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SAT II: Subject Tests—What Are They and Do You Need to Take Them?

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Another question that we are frequently asked is “What are the SAT II’s and do I need to take them?”.

The SAT II’s are content based tests.  They are each one hour long and are multiple choice.  Students can choose from a variety of subjects including literature, government, history, biology, chemistry, physics, two levels of math, and languages.  Students can take up to three exams on one test day.

The SAT II’s are generally required or recommended by highly competitive schools.  If you are a student that is planning to apply to schools, such as UVA or other similarly competitive colleges, then you will need to take at least two subjects.  Some schools require specific tests for particular programs.  For example, an engineering or architecture program may require that one of the tests be in the maths or sciences.   Schools that are competitive generally have a strong pool of applicants.  They use the SAT II’s as another factor in their admissions decisions.

To determine if you need to take the SAT II’s, decide on the list of colleges to which you’d like to apply.  Then, you can look up the application requirements on the school’s website or by using a college search engine like Bright Futures.  On this site, you can search for a school, then go to applying and admissions information to see what tests are required and how they are used (admissions decisions or placement only). Here is an example of UVA’s profile.  As you can see, UVA says that SAT II’s are recommended.  If a college says recommended, you should consider it required to have a strong application.

Now that you know if you need to take the SAT II’s, there are a few things to keep in mind.  Not all subjects are given on all test dates.  It is important to decide which tests you would like to take and plan a date that those tests are given. CollegeBoard has practice questions for each test and the dates that the tests are given.  Often, the best time to take the SAT II’s is May or June.  This is especially true if you are currently in the course in which you plan to test.  For example, if physics is a strength of yours and you are currently in AP physics, it is a good idea to take the SAT II around the same time that you take your AP exam.  This way, you can prepare for both tests at the same time.

Plan the calendar of test dates early.  You cannot take the SAT and the SAT II’s on the same test date.  Plan for this at the beginning of your junior year so you can map out dates for the SAT, ACT and/or SAT II’s.  If you plan to space out the testing throughout your junior year, you will avoid a very overwhelming spring when AP exams, SOL’s, and finals can make for a heavy workload.

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Should I Take the ACT or SAT?

Monday, April 8th, 2013

One of the questions we are asked most frequently is “should I take the ACT”?

I always tell juniors that they should try both the SAT and the ACT.  Even if you do not take an official test, you should at least take a practice test of each to get an idea of the differences and see which test showcases your strengths better.  This does not mean that you need or should send both SAT & ACT scores to college.   Since both tests are meant to test a student’s college readiness, one set of favorable scores is all you need.

You can take a practice SAT  or  a practice ACT here.

Historically, the test that you took was determined by the schools in which you planned to apply—East coast and California schools preferred the SAT while mid-West schools preferred the ACT.  Now, schools use either test for admissions with no preference.  For more information about the history of the tests, check out this interesting blog.

Who tends to do better on the ACT?

The primary difference between the ACT and SAT is that the ACT covers more content but the questions are asked in a way that students often find more familiar or more straightforward.  For example, the ACT math section includes trigonometry, imaginary numbers, logarithms, and matrices.  These topics are not found on the SAT.  However, the way that the questions are asked on the ACT look more like what students would see on a math test in school.  For this reason, the ACT often favors students that have taken a rigorous course load in school but do not test well on tests that require a lot of logic and reasoning skills like the SAT.

Another big difference is that the ACT does not penalize students for guessing incorrectly while the SAT deducts ¼ raw score points for each incorrect answer.  This can add up to a large scaled deduction.  Leaving questions blank on a test is not an idea that students are familiar with in school so it can be tricky to decide whether to guess or omit on top of the pressure of taking the test in the first place.

The ACT also does not have any compare/contrast passages or vocabulary questions.  These are often two of the most challenging areas of the SAT Critical Reading section so that can be helpful for some students.

Who tends to do better on the SAT?

