<p>We all are 2012ers, or 12th grade. But we will be happy to help you out, right, guys?</p>
<p>Yup, we'll be the best college counselors you've ever had. :-P</p>
<p>I hope so:D cause I really need your help:D firstly I would like to know about all the exams that I should pass. I've already heard about the SAT's but to be honest I don't really know much about them...what else?</p>
<p>Well, you also have to take the TOEFL test - it checks your proficiency in English. </p>
<p>there are two kinds of SAT, both required for admission for most colleges:
- SAT I - consists of three parts: Writing (Essay, Identifying Errors, Sentence Improvement), Critical Reading (checks vocabulary and comprehension of written texts) and Mathematics (not much to worry about, at 9th grade level IMO);</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT II- for this you have to choose between many subjects - from foreign language to physics or literature. Most of the colleges require 2 subjects but the best ones require three.</li>
</ul>
<p>Good Luck in prepping, you have a pretty tough road ahead :)</p>
<p>As I said in the PM, you had better take the SATs as soon as possible, in order to have time to retake them if needed, and also to get them out of your way in 12th grade when you will have many other things to do, like carefully choosing your college list, writing essays and of course, studying for the bac. </p>
<p>One very good resource for you would be the Fulbright center. Check it out: Fulbright</a> Romania . They not only offer you free access to preparation materials for SATs and Toefl, but may also offer advice related to any US-application stuff. The only drawback is that you have to go to Bucharest, but you are fine if you go during a vacation, including summer. I am so sorry I haven't found them earlier, but you have plenty of time.</p>
<p>And remember to get involved in a few ECs as soon as possible.</p>
<p>And you'll need some books, both for studying for the SATs and for writing the admission essay(s). They're pretty hard to find and expensive in Romania, so I recommend betterworld.com and amazon.com (in this order).</p>
<p>I want to take the SATs next year but I'm afraid I won't be goodenough in math or in other subjects since I would have one more year of highschool...I mean do you think that 10th grade math is enough? and what ECs are you referring to? what should I do?</p>
<p>Don't worry, you'll be fine with math. The only things that may appear and are covered in the 1st semester of 11th grade are something about matrices or an easy limit. Still, they seldom appear on Math 2c, and are covered in preparation books very well. If you have enough time to go to Fulbright and study their books, you won't need to buy those expensive books edvin was talking about. </p>
<p>For writing the essay I really don't think books do much good. It is supposed to be original, after all. There are plenty of free essay examples on the Internet to start with if you want, but I think the more you try to get inspiration from them or from books, the more you lose originality.</p>
<p>ECs are extracurricular activities, sorry for the acronym. I love scouting for example, and in Timisoara there is a good center. I can get you some contact details of a scout from there if you are interested. You could also join the Student Council if there is in your school, volunteer at a hospital, a church or whatever else you like. It would also make a good impression if you start a club or take initiative in developing a project.</p>
<p>Of course you can add me on YM, but I try not to use it so often lately. It distracts me and I still have 3 exams this year.</p>
<p>angelutza: seems like she's not from bucharest, so going to fulbright might ne a problem. also, the books are not expensive - e.g. on betterworld.com you can buy The Official SAT Study Guide at $6.5 (used)</p>
<p>i also disagree w/ you on the essay :)
in order to write a good essay, one should know to spot a bad essay; that's what a (good) book should teach you - how NOT to write an essay...</p>
<p>chuci: oh, and you should know there's an alternative for the SAT - the ACT. Not many Romanians know about this test, though...</p>
<p>There are some good words of advice around here. I would add one more, though. </p>
<p>Chuci, start reading. Fast. Read as many English books as possible. You'll need to know a lot of funky (at first sight) words for the SAT. Since you have time, reading would be a more pleasurable alternative to memorizing word lists. It also helps to have a few literary examples handy when dealing with essays. </p>
<p>What's more, read the threads on CC concerning SAT preparation and the like. For example, Xiggi's prep advice is very popular among CC-ers. </p>
<p>Good luck! </p>
<p>P.S. I agree with angelutza, the people at Fulbright are very helpful. If you get a chance to go to Bucharest, you won't regret it.</p>
<p>Yes, reading books in English is very helpful. Besides, I think it's better to read English or American authors in original. I think the cheapest ones are from the collection Penguin Popular Classics and you usually find them in Diverta. For some free ebooks check Online</a> Book Catalog - Overview - Project Gutenberg</p>
<p>wow, i haven't checked this thread for the past two months, and look how far it has gone. all you people talking about your harvard and princeton interviews are getting me all nervous. i am not finishing mate-info, but filologie bilingv engleza, and i seem to be the only "umana" kid doing this.</p>
<p>btw, plusqueparfait (i wonder if i spelled that right - i take german), one of my friends applied both to upenn and brown. he had his brown interview so far, and it was online with a teacher or alumni, i forgot which. </p>
<p>what are you people majoring in? i'm going for political science and literature. weird mix, i know. btw, my name is alex and i am from bacau.</p>
<p>for Angelutza: I knew what EC were...I really did it's just that I didn't knew what kind of activities were you refering to. and yes I would like you to give me those contact details...what's your real name? Angela? Mine is Georgi/Gio/Jo...but lots of ppl call me chuci.
for Edvin:surprinsingly I knew about the ACT but I would rather take the SATs...to me it sounds more important.:D
for idwtk444 (LOL): 10x for your advice...currently I'm preaparing for the CAE which I am going to take this summer and as you might know there is a reading part which I think would help me. what do you think.
Has any of you taken the CAE?</p>
<p>hi Alex! I'm in the 10th grade but as you might have seen I'm struggling to find out more about SATs which I want to take as soon as possible. I want to go to medical school.</p>
<p>Yup. I've taken the CAE. Too bad US colleges/universities don't recognize it as proof of English proficiency. Anyway, the TOEFL isn't that bad. It definitely helps if you're already working on the CAE Reading section, but getting personal with a few English books won't hurt you :-P.</p>
<p>neah, i haven't taken the CAE, for the exact reason idwtk444 stated. my parents wanted me to take the CPE this coming june, but i've decided i'd only take it if i don't get into the states. i have, however, worked a lot of cambridge books for the english olympiad, and it does help, as any english is good exercise, but don't expect smth similar on the sat</p>
<p>My name is Ana. I will PM you as soon as I get home with the YM ID of the guy. I will also take CAE in June (long story why not earlier), maybe we will meet there. Do you know that in the States you won't enter medical school until you finish college, where you have to take a pre-med sequence apart from your major? That means it would take you longer than in Romania.</p>
<p>alex, hi!</p>
<p>I had a Brown interview too, they contact all applicants.
So... a little "check the competition" thingy, if it's ok to do so... is he/she reaaaaly amazing? :)</p>
<p>I would like to double major in Political Science and Economics, than go into Media or something related (like political representation or campaigns:) )... </p>
<p>I study at "mate-info" but I am strong(er) in humanities, literature :-@</p>
<p>idwtk444( what's ur real name?:)) ) ...I know that colleges from America don't recognise it but anyway....regarding the books...I don't like to read those from penguin because all the stories are shorter...I mean simplified...but anyway I like reading and I'm sure it would be good to read in english.</p>
<p>Ana...I didn't knew about that...but we'll talk more about it on mess cause I want to ask u more details.</p>
<p>Alex: have you taken the SAT...cause me now I'm in the "researching stage" and uhmm I'm trying to find out more about it. some of the others have already gave me some tips...but another advice won't hurt:D</p>