<p>(First time poster, don't kill please :3)I'm a high school sophomore who is a bit uncertain as to what other prerequisites or factors that is needed to have a satisfactory or somewhat perfect college portfolio. I know its bit to early to worry about stuff like this but I just want to make sure I'm on the right track. So I am asking the users of the CC forum to give me their opinion and feedback as to what else is needed and what I need improvement on.
Here's what I've done so far:</p>
<p>UN-weighted GPA: 3.9
Weight GPA: 4.2</p>
<p>Freshman Year:
Geometry: A
English: A-
Computer Science: A+
Japanese: A
Earth Science: A</p>
<p>Sophomore Year
Honors English: A
Trigonometry: A-
Honors Chemistry: B+
Global History: A+
Computer Science: A+</p>
<p>Taking 3 AP classes in my junior year and 4 AP classes in my Senior Year.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular:
Health science Academy - 3 year commitment for studies on college level human anatomy and health sciences at SUNY.</p>
<p>Mouse Squad: Repaired computer systems for local schools and individuals</p>
<p>NYHS Internship: created study guides for the U.S. History regents for High School students residing in New York City and New York State</p>
<p>Harlem Jets Football: Running Back, just joined team.</p>
<p>National Honor Society</p>
<p>PSAT: 129, first time taking with some studying and prep I will be ready.</p>
<p>Volunteer:
Only completed 30 hours for my high school career but expected to do 120 more hours before graduation.</p>
<p>What else is needed ? Feel free to give feedback and opinion :)</p>
<p>Start practicing for the SAT. Your PSAT score is pretty low, so you should do as much prep as you can. Your grades and activities look great. </p>
<p>Try not to spend too much time here. Comparing yourself to others on collegeconfidential is (almost) completely useless. </p>
<p>Chill out a bit. There is NO perfect formula, which I’ve been forced to grudgingly acknowledge. You’ll be a lot happier if you accept this fact.</p>
<p>Everything else looks fine . . . but, as noted, do not underestimate the importance of prepping for the PSAT! It is the single easiest way to assure a good college scholarship . . . so it’s really worth putting some extra time into.</p>
<p>Aim for a perfect score (no kidding!) and just keep working on practice tests (perhaps over the summer?) until you’re in the ballpark. There are lots of old PSAT (and SAT) practice booklets floating around online from past years, and that’s what you want to use. (No third-party test prep materials - just actual old SAT and PSAT tests and practice tests.)</p>
<p>If you need help, check out the CC test prep forum.</p>
<p>Your looking good! Just keep up those grades and PSAT scores, and you’ll be golden.</p>
<p>Thanks for you opinion and feedback. Is it better to practice for the SAT/PSAT on my own or get test prep ?</p>
<p>Go through old real PSAT and SAT tests and try them (do at least some of them under test time limits to see if you have the “run out of time” problem). For incorrect answers, try to figure out why you got the answers incorrect so that you avoid the same mistakes the next time.</p>
<p>There are also some basic test taking skills like:
- If you can eliminate one wrong answer, guessing has a positive expected value. The “guessing penalty” is intended to make random guessing give a zero expected value.
- Within a section, do the easy questions first and come back to the hard or time consuming ones (of course, you cannot go back to previous sections).
- Math problems can often be solved more quickly by plugging the answers back in than by solving them the usual way.</p>
<p>Get a high enough junior year PSAT, and you may get some very good scholarships:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a></p>
<p>Also consider taking both the SAT and ACT in junior year; some students do much better on one than the other. If desired to raise the score, practice the initially higher one and retake it senior year.</p>