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 ome people just know they want to go to
college from the time they start
kindergarten. Others don’t decide for quite
a while. Either way, it is better to be
prepared, to keep your options open.
Consider carefully what you would like to do
after high school and what you want to
accomplish in life, then ask your school or
career counselor for the best way to get
there. These are big questions; but you
don’t have to have all of the answers now.
You only need to prepare yourself as well as
possible. Life, after all, is a learning
experience.
Chances are that your school counselor will
advise you to take the most rigorous courses
you can. In the long run, these courses will
help you succeed in college and your future
career. Right now, challenging courses will
help show college admissions officers that
you are a serious student ready for
college-level work. These courses also will
help you to do well on the SAT, the most
widely used college admissions exam. The
College Board recommends that students take
four years of English, four years of math
(including Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry,
and pre-Calculus or Calculus), and a minimum
of two years of lab science (some colleges
require more), social science and history,
and two-years of a foreign language.
In addition to the subject matter, to ensure
college success, a rigorous curriculum that
develops critical thinking and problem
solving skills is essential; participation
in at least one Advanced Placement (AP)
class during high school will greatly
improve the opportunity for college success.
The College Board also encourages students
to read and write outside of class as much
as they can. These activities don’t have to
be dull. Make them fun. The college success
skills you learn now are also the life
success skills you’ll need after you
graduate.
Get involved in a couple of extracurricular
activities you are passionate about, and
stick to them. Volunteering in your
community is also a good idea. You’ll help
others and learn to work with different
kinds of people. Your effort will pay off,
too. Many colleges look for maturity,
leadership, special talents, and a
willingness to pitch in and get the job
done—in addition to your class standing,
grade point average, application essay,
teacher or counselor recommendations, and
test scores. Which brings us to college
entrance exams.
Why do you have to take a standardized
entrance exam?
Very few colleges have their own entrance
examinations. The majority use one of two
national exams. Most students take the SATŪ,
which is owned by the College Board, the
association for which I work. In fact,
nearly 80 percent of all colleges and
universities use the SAT in the admissions
process. One of the reasons for this is that
the exam was developed at the request of
colleges and universities for a standard
test that would allow them to compare
students from all over the country on a fair
and equal basis. Once again, this year, we
expect students to take 2.8 million SAT
tests, a number that, I’m proud to say, has
grown faster than the student population
itself. There is a good reason for this.
Colleges can’t learn everything from your
application. For example, grading policies
aren’t the same in every school. A B in your
high school could mean much the same as an A
in another school. Even if your A were the
same as an A in another state, was the
course the same? Yet on the SAT, on which
the top score is 2400, a Writing score of
600 or a Math score of 650 means the same
thing for all students. It gives colleges a
quick way to compare your academic skills
with those of more than two million other
students who took the same test. That
information helps an admissions officer
predict that you will probably do well in
your first year at his or her college; and
research has shown that the SAT is very
accurate in predicting the success of
college freshman. After all, colleges want
to admit students who will succeed.
So, although a standardized test score isn’t
the main |
ingredient in your college application, it
is an important one. Be ready to do the best you can
when you take the exam.
How
should you get ready to take the test?
The best way to prepare is to develop good
reasoning
and communication skills. You do that when you
challenge yourself academically. Before taking the test,
it is best to become familiar with the question types
and format. Never take the test “cold.”
The best SAT practice is the PSAT/NMSQT,
which covers the same topics under test
conditions. The College Board offers the
PSAT/NMSQT every October.
The College Board’s SAT Readiness Program
gives you even more test practice, plus a
review of concepts, questions, and
directions. The program includes free and
low-cost materials in print and online.
These resources help you do your best on
test day. Because the program is from us,
the test maker, you will take the test with
the confidence that comes from knowing what
to expect.
Photo by Bachrach
Free resources include The SAT Preparation
Booklet, available in high schools, and the
SAT Preparation Center at
www.collegeboard.com. They both include a
full-length practice test, directions, and
sample questions. The Official SAT Question
of the Day is available online and by email.
For more practice, pick-up a copy of The
Official SAT Study Guide, which includes
eight official practice tests, plus free
online score reports. You can learn more
about the Official SAT Online Course and SAT
Readiness Program by visiting
www.collegeboard.com/srp.
Some students like to take a review course.
Whether you will benefit from it or not
depends upon the kind of learner you are.
Highly motivated self-starters can prepare
on their own easily. Familiarize yourself
with the test, try some sample questions,
get a good night’s sleep before the test,
and remember to eat a good breakfast. You
can take a snack along to eat during breaks.
If you need the formal structure and
discipline of a coaching course, see if your
school offers free or low-cost SAT
preparation. If you choose to take a
commercial course, be careful. They vary
widely in content, duration, and cost.
Avoid courses that “guarantee” a score
increase, sell “secrets,” or teach “tricks.”
Tricks are no substitute for knowledge.
Look at the whole picture.
College admissions officers consider the
whole you when they evaluate your
application. The SAT is just one part of the
picture you paint through your application
materials. It isn’t you; it is not your
personality, not your talents, not your
interests, or the energy you put into
pursuing those interests. So do your best on
the test, and go on with the great job of
being you — doing strong schoolwork, taking
challenging courses, pursuing your
interests. That is the best way to use high
school to get ready for college — and for
life.
Sidebar: A Special Note
The SAT has three sections. The Writing
section includes multiple-choice questions
that ask you to identify errors and to
improve sentences and paragraphs. It also
asks you to write an essay. The Critical
Reading section tests your reading
comprehension using short and long reading
passages, sentence-completion and
passage-based reading questions. The math
section covers numbers and operations;
algebra and functions; geometry; statistics,
probability, and data analysis. These topics
are generally covered in the third year of
high school math.
The SAT was designed to encourage a focus on
skills critical to success in college today.
To prepare for your future, we recommend
that you follow the advice in this article:
Read a lot in your spare time, take courses
that involve writing regularly, and take
lots of math in high school. You’ll build
solid skills that will pay off all during
your life. |