The ACT has more questions in less time.  For example, the writing multiple choice section allows an average of 36 seconds per question on the ACT but about 43 seconds per question on the SAT.  For this reason, students that have a lot of difficulty with time management on tests often have more difficulty on the ACT. 

Also, as mentioned, the ACT does have more content.  Students that have taken a less rigorous curriculum may find the ACT more challenging.  The ACT also includes a science section.  The primary skills needed to be successful on this section are a basic understanding of experimental design and the ability to interpret data tables and graphs.  This does not require a lot of general science knowledge but it can be challenging for students that are not familiar with lab sciences.

Scoring:

As mentioned, there is a benefit to the ACT in that students are not penalized for guessing incorrectly.  On the SAT, students lose points for guessing incorrectly but earn 0 points for leaving a question blank.  In school, students are taught to do their best and put an answer for everything so this is not an idea that students are familiar with.

However, the SAT has a benefit in how the scores are combined across test dates.  On the SAT, there are three scores of 800 each for a total of 2400 points.  Most schools will combine the highest math section, highest reading section, and highest writing section even if they are taken from different dates for admissions decisions.  For example, if these were a student’s scores:

 

Math

Reading

Writing

March

650

580

450

May

600

620

570

October

620

640

550

 

Then, the overall score would be the highest section, which is a total score of 1860.  This is higher than any single date.

On the ACT, the score is a composite score from 0-36.  This means that the 4 scores from reading, English, math, and science are averaged to give you a composite score.  Most schools will not take the highest section from different dates.  Therefore, students have to do well on all 4 sections on the same test date

Overall, there is no downside to trying both tests.  Determining which one highlights your strengths is a great strategy for being competitive during the college admissions process. Good Luck!

 

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Posted in College Prep, Educational Practices, For Parents, High School, Higher Education, SAT/ACT, Summer Learning | No Comments »

The College Application Essay: How To Write One That Works.

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

College Applications.  There are few things that cause more anxiety for high school seniors and their parents.  Navigating this process can be daunting between gathering transcripts, getting letters of recommendation, taking last minute SAT tests, and trying to recall four years of extra-curricular activities.   One aspect of the process can sometimes get lost or saved for last—the admissions essay or personal statement.  As the college admission’s process continues to get more competitive, increased emphasis is being placed on the essay.  Having a strong essay can help you stand out among your peers.  Here are some easy tips for helping you write a successful essay:

 

 Engage the reader immediately.

Remember that admissions’ staff are reading thousands of essays during the college application season, draw your reader in right from the start by crafting an effective introduction.

How do you create an effective introduction?  Try one of these:  1.  Make it interesting by using imagery and unique word choice. 2. Ask a question or start by sharing the middle of your story where the action or conflict takes place.  3.  Maintain the suspense factor-let the story unfold slowly rather than sharing all of it at the beginning.

 

 Use your own voice.

Let them get to know you.    Your personal statement or college application essay is your chance to show the admissions’ staff that you are more than your transcripts or SAT score reports.  What do you want them to know about you?  Your first priority should be showing them who you are.  Find a balance between being completely formal and overly casual.

Not sure if you have succeeded in using your own voice?  Have a friend, parent, or teacher read it to see if it sounds like you. Or, try reading it aloud to yourself—does it seem unnatural to you or is it easy to read?

 

  Think about what has shaped you.

It’s easy to get caught up in the trap of writing about topics that you think the admissions’ staff wants you to write about instead of writing from the heart.

Think about events, activities, people, and lessons learned that have influenced, changed, or molded you into the person that you are today.  Don’t dismiss something because you think it may be insignificant.  For example, maybe the time spent helping your elderly neighbor during the summers shaped you more than being the president of the National Honor Society.  Writing from a place of genuineness and honesty will help you connect and sound authentic.

 

 Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.

Even the most profound essay can quickly become overshadowed by mistakes in grammar.  It’s easy to rely on auto correct for spelling and other grammar mistakes but many mistakes can still slip through.  For example, there vs. their or your vs. you’re are mistakes easily missed by a computer.

