Hi, I am a soon-to-be high school senior anxious about taking remeisal courses in college. I plan on majoring in Sociology. I took an SBAC Placement sort of test, and scored low in Math and English, and an SAT with low scores in both two.
… however I have good grades in all English and Math classes so far in my three years, and I’ll be taking another Math and English this year. Will my grades not matter when I get into college and I’ll still be placed in remedial courses?
TLDR; I have good grades in math and english, but low ones in SBAC tests and an SAT. Will my grades help dispute this low scoring i got and prevent me from doing remedial courses in college as a sociology major?
You probably will need to take placement tests; it’s not unusual for students with good grades and even AP credits to get place into remedial classes (which kind of begs the question of what’s being accomplished with the AP’s vs. preparing students better to avoid remedial classes!) It doesn’t matter whether you’re majoring in sociology or something else - there’s a basic level of readiness in math and English that will be assessed.
The Accuplacer tests (by the same lovely people at the College Board who bring you the SAT) are commonly used by community colleges to determine placement. I’m not sure if 4-year schools use them too, but the content should be pretty much the same, so study app for the Accuplacer tests should be a good place for you to start: https://accuplacerpractice.collegeboard.org/
Where are you hoping to go to college?
The good news is that some schools are moving away from remedial classes and instead offering options like “Stretch English” that teach a college-level English 101 class over the course of a full year rather than a semester. So, rather than stepping down the level, they just give you more time to master the material. The “Statway” math series is also becoming more popular, getting students from Elementary Algebra level through Statistics (which will be required for your Soci major) in one year. The availability of these kind of programs may be something to look at as you look at colleges.
To help you we need more details…
What do you consider “low scores”?
Are you in honors English?
Are you scheduled or statistics or AP stats senior year?
(Or What math class are you taking senior year?)
What classes did you take Jr year and what grades did you get?
Do you read something every day (news on the phone counts! Nonfiction and manga count!)
When you took the sat, how much had you prepared?
What state do you live in and what universities are you thinking of?
Your issue might not be math and English, but rather 1) your test-taking skills, 2) test-taking anxiety, 3) undiagnosed learning issue in the dyslexia family that slows down your reading, 4) something else entirely. So do a bit of quick research on those first three, and talk those over with your guidance counselor once school starts this fall. Each of them has a different work-around, and any of them could continue to cause you trouble once you are in college.
Im hoping to go to Chabot College then transfer to CSUs to answer your question.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/03/california-state-university-officially-ends-long-time-use-of-placement-tests/
Big changes to the placement procedures at all of the CSUs - though it sounds like details are still being finalized. I am not sure if the CCCs are following suit.