<p>I'm an IB senior student and have only been attending an international, all-English school for 1 year. I am predicted 39/45 and applied to Oxford and other top UK schools this month. Overall I'm just a normal student that works hard for good grades. I have a social life, a job and extra-curriculars so its's not that I just get good grades because all I do is study.</p>
<p>Here's the problem: I CANNOT GET MY SAT SCORES UP OR AT A HIGH LEVEL. I don't know why but it's extremely frustrating. I just did it for the second time in October and did WORSE than the one I did in June. At this point I'm just so lost, I cannot seem to do the test right, whereas I have a nice score when I take (timed) practice tests from the Blue Book. Btw, with low I mean LOW: 1710 and now I had 1640.. I know this is above the national average so I am happy with that, but I am applying to top schools in the US so i can't have this score!</p>
<p>So if you have any tips, tricks or have the same problem, please tell me. What can I DO?</p>
<p>Apply to test-optional schools like Bates or Connecticut College. Middlebury accepts 3 subject tests in lieu of the SAT I or the ACT. You might do better at those if you can work hard. Subject Tests are easier to prepare for.
The SAT doesn’t kick you out of a competitive applicant pool if you choose the right school!!</p>
<p>Also: did you ever take a look at the ACT? I personally found that a lot easier than the SAT. (I could not score above 1200 M+V on SAT practice tests, but I got a 34 on the ACT.)</p>
<p>Yeah I can’t find any good info on the internet about test centers that administer the ACT here, because I thought about that as well! I called the Fulbright center last Friday and they told me to call back on Monday so I could speak to their cousellor, so I am going to ask him about the ACT option. </p>
<p>So b@r!um for you the ACT was way better? Do you mind explaining me why?</p>
<p>It’s hard to explain - I felt that the SAT had a lot of trick questions, while the ACT was much more straight forward. For example, the ACT emphasizes grammar while the SAT is heavier on vocab and “the author’s intention.” The ACT essay gives you a straight-forward argumentative prompt (school uniforms - yay or nay?) while the SAT essay prompt is very open-ended. ACT math is straight out of the textbook, while the SAT math questions might be worded in misleading ways.</p>
<p>Haha wow, I don’t want to get my hopes up but that sounds much better to me. I think that would FIT me better at least. I just googled around for a bit again and saw that they have a test date in December so thats good. Would I still have to take SAT Subject tests? I am supposed to take them November 5. And if I would take the ACT, would colleges still see my SAT results?</p>