Leave yourself plenty of time to have someone else take a look at it, such as a teacher, guidance counselor, parent, or tutor.   After spending so much time working on the content, you don’t want to be overlooked for silly grammar mistakes.

 

 

 

 

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The Need for Extra-Curricular Activities

Friday, October 7th, 2011

In school, teachers and parents put a lot of stress on academic success, and with good reason. Understanding school subjects is a sure way to raise your base of knowledge and do well in school and beyond. However, grades are not the only important thing to consider for students. Extracurricular activities can also be an essential part of the learning process.

Consider the variety of skills one can practice and learn in a high school setting. Sports can teach teamwork, the newspaper or yearbook can give students a basic understanding of publishing and getting a product made, and drama can allow students license to express themselves as human beings. All of these things are essential to learn before going out into the “real” world.

The benefits of extracurricular activities are real. Consider this somewhat old but still relevant article from Science Daily.

According to this article, high school students with good social skills and who participate in extracurricular activities do better 10 years out from school than classmates with similar test scores but fewer social skills and less participation in extracurriculars.

Part of this greater success comes because of a change in the economy. With the decline of manufacturing jobs, more service and information oriented skills are desired according to Christy Lleras, a professor of human and community development who is quoted in the article.

Unfortunately, a greater emphasis on testing in the wake of No Child Left Behind has decreased schools’ emphasis on extracurricular activities. Lleras is quoted in the article as saying the following:

“There’s this pervasive idea that if we just teach and test the basic skills, students are going to do much better in school and in life,” she said. “It would be great if we could just snap our fingers and tomorrow everyone could read, write and do math at grade-level. But an obsession with testing and routinized thinking doesn’t foster the non-cognitive soft skills that pay off as an adult.”

Parents, teachers and students have always known that there is more to life than just learning the facts. This is something we see played out every time a student tries to join extracurricular activities in an effort to boost his or her school resume for college applications. However, extracurricular activities are important not just for appearance but also for later success.

As parents and teachers, we have the opportunity to expose our children and students to more diverse activities so that they may become multifaceted human beings. Extracurricular activities are one avenue schools provide to do this.

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Back to School

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

It’s getting to be back to school time, and that means some preparation is in order. Going back to school isn’t a simple matter of packing a kid’s lunch and sending him or her off. Some additional thought is required. This website has some interesting advice for these back-to-school days. Take a look.

For high schoolers, first time or otherwise, these days before the start of school are for mental preparation. It is hard to believe when you’re in the midst of it, but what you do in high school can have a significant impact on what happens in the rest of your life. It is time to start thinking about careers, interests, college and what kind of person you want to be. Parents, you can help kids by engaging them on these discussions and driving home to them the importance of these years in setting a foundation for the rest of their lives.

The high school years are also tumultuous ones. Students are nearly adults but not given the respect or responsibility accorded those 18 and over. In addition, there is a great deal of pressure to fit in and not do anything embarrassing. Incoming high school students should find someone who can teach them the ropes about high school. Perhaps an older sibling or a neighbor’s older kid. Information is the best preparation, so go to the source wherever possible. Perhaps this is too obvious a point to reiterate, but, basically nothing you see on television or in the movies about high school is true. Ignore them.

For more advice for the high schooler, check out this article.

If your child is a starting at a new school this year, there are some strategies that should be taken to ensure a less stressful start. For one, try to arrange a tour of the school. Additionally, if parents can arrange for a meeting with the student’s teacher(s) ahead of time, that can go a long way toward reducing stress. Check out the rules and regulations, dress code, etc, of the school. As a student, you don’t want to be reprimanded out of ignorance. As a parent, you certainly don’t want to see your child suffer over something that could have easily been avoided.

For other tips for students starting in a new school, go here.

