Seeking Answers to FAQS: Testing Issues

<p>Hi, everyone, </p>

<p>This SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation Forum and its subforums are visited by many college applicants, and some questions come up over and over and over and over, especially right after each round of test scores is released. I thought it would be helpful to forum participants to collect together some of the most Frequently Asked Questions and accurate answers to those questions into FAQ files that could be posted in a visible place here. For that project, I'd like to ask your help in nominating some of the most frequently asked questions here, and in nominating authoritative, accurate, clear answers to those questions, either from external weblinks or from helpful previous posts. </p>

<p>Some of my nominations are below. Yours are very welcome. </p>

<p>FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation </p>

<p>1) Does it look bad if I retake the test? </p>

<p>2) Should I cancel my score if I'm not sure I did well? </p>

<p>3) Does that ACT look bad to colleges? </p>

<p>4) Should I take a prep course for the test? </p>

<p>5) What's the best study guide for the test? </p>

<p>6) How much can my score rise the next time I test? </p>

<p>7) What is the curve on the test? </p>

<p>8) How do I send scores to colleges? </p>

<p>9) What's the latest test I can take for early admission? </p>

<p>10) Which schools superscore? </p>

<p>11) What should I eat and drink before the test? </p>

<p>12) Can I get into [famous college] with a score of [number]? </p>

<p>I think there are some more frequently asked questions here. Please post those, and please make any suggestions you have about which questions have the highest priority for a FAQ page.</p>

<p>These seem to come up from time to time:</p>

<p>Can I give myself an edge by taking the SAT at a certain time or place?</p>

<p>Do schools care about the writing section?</p>

<p>Should I retake a [2250, 2300, 2350, 2390]?</p>

<p>Thanks for the additional suggestions. I hope the answers, which I hope this thread will help gather, will ease the anxiety of applicants.</p>

<p>Who is Xiggi? Where can I find out about "the Xiggi method"? Is there a Xiggi method for the ACT?</p>

<p>xiggi is a very active participant on these forums, who joined CC before I did. I think he is now a college student, who began posting advice on test preparation while still a high school student. His main FAQ post on preparation for standardized tests is a thread on the SAT Preparation subforum of this forum </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>where you can find his advice on gathering test-prep materials and how to use them.</p>

<p>Some of the questions are answered on the CB site, but they are somewhat buried/scattered there.</p>

<ul>
<li>How many Subject SATs (SAT IIs) should I take?</li>
<li>Should I take SAT II Math 1, or Math 2, or both?</li>
<li>Do colleges see/consider the PSAT scores?</li>
<li>Do colleges see/consider pre-junior SAT scores?</li>
<li>Is ACT easier/more difficult than SAT?</li>
<li>Can I cancel one/two SAT IIs out of two/three I took in one day?</li>
<li>If I registered for the SAT Reasoning (SAT I) Test, can I take the Subject Test(s), and visa versa?</li>
<li>Can I take more/less/different SAT IIs than I registered for?</li>
<li>Is stand-by guaranteed?</li>
<li>Is CB online course good?</li>
<li>What is the Blue Book?</li>
<li>What is QAS?</li>
<li>What is SAS?</li>
<li>What's hand scoring?</li>
<li>Can I get a copy of my answer sheet?</li>
<li>Why are my scores delayed?</li>
<li>Can I use a mechanical pencil? Not a #2?</li>
<li>Who is tokenadult?:D (not really a mystery;)).</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>This FAQs idea is great. If implemented, it might significantly reduce the traffic on CC and save grief to the future SAT-taking generations. (One day there won't be the SAT I. Oh, wishful thinking...)</p>

<ul>
<li>Are Nov/Dec/Jan scores too late?</li>
</ul>

<p>Another question that comes up:</p>

<p>I scored x on the SAT and y on the ACT. Which should I send?</p>

<p>Thanks, MD_Mom. I think it's time to start gathering answers. Anyone who would like to post links to particularly helpful previous replies about any of these issues is very welcome to do so. Please don't be bashful about nominating your own previous posts if you think they answer any of the questions accurately.</p>

<p>If you take the ACT multiple times, can you choose which scores colleges see?</p>

<p>Q: Is CB online course good?
A: Im not sure about the course itself because I didn't use any of the lessons, I just took the practice tests. I found the 7 practice tests very helpful. The pretest and the final test give you specific scores, while the other practice tests only give you score ranges. My score over the 7 different tests improved 150 points, w/o the actuall lessons. My actual SAT score reflected my final practice test score. Practice really does make perfect, or at least results in improvement. I'm sure my score would have gone up even further had I actually used any of the lessons.</p>

<p>FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation</p>

<p>1) Does it look bad if I retake the test? </p>

<p>Colleges consider your highest scores, so it generally doesn't look bad to retake the test. </p>

