<p>Hey!</p>
<p>(I've posted this on the India forum also. Posting again here.) I'm a 2nd Year Pre-University,(equivalent to senior year of high-school,) student from India and I'm applying to Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, GATech, CMU, Purdue and USC. Currently, I'm in a huge predicament and I'd be really grateful for any help. Here's my situation: </p>
<p>I have got 80% in 9th and 90% in 10th board exams,(external/leaving) exams(both in ICSE.) But after 10th, I shifted to PUC(Pre-University College.) There is difference between these in curriculum and in the kind of evaluation and answering. ICSE is more about applying what you know but PUC is more about what you can memorize and throw out on the exam. It's a very crude way to describe it, but that's the truth. We're expected to just mug up everything i the textbook and write the things as it is, because most of the teachers who correct our papers in the board exams come from rural areas and aren't qualified enough to evaluate your own answers if they're right. I wasn't used to this type of evaluation and it was hard for me to get a hang of it. More over, I was(and still am) enrolled in am IIT-JEE prep course, which is excruciating. So, I got a horrible 65% in 1st year PUC. But, now that I'm kind of used to it, I am sure I can get 90%+ in my 2nd PUC boards, which my counsellor will put in my predicted scores part of the transcript.</p>
<p>My question: Can I explain this in my application? Will I sound like a whiner and cast a negative effect on my app? Is this an acceptable reason for that huge dip in my scores?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your time!</p>
<p>PS: Can I submit my pre-boards exam scores, which take place in Jan 2014, as my mid-year report?</p>
yes, I’ll talk with my counsellor. She understands it and it’s fairly common here in our education system. But would this be a valid reason for the admission officers?</p>