Another thing to start thinking about ahead of time is homework. How well does your child do when it comes to homework? Are there areas where he or she typically needs a little help? How does he or she learn best? Visually? Verbally? Hands-on? Now is a good time to start thinking about where help for the student can be found. There are online resources that can provide some tutoring, then there are also in-school and out-of-school services that can help. Of course, we have a full range of tutoring available to help any struggling student.

Check out this article for more information.

Now that we have stressed some of the practical aspects of preparing for high school. There are some less concrete ideas that should be explored. Namely perception. This next bit is directed primarily at the student.

High school is a time for many when everything seems really important. That high school boyfriend or girlfriend, having the best GPA, your friends, your extra-curricular activities… you name it. It can seem as though what’s happening now is the most important thing ever. We did talk above about the importance of taking high school seriously, and that’s true, but it is also important to consider the transitory nature of these four years. Who you are in high school is not who you will be for the rest of your life. You will have different boyfriends or girlfriends, not being the best will fade in importance, your friends will change and you will grow passionate about new and possibly more interesting things. Life has only just begun. When you look back on your high school years, you may be nostalgic, you may be regretful, you may not feel anything at all. But regardless, you will, years from now, see high school in its proper perspective and place: as a brief time in your life. Many years lie ahead. Get excited. Great things are to come.

The school year is rapidly approaching. In these last few days of student freedom, it is necessary to think ahead. What can be done to prepare a student for what he or she will face? What questions need to be answered? What problems need to be addressed? What should a student expect? It is nearly too late to start thinking about this, but there is still a little time left. Start thinking about preparation, and all challenges can be faced.

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Technology in the Classroom

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

A lot has changed in the classroom over the many years the United States has offered public education. Perhaps no change is as obvious as that occurring in technology. Typing on a computer has replaced the emphasis on writing by hand. The Internet has added a new layer of connectivity to classroom lessons. And the traditional chalkboard has morphed a bit as well. Today, interactive whiteboards (IWB) are all the range. But how beneficial are they really?

This is a topic covered in this Education Week article

In the article, mostly anecdotal evidence and explanation is given one way or another. It does explain that some studies have linked technology and better grades, but it also makes the statement that any progress depends on the teacher.

One of those teachers talked about in the article is Sandra Simoneaux, a 3rd and 4th grade teacher at Parker Elementary School in Oakland, Calif. She said an interactive whiteboard can give her “immediate insight” into how well students are learning. If she asks a question, the whiteboard can actually track how long it takes for students to answer. If it’s taking a while for the students to understand the problem, then she instantly knows that she needs to spend some more time on that lesson.

She also likes how using an interactive whiteboard can help her to teach the lesson at her own pace. With students relying on her use of the whiteboard, rather than questions on a sheet or in a textbook, they can’t jump ahead. Instead, they must move the same speed at which the instructor teaches. This helps keep everybody on task and in the moment.

The article also talks about the Urban High School of San Francisco. They use interactive white boards there, and school officials talk about how helpful they are with visual learning. The teachers can set up lesson plans and visual tools ahead of time, saving them from having to spend class time setting up something like a graph or chart on the board. Also, the whiteboards have the ability to save work written on them by the teacher. That way, students can download the teacher’s visual class lesson later. This allows them to skip taking notes during the actual lecture and focus instead on taking the information in.

Professional development and repeated use are both emphasized in the article. Just adding an interactive whiteboard itself won’t make for a significant change. That fact is highlighted in this quote from the Education Week article:

“Some people think [the IWB] is a magic bullet that will solve everything,” said Patrick Ledesma, a school-based technology specialist and special education department chair at the 746-student Holmes Middle School, which is part of the Fairfax County public schools in Virginia. He is also a current teacher-ambassador fellow for the U.S. Department of Education. But once interactive whiteboards have been installed, “teachers will do what they’ve always done, unless there is training or support to do things differently,” he said.

It appears that technology can really make an impact in the classroom, but not without the guiding hands of a well-trained professional.