<p>2) Should I cancel my score if I'm not sure I did well? </p>

<p>Colleges consider your highest scores, so you might as well keep a set of scores you have already paid for and shown up to take the test for. </p>

<p>3) Does that ACT look bad to colleges? </p>

<p>Every elite college these days accepts the ACT equally as much as the SAT. </p>

<p>4) Should I take a prep course for the test? </p>

<p>You should definitely be familiar with the test format before you take a test for keeps, by reviewing the test description book you get when you register for the test. It's a very good idea to take a sample actual previous test under genuine test time limits to get used to how to use your time. Score that and analyze your answers to see what areas you can improve on. But it may be a complete waste of money to pay for a test-prep course. Following the xiggi method of practicing with old genuine tests may be more than enough preparation for you to get a good score. It's better use of your time to read books and magazines you enjoy reading than to attend a test-prep course, and less expensive and better college preparation too. </p>

<p>5) What's the best study guide for the test? </p>

<p>A genuine released previous test. For the SAT, the "Blue Book" is best, and for the ACT, the Real ACT Prep Guide is best. Both are publications with actual previous tests in them. </p>

<p>6) How much can my score rise the next time I test? </p>

<p>A score rise of 180 points from one SAT test date to the very next is quite possible, and not remarkable to College Board. Many students gain 100 SAT points a year just from growing older and smarter and gaining more reading experience. Concentrated effort can raise scores by hundreds of points over a few months. </p>

<p>7) What is the curve on the test? </p>

<p>The test is not really curved, in the way high school students understand that term from their high school classes. Questions on current tests are compared to the same questions when they were used on earlier tests to "equate" scores from one version of the test to the next. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>8) How do I send scores to colleges? </p>

<p>When you register for a test, you can choose at that time to send some score reports to colleges you choose then, for no additional cost. Why throw away a chance to get a score report for free? Once you've refined your college application list, you can send scores to whatever colleges you choose by online ordering from the test publisher. All your SAT scores from ninth grade and higher go to colleges to which you report scores. You may choose (and in fact have to choose) which ACT scores go to which colleges. </p>

<p>9) What's the latest test I can take for early admission? </p>

<p>The October tests are routinely timely for early admission, and sometimes the November tests are. Check each college's website for its specific rules. The first test of the calendar year is timely in Harvard's new single-deadline admission cycle. </p>

<p>10) Which schools superscore? </p>

<p>Most privately operated elite colleges consider student scores section by section on the SAT if a student submits more than one set of scores, a practice that is called "superscoring." Most state universities consider single-sitting composite scores on the SAT. It is unclear how many students that really makes a difference for. [I have written to College Board asking this question.] Many colleges do not consider ACT section scores separately, but rather consider only the composite score. One college, Florida State University, says that it superscores ACT scores section by section for students who submit more than one ACT score. </p>

<p>11) What should I eat and drink before the test?</p>

<p>Definitely eat breakfast before the test. Research shows that that is a good idea. Many students benefit from having some caffeine in their breakfast, with dosage depending on how accustomed they are to consuming caffeine. Other than that, eat what you like and what you can digest readily. </p>

<p>12) Can I get into [famous college] with a score of [number]? </p>

<p>Colleges publish their interquartile ranges of scores of ENROLLED students for the Common Data Set Initiative, and you can find that information on the College Board College QuickFinder website. </p>

<p>College</a> Search - Harvard College: SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>

<p>College</a> Search - University of Nevada: Reno: SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>

<p>13) Can I give myself an edge by taking the SAT at a certain time or place?</p>

<p>Because of score equating, </p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>there really isn't any advantage to taking the SAT at one time of the year rather than another. What place you take the test should be decided by your convenience in transportation--there aren't any test sites that will have easier versions of the test just for you. </p>

<p>14) Do schools care about the writing section? </p>

<p>Many colleges care about the SAT writing section and report the score ranges of their enrolled students on that section. Some colleges are still deciding what to do with scores from that section. </p>

<p>College</a> Search - Harvard College: SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>

<p>College</a> Search - Princeton University: SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>

<p>College</a> Search - Stanford University: SAT®, AP®, CLEP® </p>

<p>I may revise the order of the questions above before preparing the FAQ post. I'd love to quote and cite more replies from other CC participants as I continue to revise the FAQ post. Please recommend any favorite helpful replies that you have seen in other threads, or write up a good reply to post here. </p>

<p>Good luck to everyone applying to college this year.</p>

<p>I see I should put up a link to ACT and SAT score comparisons to answer another FAQ. </p>

<p>SAT</a> ACT concordance - Google Search </p>

<p>The short answer is that colleges decide, college by college, how they relate ACT scores to SAT scores, either basing their comparison table on data from their own previous applicants or using the tables published by College Board or ACT. Every major college has a sense of what a high SAT score looks like, and what a high ACT score looks like, and the colleges say they consider an applicant's highest scores.</p>