<p>Hi CC,
I am going to start high school soon. I want to know if there is a timeline for when I am going to take certain tests (PSAT, SAT, Subject tests, etc.) and when you recommend I take them (for example, I took the SAT with Duke tip in 7th grade, should I keep taking the test until junior year?). Also, in what grades I will have to start applying for college, and other important academic milestones like that. I just want to be informed before I go. Thank you!</p>
<p>Michelle Hernandez set out a pretty good timeline in her book A is for Admission, which is very likely to be at your local library</p>
<p>Oh wow @Apollo11, I didn’t know there was such a book, lol. I will definitely look into it. Thanks!</p>
<p>She’s written a lot of books, @logicisfun, and the reasons why I recommend are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>She was an admissions officer at Dartmouth, meaning that what she says has more weight than what I, a high schooler, might say</p></li>
<li><p>The book is easy to read</p></li>
<li><p>It’s a great intro to college admissions</p></li>
<li><p>It’ll show you to the part of a public library that holds all of the college admissions books, which are really helpful</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Glad to see future freshmen concerned about high school and college!</p>
<p>Seeing as the new SAT will probably be unavoidable for you (since it’ll come out during spring of your sophomore year), you might want to familiarize yourself with the format by taking it around June of your sophomore year. By then, you will be done with AP tests (if you take any) and you may even be out of school, so it’ll be a nice time to take it. Then, plan to take it another two times during junior year (or once if you’re satisfied with your score) and that should be good. Try the same for the ACT (maybe June ACT and then twice during junior year). If necessary, you may have to take the ACT and/or the SAT during fall of senior year, but it’s best to get done with standardized testing during junior year since you will be applying to colleges during fall of senior year.</p>
<p>The PSAT only “counts” in 11th grade, but if your school allows it, definitely take it during 9th and/or 10th grade too. I’m not sure if the College Board is planning on changing the PSAT, but it’s still good unofficial practice before taking the real SAT. The PSAT is typically during mid-October. This test is also neat in that your score report allows you to see every question on the test, the answer you put, the correct answer, etc. Plus, it’s pretty cool to see your progress over the course of three years.</p>
<p>Finally, SAT Subject tests are typically only required by top-notch schools (ex. Ivy League, MIT, Caltech and probably a couple of others). They are your chance to show what you know about the subjects you’ve learned in school. My advice is take Math II as soon as you’re done with precalculus/trig. If you won’t finish precalc until senior year, then take Math I by the end of junior year (be warned though…while Math I is the “easier” of the two tests, it’s easier to get an 800 on Math II due to an easier curve). For the sciences, take the subject test shortly after completing the AP class (ex. Chemistry after AP Chem, Physics after AP Physics I & II, etc.). Definitely study, though, because subject test content is typically different from AP content. If you’re ready, you could always take a subject test after the Honors class, too (ex. Biology after Honors Biology). Math and Science are typically required by these top colleges, but feel free to take tests in other subjects, too (literature, foreign language, history, etc.) to demonstrate your expertise/content knowledge.</p>
<p>This is probably a lot to take in, so feel free to check back into this thread next summer, after you’ve gone through a year of high school.</p>
<p>Good Luck! High School is a pretty fun experience, and before you know it, you’ll be done, so enjoy it while it lasts (firsthand experience: I’m a rising senior but it feels like I was a freshman just yesterday…). :)</p>
<p>BTW, you’ll want to engage in top-flight summer programs and ECs throughout the year.</p>
<p>I’d recommend the summer program sub forum on CC and Cal Newport’s explanation of the failed simulation effect to start</p>
<p>@EngineBus2015
I didn’t include this in my post, but I am going to 8th grade this year, 2014-2015, and taking Algebra II this year (I skipped 2 math levels). Will that change the timeline you suggested? What should I do with the extra class periods I have in the future?
Thank you so much for helping me. I am sorry I didn’t include this earlier, I just wanted my interest in this to be taken seriously, it is really important.</p>
<p>@logicisfun - Woww so you just finished 7th grade? Alright so does this mean you’ll be in Geometry during freshman year or Precalculus (some schools do Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry; others do Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II)? Nevertheless, I think you’ll be ready to take the Math II subject test at the end of sophomore year, so the timeline stays the same. </p>
<p>As for the extra class periods, try to go farther in the math curriculum, and if you’ve exhausted your school math curriculum, you could always go to the nearest community college and take classes there during your junior/senior year through dual enrollment (if your high school offers it). I know that college seems far away seeing as you still have a year of middle school left, but yeah…it’s coming up. Alternatively, you could double up on subjects that you enjoy (ex. science, social studies), or fill in the class periods with electives that you may enjoy. </p>
<p>Thank you so much@EngineBus2015! I just self-taught Geometry this summer, and took a Credit By Exam, so I am taking Alg II in 8th grade next yr. </p>
<p>Oh okay…then it looks like you’ll be in Precalc during freshman year. If you want, you could even take the Math II subject test at the end of freshman year (just to get it out of the way). I could have done the same (I took precalc during freshman year), but I didn’t know about SAT Subject tests then, so I took the Math II test at the end of sophomore year (still earlier than most).</p>
<p>Alright, @logicisfun, I’ll go all out and give a true timeline</p>
<p>Freshman Year:
- Take the PSAT for the first time. Study before hand, aim for 180+ but don’t feel sad if you miss it</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take Pre-Calc. If your school does Algebra II -> AP Calc, then do Calc BC, which honestly is not a step up from Calc AB in terms of difficulty</p></li>
<li><p>Take nearly no non-honours or AP classes</p></li>
<li><p>Elective classes aren’t really recommended at this time in your life. As a freshman, you should race to rid yourself
of any graduation requirements and things that you need for later classes. When you are an upperclassmen, electives are far more important, as then you’ll have a better idea of where you’re going in life and can thusly better choose elective classes. </p></li>
