<p>More than anything, you need to decide what course you are applying for: English (or a variant)? History (or a variant)? History + English? Believe it or not that will answer some of these questions, b/c it shapes the narrative that you will be building.</p>
<p>-Is it necessary to have a teacher, or “tutor”, predict future IB and AP grades? Does one teacher do it, or do teachers predict your score only in their respective subject?</p>
<p>On UCAS you have one ‘recommender’- one recommendation. Typically your guidance counselor / college counselor will write it, same as they do for your US colleges, usually by gathering information from you & your teachers. There are some guidelines available online (I know Oxford has some, buried on their website- fish around) for writing recommendations. The same person will put down your predictions. As others have said, most often your predictions will be part of the basis for a conditional offer.</p>
<p>-My passport expires in June 2015. Do I need to update it before or after sending in my UCAS application?</p>
<p>UCAS won’t care, but as a practical matter, having your passport already renewed before June will be handy, so it is ready to go when applying for your visa.</p>
<p>-If I received a low score for the AP world test in 9th grade, but received a perfect score on the SAT II test in 12th grade, will the AP score still be considered highly? (All of this assuming I am attempting admission for history course)</p>
<p>This plays into building your narrative in your personal statement OR your reference. Trying the AP world history 3 years “early” can be seen as evidence of a long term interest in the subject. Linking it in to why you love this subject / think you are a good candidate to study it can turn it into a positive.</p>
<p>-SAT and ACT exams do not seem to be valued as much as AP exams in the UK. I understand this is because APs generally equate A-Levels, but how much value is placed on SAT I, SAT II, and ACT exams at Durham, Warwick, KCL, etc? (Especially if the scores are high)</p>
<p>SAT / ACT are gate keeping: once you clear whatever their hurdle is, it is not especially important. Subject tests - that relate to the subject that you are applying to study! -are more important because they are evidence of your ability and background in that subject. Remember that in essence in the UK you start as a sophomore, and you go straight into your major, so it’s not just that the high score says that you are a good student, but that you have mastered the intro material that they expect you to have covered. Not having that background can make first year a lot harder. </p>
<p>-I am taking a lot of AP exams and most of my IB exams in 2015. If teachers predicted scores that satisfied the minimum requirements, would I be able to use those scores to apply? Or are only achieved scores considered for minimum requirements?</p>
<p>Remember that in the UK the vast majority of students apply only with predictions. The university looks at the predictions, the requirements for the course, and the quality of the overall application and decides what the ‘conditions’ of the offer will be. Most often, the predictions and the offer will be to meet “the standard offer”, but especially with non-A level results they can be higher. At the upper end of the unis just meeting the minimum is not always enough. So, have your teachers predict carefully- you want to be able to achieve it, if it is part of an offer- but not overly cautiously.</p>
<p>-Is it easier to get into UK unis as a US student (disregarding St. Andrews)? I know standards would be roughly the same, but would one be able to slip through the cracks because of full pay status?</p>
<p>The UK students think so! Pretty sure it is for Edinburgh, St Andrews and Durham; definitely not for Oxbridge/LSE.</p>
<p>-How high above the minimum requirements do you need to be to get into universities like Durham for History?</p>
<p>Except for the very top tier if you meet the requirements and the rest of your application is reasonably good you have a strong likelihood of getting an offer. </p>
<p>Again, this is where knowing what you are applying to study makes a difference. How strong a story can you tell about why you are passionate about (insert particular facet of the subject you are applying to study). “I love everything about history” won’t get you very far; “Reading X author on Y event led me to keep reading about Z era, and since then I have read/done this and that” mightl get you some place. Read the subject pages, look at the areas of particular focus within the department. </p>
<p>-Do you actually have to declare all your scores? Even irrelevant ones?</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>-If I got a 1920 on the SAT but a 36 on the ACT do universities even care about that lower SAT or are both scores taken into account equally?</p>
<p>The UK universities are not used to the ACT yet, so they will put more weight on the SAT just out of familiarity. This is another place where your referee can help: a comment about the ACT / how few students s/he has known to get a perfect score, how it is starting to be preferred in some circles b/c it is harder to game just with test-taking strategies, etc could be helpful.</p>