<p>What can you do with this SAT score to go to a college that's not community college? My friend is seriously panicking right now as this is his SAT score (first try) and he feels like he can't go to college.</p>
<p>He's an international student who's been here since 10th grade but his English skills are quite bad to be honest. He's only surrounded himself with other koreans so he hasn't improved much. His GPA is also low at around 3.0 W and 2.x UW. No honors or AP's. And he's not a serious athlete.</p>
<p>He's asked me to tutor him for the SAT but I really don't know what to do when he has no foundation for English at all. I can definitely help him get his math score up but reading and writing I have no idea...</p>
<p>He's been quite unmotivated about school until now. His last semester of junior year he'd stay up every night studying and he got All A's except 1 B and 1 C (English) his junior year.</p>
<p>Any advice? He's quite pressured by his friends and family to go to a good college but right now he's worried about even going to college. To put things in context: he's from a rich background and his family consists of alumni from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford, Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University. Which are pretty much the top schools in their respective countries.</p>
<p>Is it a feasible for him to raise his SAT to 1500-1600 in just a few months? His dream school right now is Penn State but he sees no hope.
Thanks.</p>
<p>I’ll be honest, his situation seems bleak. It sounds and looks like his English skills are **REALLY REALLY REALLY **bad. A score of 250 means he basically guessed on all the Verbal questions. If that’s the case, he’ll never reach 1500. I suggest he take the TOEFL instead. </p>
<p>Sounds like he’s skated by his whole life. You have to ask, what college would even want him?</p>
<p>Yeah he really did skate by his whole life but he’s doing a complete turn around right now. Everyone in the school is astonished by his sudden change in work ethic. He’s been working so hard since 2nd semester of junior year when he got a reality check and he’s cursing himself right now for not trying to learn English before. He’s not even going back to Korea this summer to study. ( He won’t see his parents until graduation. It’s been a year already since he saw his parents and now it’ll be a full year since he’s seen his girlfriend.) So yeah he’s definitely focused now on getting to college but I fear it might be too late. (We’re seniors now for goodness sake) Still, any advice for this sticky situation? I really want to help him out as his best friend and roommate.</p>
<p>Have him stop hanging out with his Korean friends. Period. More than studying English, he will benefit greatly by participating in normal English conversation.</p>
<p>And denizen? You don’t have to be such an ass about it. I think we get the point with one “really”, let alone three bolded ones.</p>
<p>@Challenged
It’s really quite easier said than done because the dorm we live in is (boarding school) is exclusively only other Korean international students and myself. He is quite popular among American kids actually but he really can’t have extensive conversations with them. He knows enough English to get by, but he has alot of trouble with academic reading and writing. Like, he has trouble with the Magic Tree House series I read when I was in 2nd grade. I’ve told him several times to keep making American friends and try to talk with them but he gets so frustrated because he can’t convey his feelings correctly and express what he wants to say. He definitely has alot of American friends though… he has more American friends than I do in school lol @mom2collegekids
He’s going through SAT tutoring right now over the summer and I will tell him to try to get a tutor for English in general. I looked up Sylvan and it looks a little bit too specific for him and I don’t even know if he can communicate adequately with an American tutor. All his tutors have been Korean-Americans who can translate to Korean if he has trouble understanding something. I really have no idea what he can do… at the moment I just told him to start by reading a ton of easy books and work up the ladder and recommended him the Magic Tree House series. Kinda stumped here.</p>
<p>That’s tough. Gotta call a spade a spade. Forget SAT–not being able to read such basic literature will be a difficult task to overcome in this English-centric world. All I can say is have him vigorously read such books, and at least become comfortable with that basic level of English literacy. I go to an International School with a large Korean population. I can understand your dilemma–there is no incentive for them to assimilate with the rest of the students because they can thrive on their own. </p>
<p>If I might ask, however, the background from which he comes–rich, powerful, and well-educated–is odd, considering his English problem. I don’t mean to say that such kids will always be better at English. It’s just that powerful families, foreign or not, have always had good English background in my experience–and being an international student I’ve seen such families from a variety of backgrounds.</p>
<p>I didn’t read all of what you said, but IF he could afford it, take SAT classes! Seriously for his score he will need it. I had a bad SAT score but I’m in an SAT class and I’ve been improving…a lot!</p>
<p>The ACT is more straight forward, so he might do slightly better. Nonetheless, it appears he lacks rudimentary English skills. Magic Tree House is less than basic. More than SAT tutoring, he probably needs to take advanced ESL classes. I feel for the kid what with family pressure and all. Like me, he is probably horrible at foreign languages, and his current environment is doing him no favors with respect to improving his English. He should have come to the U.S. before the age of 12 or 13, but then he would have been horribly homesick and his Korean, esp. academic writing, would probably be terrible. </p>
<p>And as for college? Since he comes from money, does he plan to pay someone to write his applications? And then continue to pay for someone or a company to write his papers?</p>
<p>You are a good and generous friend, but I think the problem is more than you can handle alone. But you can make a rule that you only speak to one another in English!</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend the ACT at this point. For one thing, it’s straightforward, so he wouldn’t have to decipher any of the SAT’s cryptic clues in the reading section. The English is also so much more straightforward. Additionally, there is no penalty for guessing/answering incorrectly.</p>
<p>My friend has 1290 on his june SAT~u think he can get improve 400 points during this summer if he studies EVERYDAY? and his GPA is 3.4. He came to usa when he was 13 years old. ANYONE THINK HE HAS ANY CHANCE TO HIT 1700???</p>
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I would definitely recommend the ACT at this point. For one thing, it’s straightforward, so he wouldn’t have to decipher any of the SAT’s cryptic clues in the reading section. The English is also so much more straightforward. Additionally, there is no penalty for guessing/answering incorrectly/
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Always worth a shot, but I don’t think he’d be able to read quick enough for the ACT.</p>
<p>Like your friend, I’m an international from Korea. If he isKorean and is familiar with the Korean education system, he might want to go back for the summer. That would be my recommendation. This advice comes because there are plenty of SAT prep courses within Korea and many of them from what I know teach in the native language with mixed English. If your friend has difficulty with English this may be a good course of action as he can go home and he can get some prep. However, I warn you in advance, that even if the course prep helps and he gets into college, it won’t do him any good if he can’t speak English there. Honestly, best of luck.</p>
<p>Wow, I came here during 10th grade from Taiwan, have a gpa 3.5, sat 1900, act 30, and i think im doing a terrible job…should i be content with what I have?</p>