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News Is a Window on the Teaching World

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

What do you know about Egypt? And we’re not talking about the stereotypes. Everybody is a familiar with the pyramids and sphinx. Most people remember the ‘80s song “Walk Like An Egyptian.” But ask someone to tell you what Egypt is really like and you’re liable to get an explanation that lumps the country in with the rest of the Middle East. But the Middle East isn’t a homogenous mass. It is a region made up of many different cultures and countries. Fortunately, with countries in the region playing a more prominent part in the news, now is a perfect time for teachers to expand their students’ horizons.

A recent Education Week article highlighted the ways that some teachers — including one in Falls Church – are using the situation in Egypt as a jumping off point to expand student understanding of what the country is really like.

Oftentimes, the news focuses on foreign countries only when it involves a war the United States is participating in, or when the United States is in some way directly connected to the events. With Egypt, teachers and students have a chance to see a country transforming itself and pushing for many of the same democratic principles that power our nation. Studying news reports of what’s happening and the steps that led to this point can start a discussion about the value of democracy and a free and responsive leadership.

Also, by studying the situation in Egypt, teachers can use the country as a stepping stone to a conversation about how democracy formed in the United States. The opportunities to use this poignant moment in Egypt’s history are nearly endless when it comes to engaging student interest.

Revolution is not limited to Egypt. Other countries like Tunisia are also rising against the status quo, and each new incident provides an additional teaching focus for teachers. The news is a good way to make history and current events come alive for students.

Additional material can be found in the economic crisis sweeping places like Greece and Spain. Given that the United States is experiencing a similar economic situation, the ability to educate through comparison and contrast is unique.

Whatever the country or situation, the world news provides the means by which teachers can open their students’ eyes to the rest of the world. This way they can have a vision that does not rely on stereotype and misinformation, but is solidly based on fact.

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More Cuts Could Be Coming–This Time from the Feds

Monday, February 28th, 2011

The perpetual budget crisis in our nation’s schools continues. This time the focus isn’t on local funding cuts but federal ones.

Early on February 19, the House of Representatives voted to cut more than $5 billion out of the U.S. Department of Education’s current-year budget. As usual for a House sharply divided by partisan philosophies, the budget cuts went through on a party-line vote. The final score: 235-189.

According to this article by Education Week, the Senate isn’t expected to sustain the cuts, and even if it did, it’s anticipated that President Barack Obama would use his veto to ensure that the education department doesn’t lose so much of its cash.

Part of the trimming in the House came from cuts in School Improvement Grants of $336.6 million and Teacher Quality State Grants of $500 million.

The reasoning given by Democrats and Republicans for their respective opposition and support of education cuts follows orthodox party rhetoric. Republicans say that cuts are necessary in these tough economic times and they are trying to spread them fairly, and Democrats say that the damage these education cuts would do outweighs their savings in dollars. The Democrats also use the veiled statement that we need “revenue increases” as a polite way of saying we must raise “new taxes.”

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with either of these positions. Both cutting spending and raising taxes are reasonable and time-honored ways of preserving resources in the federal budget. But the sharp adherence to one or the other policy by both parties means that these debates always end predictably—whichever side has greater numbers wins.

However, Republicans can only win in the short term. With a Democrat in the White House, the all-powerful veto stands as the ultimate impediment to their legislative plans. So in the end, the only options we are left with are failure or stagnation. Neither side can really gain. That is unless they work together and compromise — a possibility that seems anathema to both political parties.

But for the good of the people, we will need to see some reasonableness from both sides when trying to figure out the best way to preserve and create federal budgets during economic crisis, especially when education is at stake.

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Getting Educators Inside Your Head

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Research into the brain and how it develops has exploded in the last couple of decades. We know things about how we think and how we learn that would have been considered science fiction 50 years ago. However, it doesn’t always seem to be the case that public education has kept abreast of all the new information available.

We came across this article, which talks about how the discoveries made in neuroscience must be coupled with the strategies we use for teaching.

