policy is!).

But, let’s say a student ends up with a bunch of really strong AP
scores, say 4 and 5 range, and then one score of 1 or 2 — the AP
actually gives you the option (of course this does involve, as
usual, more money for them) of paying $10 per school per score to
“withhold” a score from one or all of your colleges. This is a
handy option especially for students who are thinking of taking
an AP exam in a subject they might not have had an actual class
for — it encourages students to take risks, so we like it! The
key is – and read this carefully – do NOT list any colleges in
May to send your scores to because that way it is easier to
withhold scores later. You can still withdraw a score even if you
sent then already, but it’s a much cleaner solution to wait till
July 1 (and, again, spend an extra few $ to get scores by phone),
see what your scores are and THEN pay to send you scores to
schools.  For more information go to:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html

If you cancel a score, it is gone forever and never gets scored,
hence it does not count in your AP average for AP scholar
designations. BUT, even though you might choose to withhold a
score from a college, note that it DOES count in your AP average
and will affect AP scholar designations. In short, use this
version of “score choice” to your advantage and take some extra
AP’s that you study for on your own.

One final note: AP Information is tough to find on the
CollegeBoard.com website.  Remember, you have to request your AP
scores separately from your SAT’s.  Head here for more info:
APCentral.collegeboard.com  

SAT TUTORING PROGRAM
Need help navigating the SAT? Sign Up with our “Rogue SAT Tutors”, Mike and Patrick Barrett, for a 5-hour consultation that will show you step-by-step ways to tackle SAT questions by leveraging your existing knowledge. Register for your SAT
Tutoring Sessions NOW!
 

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!

PARENTS

We are both moms. Mimi has two daughters in college and
 Michele has a daughter in 7th grade and a son in 1st grade.
We write today’s newsletter knowing how hard it is as a
parent to balance our dreams for our precious children
with the reality of their own high school journey. Plus, we
want our children to love us, not hate us for putting too
much pressure on them – how can you walk that fine line
between motivating them and over loading them? A recent
NY Times article talked about the incredible stress over
placement exams in India, a country where millions of
students compete for a small number of college slots, and
that’s only counting the spots in India, not abroad.

We talk to a lot of parents of high school students. You would
not believe how many times we hear, “My wife/husband and I have
our heart set on College X for our son/daughter…” We then have to
say something such as, “We have to warn you right up front that
it’s your CHILD who needs his/her heart set, not you, the
parent.” All the parental wishing in the world will not help a
kid get into Harvard, Princeton or Yale. Some students,
especially those from Indian, Chinese, or another Asian
backgrounds, actually have to be stronger than the other
applicants even at those schools. Why? Because they are in the
most competitive demographic applying. It’s routine for
admissions officers to see high 700s and perfect 800s on SAT
tests.

Our goal is to push kids to reach their potential, but we can’t
create an award-winning talent. For example, if a 9th grader has
no amazing skills (top French horn player, champion skater,
musician, poet…) and is taking low-level (non-honors) classes, it
is unlikely that he/she will rise to national prominence in
something in the next two years before college (you apply after
11th grade). Our job is to maximize kids’ grades, scores,
academic effort and extras to be the best they can be. Then, we
help them get into the school that is the best match at the top
end of their range – but note, range is determined by grades,
scores, national prominence in academic areas, awards, etc…. No
one can take a student in a lower range and boost them up into a
different set of schools. No matter how proud or optimistic a
parent may be, parent and students alike must understand that
they are dealing with a system over which they have no control. 

Parents are not, as much as we would often like to be, the key
players, the CHILD is the key player. We try to keep the child
central to the process as it is their interests and passions we
are trying to nurture. And again, with 40% of the spots taken for
hooked candidates who are minority, athletic recruits, or
development cases, that means for an untagged student applying to
Stanford for example, the admit rate is more like 8% and the pool
is made up of valedictorians with huge national awards, talents,
etc…. Those are stiff odds, and it’s not fair to anyone to put
pressure on a student to get into a school like that.  There are
no guarantees, and sometimes the most you can do is hope. 

Parents simply must revise their expectations to fall in line
with their child’s proclivities or it’s a recipe for disaster and
a demoralized son or daughter.

APPLICATION BOOT CAMP® SELF GUIDED PROGRAM 
 
Knowledge is power and our guides help make the admissions
process more transparent. The Application Boot Camp® Self
Guided Program  is an easy and accessible program for students
to enable them to complete all the pieces of their college applications
and present themselves in the best possible light. It is an excellent
substitute if a student is not able to travel to Cambridge, MA, for our
live Boot Camp® sessions in August.

