<p>I didn't want to derail my othe thread with this question, but mods please forgive me if there's a posting topic limits as a new person to the site or not.</p>
<p>Anyway, as the topic says, I'm utterly baffled by this complex known as the SAT/ACT/ whatever other tests we are expected to take.</p>
<p>Here's the deal: I'm looking to get into UCSB, SDSU, UM, and some other schools, my GPA is nearly 4.0 unweighted, but as an upcoming Junior I just realized that I'm not well versed in thsi area.</p>
<p>I understand I will be taking the PSAT this year in october. What I need to know is out of hte PSAT/SAT/SAT II/ACT/ and any other tests, what is the sequence and basically information on each of the tests, wikipedia only served to jumble my mind more.</p>
<p>I know the PSAT is just practice correct?</p>
<p>The SAT is what we MUST take right? Thats out of 2400?</p>
<p>Now the SAT II, I know I'm going to take them as most good schools look for them (in case I change my mind and go for ivy, though I don't think I will), but are these taken after the SAT? During? And what do these entitle, I believe I get to choose my own that I wish to take or do I take all? How are these tests structured?</p>
<p>The ACT is more of a broader test as well right? It takes alot more of your general knowledge, especially about the world, and encompasses that into ONE test? Or is it a series?</p>
<p>I know its alot of questions but this process has got my brain on lockdown and its starting to aggravate me.</p>
<p>The PSAT is "practice" but it matters quite a bit. If you make the national merit cut-off, which will vary from state to state and range from 200 to about 225, you will be a national merit semifinalist. Most semifinalists go through to the next level of finalist. Both (I think) award scholarships and some colleges will even give you scholarships if you're a semifinalist or finalist.</p>
<p>SAT</p>
<p>Yeah, you better take it. Not only is it the standardized test that colleges look at the most, but it also determines whether you move on to finalist in the PSAT (I'll elaborate more if you want me to).</p>
<p>SAT IIs</p>
<p>You should actually take these right after you finish a class of the subject test you want to take (in other words, take the SAT II Chemistry after you take Chem I or AP Chem at your school). You can take 3 per SAT test date but I don't think you can take the SAT reasoning test the same day as the SAT II subject tests. These are out of 800 and are about 90 minutes long. You can take as many as you want but three is a healthy number.</p>
<p>ACT</p>
<p>This test is much easier than the SAT and many colleges do not consider it or give it less consideration than the SAT. It has four sections: math, english, reading, and science. Math and reading are like their counterparts on the SAT but the reading is easier than the critical reading on the SAT. English is kind of like the writing section on the SAT but easier. Science test your knowledge of how to do science, not what you know in the different sciences.</p>
<p>SAT II's are 60, not 90, minutes long; and you can take either 1-3 SAT II's or the SAT 1 Reasoning on a certain day. The April day, I believe, only has the 1, and no 2's.</p>
<p>As for the ACT being inferior/not considered, many will debate that. Most college look at either.</p>
<p>The ACT is harder for some people and easier for others. It's also partially a regional thing -- it's more popular in some areas of the country than others.</p>
<p>Thanks alot man, so regardless of my school size (its a small school), if I do extremely well on the PSATs I can go to semi finalist and finalist? That's great because since I was in like 8th grade I was scoring like 11th grade proficiency scores on most of my standardized testings.</p>
<p>Do you think me teaching myself latin now is going to also help benefit, especially on the english section? (I know english, and alot of spanish, as well as some Japanese I taught myself when I was like 11-13, so I thought Latin would be a good compliment to English and spanish and help me out). And please if you don't mind, elaborate a bit on the finalist stuff.</p>
<p>Edit: Also they average you're highest SAT scores is that correct?</p>
<p>What school you go to makes no difference on national merit semifinalist status -- that's just by your score. When you "apply" to be a finalist, you have to send in your school record, which is basically to make sure that you're not a total slacker.</p>
<p>Latin will definitely help you, but don't do it just for the SAT! It's a challenging language, so only do it if you intend to study long enough to get good at it and actually use it for something.</p>
<p>No, they don't average your highest scores. If you take the SAT multiple times, they'll usually take the highest score you ever got for each section. So say you took it twice and got the following scores:
1: M 800 V 750 CR 700
2: M 750 V 700 CR 800
Then they would add up M 800, V 750, CR 800 for a total score of 2350.</p>
<p>Yes, but many schools award their own scholarships to applicants with semifinalist status. After I became I semifinalist, I got tons of letters from various schools basically guaranteeing me admission and a full ride if I applied (not very selective schools).</p>
<p>Thanks again brown, and yea I'm teaching myself Latin because I want to, I believe its alot easier than English though, just like Japanese was for me.</p>