One of the most important things we have learned about the brain is the concept of plasticity. This means that the brain changes as it works to integrate new information and experiences. We have seen, for example, that the brains of people with certain types of damage can actually adapt to the damage and restructure to allow the person to function more effectively. That’s a more extreme example.

The article points out how a teacher might assume a student in fifth grade who is bad at math will always be bad at math. But the idea of plasticity might give a teacher a different view and cause them to find new ways of working with the student rather than writing him or her off.

Another thing discussed is the possibility that Attention Deficit Disorder may actually be a developmental disability and that child rearing can have an effect on the disorder. The article even talks about such common-sense items as the idea that children learn better if they’re interested in the subject, or that putting students in a low-stress environment can be conducive to better learning. The truth of these is usually assumed, but now there is actually data to back them up.

Though there is a wealth of information out there about findings in neuroscience, the authors of the article point out that there is still a disconnect between the classrooms and these findings. Better ways of translating the scientific discoveries into classroom-friendly strategies and getting educators and neuroscientists together for dialogue will be essential for a full picture of the learning possibilities.

Public school education has operated in a certain way since its inception, but that static way of teaching and learning is being turned on its head by modern scientific understanding. It turns out that the brain is more complicated and more adaptable than we ever thought. This understanding could lead to revolutions in the way we teach and better results in classrooms for students. All it takes now is for educators to become familiar with and apply the findings of neuroscientists.

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“Waiting for Superman”

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

If you haven’t been watching or reading the news, then you may think we are about to talk about comic books or a new superhero movie. Alas, no. That would be more heartening. But instead we are talking about the state of schools in our nation.  Although most would agree that improvements are desperately needed to meet the needs of all children in our schools, whether or not “Waiting for Superman” provides an unbiased solution is up for debate.

“Waiting for Superman” is a new documentary from the guy who did “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Al Gore-centric look at global warming.

It focuses on five children trying to make it into charter schools. The parents are involved, the children are enthusiastic, and all they need is the chance at a better education to ensure their futures.

The movie chronicles the ways in which our education system fails, and notes the power of unions to keep unfit teachers in their jobs. It includes Michelle Rhee, the chancellor for the Washington, D.C. school system. She argues we have to find a way to encourage the good teachers and do away with the bad ones. You may have read about Michelle Rhee when she fired 241 teachers at D.C. schools over the summer. That was 5 percent of all the teachers in D.C.

You will learn shocking statistics in “Waiting for Superman.” For instance, this nation spends twice as much on its students now as it did 40 years ago. What do we have to show for it? Our school children are 25th in math and 21st in science on a list of 30 developed countries.

Reviews of this documentary vary. There are glowing write-ups like a recent one in Entertainment Weekly, which called the movie “powerful, passionate and potentially revolution-inducing.” There are also less enthusiastic assessments. A Washington Post review by Richard Cohen said that the documentary’s view is skewed.

His point is that all five children in the movie are active students with involved parents. However, Cohen says that there are a vast number of students who aren’t represented in the movie. They are the ones whose parents are not as involved and who have behavioral and learning difficulties. These students, he argues, present unique challenges that are not addressed in the documentary.

Regardless, even he thinks the movie is worth watching. He says, “It deals with what may be the single most important issue facing this country, an education system that satisfies no one and nothing.”

For all of you parents, teachers and students out there, that’s a subject you have a stake in.

Read about the movie at the following web sites:

Here are a couple of positive takes.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/steven_rea/20100926_On_Movies__Guggenheim_s__quot_Waiting_for__Superman__quot__is_a_personal_essay_on_nation_s_failing_schools.html

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20428080,00.html

The next two perspectives are less-than-glowing. The first one is the Richard Cohen review mentioned in the above article. The other is a blog post that has a detailed account of what the movie gets wrong.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/waiting_for_superman_ignores_t.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-superman-got-wrong-point.html

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