Click here to purchase your copy of the Self Guided Program
today!
 

“My son has just been accepted early action to Stanford. He used your
Self Guided Program we purchased online and we can’t begin to thank
you for the guidance.”

— Jason (Son, Stanford 2012)

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!

Q: Last year my daughter took the SAT and ACT and submitted both sets of scores to colleges. (She’s going to Harvard in the fall.) Now, as my son, who is a rising junior, starts the process, I was wondering: Do colleges expect kids to take both tests? All things being equal, does a kid who takes the SAT and ACT — and scores well on each — have a ‘leg up’ on a kid, who only took one test, and scored about the same? Is ‘more data’ better? Or, is ‘less’ more?

A: No, colleges do NOT expect you to take both tests and actually don’t much care WHICH one you take as even if you take an ACT, they simply convert it to an SAT scaled score. In other words, if you score a 36 on the ACT and a 35 on the combined English writing section, that would convert to an SAT score of 800/800/780. If your SAT scores were higher, you’d submit those instead, or if it were a close contest, you could do as your daughter did and send BOTH and let colleges pick. But remember, they are picking whichever makes their stats look better. The moral of the story is, if you can’t decide, send both scores, but do NOT feel obligated to take two tests – figure out which one you would do better on and take just that one.

Even a student who is No. 1 in a top public school will not be accepted to top colleges if he or she has low scores on the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Another thing to consider is the competition: at top private schools like Andover and Exeter, only the top students get into the very top colleges. It’s actually HARDER to be in the top 5-10% of the class at a place where almost everyone is qualified versus a big public school with some “dead weight.” In short, you should make this decision based on the options, comfort level, course offerings, sports and specialty offerings for your child rather than trying to outwit college admissions officers who will not be impressed just by a big name private school.

Most importantly, students will perform better – and be happier – at a school where they feel most comfortable. If a student truly loves Andover, and the family believes that the expense is warranted, then Andover is the right choice. If the local public school has great teachers, neighborhood friends, a full line up of AP courses, and a safe environment, then it may be worth more to a student than any of the famous prep schools.

Michele’s book, A is for Admission, was the first one to publicize the Academic Index and explain how Ivy admissions offices use it. Normally that wouldn’t be notable except for the fact that the Ivies publicly denied the existence of the formula for over 40 years! Please realize that the AI does not take into account the crucial subjective factors such as love of learning, teacher recommendations, writing skills, etc., but it will give you a ballpark idea of what your chances of admission are at top colleges. The correspondence between high AI’s and high admission rates is very high. So enter your information and see how you stack up.

RESOURCE: Sample Blogs

Vanderbilt: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions/vandybloggers/

UCLA: http://blog.admissions.ucla.edu/

MIT: http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml

Holy Cross: http://admissions.me.holycross.edu/

University of Vermont: http://adms.blog.uvm.edu/

Juilliard: http://blog.juilliard.edu/

If you come across an admissions blog you like, let us know on our blog: www.ApplicationBootCamp.com.

Taking three tests in one day almost always results in getting lower scores on all three tests than if you took them on separate dates. Try to take at least one or two SAT Subject tests freshman or sophomore year so the burden does not fall on junior and senior year. If you’re a junior, take advantage of midyear test dates like the upcoming January test and the March test (the latter is for only the SAT I). If you plan to take the SAT I in January of your junior year and again in March, by the May test date you’ll be ready to spread your SAT Subject Tests into two distinct test dates: May and June. If you are an international student, however, there is no March test date for the SAT I. Don’t underestimate the importance of Subject Tests–colleges sometimes count them even more than SAT I’s since they provide an idea of what grading is like at your high school.

A quick tip about the essay on the SAT writing section: The longer your essay, the higher your score. All the high-scoring sample essays included in The Official SAT Study Guide For The New SAT are fairly long and well-developed, while the low-scoring sample essays are much shorter. But be careful–even though an essay scores often seems correlate with their length, that doesn’t mean that writing garbage just to fill up space is a good idea. Rather, it means is that if you’ve written a short essay, your chances of scoring high are slim. So if you think you’ve finished your essay and you still have a few minutes left, add another paragraph or two and you’ll probably earn an extra point or two!