Welcome to Alyson Ryan for Sayville BOE!
My name is Trish Portnoy and I am here to help you apply to college. Luckily, I am an expert. I have helped over 1,000 high school students go through this process, and you, too, will be totally prepared to pick the right college for you…with a little help from your friends…you parents and guidance counselor!
So, through these blog posts, I am going to go introduce you to the same exercises and tasks …so you can make the same great decisions.
Now, it is vitally important that you SUBSCRIBE to Alyson Ryan for Sayville BOE and…if you care about your friends, you should SHARE this information with them, as well. This is perfect timing for you seniors, but really anyone in high school will benefit from it.
Take a look at my website…here we are at www.alysonryan.com and that’s me!
OK…so let’s get started. Let’s take a look at the topics to be covered:
1. Are you familiar with College Entrance Exams: SAT and ACT
2. Do you know how to register for SAT & ACTs
3. Can you commit to studying and practicing?
4. Do You Need a Review Course or Tutor?
1.The SAT and ACT exams are a method that college admissions staff use to compare and rate students across the U.S. Consider this….the grading and competition in your high school can be really tough, so your 88 average or GPA might really reflect the same learning and achievement as another student’s who earned a 94 GPA in another part of the country. The SAT or ACT score should theoretically show how smart, capable and successful each of you would be according to the same national test.
Now, some colleges are using a test-optional philosophy where you are not required to submit your SAT or ACT scores as part of your college application. This is a great opportunity for students who are hard-workers and high-achievers but are not great test- takers. You can find an updated list of test-optional schools by going to https://www.fairtest.org
There are differences in the SAT and ACT exams…the length of the exams, the number of sections and the topics covered. For example, the ACT has a basic science section which some students really enjoy a break from English and Math while excelling.
Even though the tests are becoming more similar, the grading scale couldn’t be more different. The SAT scores their Critical Reading and Math Sections out of 800, so a 1600 is a perfect score. The ACT has 4 areas of testing in English, Math, Reading and Science Reasoning…with a 36 as its perfect score or composite. Both tests have optional writing sections that may or may not be required as part of your college applications…each school has its own requirements…so it may be smart to take it, just in case.
2. Registering for the exams are pretty straight forward. You navigate to the official websites, create an account. Select an exam date, upload a recent photo, then register and pay the fee. You will need to bring photo id on the date of the exam. You can also speak to your guidance counselor to obtain waivers for students who meet lower income criteria.
You can take the exams as many times as you’d like…and many colleges will use superscore, which allows you to combine your best section scores from all the tests you have taken. See http://www.ACTSTUDENT.ORG and http://www.COLLEGEBOARD.ORG/SAT
3. The most challenging part of this process is actually studying and preparing for the exams. They’re not IQ tests that assess your natural abilities or “smartness”. They’re tests that assess your ability to study and master areas of learning and then correctly answer questions based on your practice. That’s it.
So, this is where you need to do what you need to do. Your school may have a subscription to an online test prep software…such as Method Test Prep in Naviance or Castle Learning. There are books available in your public library, courses available at your high school or through various learning centers like Kaplan and Huntington, and ultimately, your counseling office will have information about tutors who will meet with you one on one for customized instruction.
Let’s take a look at the SUNY Admission Statistics Website so we can get an idea of the GPA and College Entrance Exam requirements. For New York Students, similarly in other states too, in 9th grade, students should be given this sheet so they will have a goal in mind as they complete their coursework and studies throughout high school.
https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf
For example, if a student has SUNY Geneseo as a dream school, then they need to accept that their overall GPA should be 90-96 with a minimum of 1140 SAT and 26 ACT…theses are median requirements for acceptance. And, if a student has SUNY Plattsburgh as their first choice school, they need to focus on keeping a GPA of 85-91 and scoring a minimum of 990 on SATs and 21 ACT Composite.
No matter which state you live in or which schools you are interested in…this same information is available on the individual schools’ websites, https://www.CollegeNavigator.gov or College Board’s Big Future website.
Looking at your to-do list you will see that you need to make a plan to score well on these college entrance exams…it’s best to get this done early so you don’t miss the registration deadlines. Reminder: Traditionally, high school juniors take these exams in April and May and high school seniors take it again in October and November. However, some students choose to take additional attempts to obtain a higher score.
So this is what you need to do.
1. Create an account at www.CollegeBoard.org/sat.
2. Create an account at www.ACTStudent.org.
Don’t forget to record your usernames and passwords in your Password Organizer worksheet in your binder
3. Discuss with parents and guidance counselor which tests you will register for and on which dates
4. Hash out a plan of study that may include a review course, online practice software through Naviance’s Family Connection or Castle Learning, and a tutor.
5. Register for the designated exams.
In keeping these video segments short and sweet, I am going to give you the opportunity talk to your parents and counselor. Don’t forget that you can always send your counselor a quick email rather than waiting to meet them in person. Decide which exams to take and when, then talk about your study plan including online resources, texts, courses and tutors and stick to it. Have a goal score in mind…for example, with the SATs shoot for breaking 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300 or higher based on your abilities and GPA.
If you or your parents would like additional reading on the topics, please refer to pages 69-78 in College Apps: Selecting Applying to, and Paying for the Right College for You which you can get at your local public library or at Amazon.com by following the link from my website. But one point before you start, the SAT has just gone through a transformation to make it more like the ACT, so make sure you are referencing the most up-to-date information.
Trish Portnoy is a YouTuber, blogger, writer, app developer and high school teacher who helps high school students and their parents research colleges, understand their options, and make choices using resources from the Internet, guidance counselors and other helpful people.
Follow Trish on Twitter!