<li><p>Maintain a high GPA. Freshman year kills even the best of students and if you wish to get a good rank, a high GPA is a must</p></li>
<li><p>Establish good relations with your teachers. Some of them will end up writing a recommendation for you</p></li>
<li><p>Take whatever foreign language that will let you start at the highest level, not the one you like the best. This may sound sucky, but assuming you’re at a public school or aren’t a native speaker of a foreign language, you’ll soon find that public school language education is very bad, and no matter what, you really aren’t going to be prepared to be fluent or pass an AP with a 5 (Native speakers skew the test against you). What you’ll want to do is get to the 4th level of the language as soon as possible and then move on to other things. Even if you want to major in languages, follow this advice.</p></li>
<li><p>Start some great ECs. You’ll want to get involved with things at a high level, and by that I don’t mean get elected to a high position. You’ll want to actually do things. I hope you read the Failed Simulation thing already, but if you didn’t then here’s the synopsis. You have to operate like a business professional. Start looking into things you like and then do seemingly impossible things with them. For example, I got interested in land mine removal programs and through contacting people and asking to stuff, I wound up submitting a paper on land mine prevention to the Google Science Fair and being actively involved in a really cool charity that is working to demine some of the deadliest places in the world. All of that started from some quick googling and allowed me to build a more robust application. You’ll want to do a mix of clubs (debate, math, etc.), things on your own (having a job, independently getting jobs and internships (Think about the NIH, UN, etc.) and hobbies) as well as school-related activities (Sports, teams, competitions, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>Start looking at CC STATS threads. They are threads on various Top College forums that show the stats of accepted, rejected and waitlisted applicants. Those threads will show you many things that you can do and give you some great advice on what to focus on.</p></li>
<li><p>Make friends and have a good time.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’ll post the other stuff later, this post is too long in it of it self.</p>
<p>@Apollo11 Wow, you really are going all out, I appreciate it 
I have read the Failed Simulation article, and I thought it was really interesting. Both the examples in the article, and your story are encouraging. I have been wanting to make a big impact with my ECs during high school, and I didn’t know how. All of these examples and the steps given in the How to be Impressive article show just how attainable such a goal is. </p>
<p>@logicisfun </p>
<p>The Failed Simulation stuff is good, but the STATs threads will hold the most weight. I had a really popular thread at one point that ranked the top summer programs and awards and stuff, so that might be helpful (I’ll dig it out soon). The thing with Stats threads is that you can see major awards and from there you can find out more about the awards that they list.</p>
<p>Wow! That sounds great @Apollo11. I hope to read your thread soon, and I will definitely check out CC STATs. Thanks!</p>
<p>@logicisfun
I’d recommend the Harvard, Stanford, CalTech and MIT ones as they are the best moderated. UChicago, Cornell, UPenn and Columbia also have good ones.</p>
<p>Where can I find the CC STATs on this site? I tried to search it, and I could not find the category. I really want to check it out.</p>
<p>Here are a couple for you: (You have to go to the 1st page, for some reason the links won’t do it)</p>
<p><a href=“Official Yale Class of 2018 RD Results Thread - Yale University - College Confidential Forums”>Official Yale Class of 2018 RD Results Thread - Yale University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“***Official Brown Class of 2018 RD Results Only*** - Brown University - College Confidential Forums”>***Official Brown Class of 2018 RD Results Only*** - Brown University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“Official Brown University 2018 ED Results - Brown University - College Confidential Forums”>Official Brown University 2018 ED Results - Brown University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“**Official Columbia University Class of 2017 RD Results Thread** - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1480467-official-columbia-university-class-of-2017-rd-results-thread-p1.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“***Official Columbia University Class of 2018 ED Results ONLY*** - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums”>***Official Columbia University Class of 2018 ED Results ONLY*** - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“Official Columbia University 2016 RD Results - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums”>Official Columbia University 2016 RD Results - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“***Official Cornell ED 2018 Results ONLY*** - Cornell University - College Confidential Forums”>***Official Cornell ED 2018 Results ONLY*** - Cornell University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“Dartmouth Class of 2018 Early Decision Results - Dartmouth College - College Confidential Forums”>Dartmouth Class of 2018 Early Decision Results - Dartmouth College - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“Dartmouth Class of 2018 Regular Decision Results - Dartmouth College - College Confidential Forums”>Dartmouth Class of 2018 Regular Decision Results - Dartmouth College - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“*** Official Harvard University 2018 RD Decisions Only*** - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums”>*** Official Harvard University 2018 RD Decisions Only*** - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“***Official Harvard University 2018 SCEA Decisions ONLY*** - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums”>***Official Harvard University 2018 SCEA Decisions ONLY*** - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1629369-official-penn-class-of-2018-rd-results-only-thread.html#latest”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1629369-official-penn-class-of-2018-rd-results-only-thread.html#latest</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1586776-official-upenn-class-of-2018-ed-results-only.html#latest”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1586776-official-upenn-class-of-2018-ed-results-only.html#latest</a></p>
<p>There are a lot more, but here are just some to start with</p>
<p>I took the PSAT, SAT, and ACT my junior year, and SAT subject tests my senior year. Took each test once. Worked for me. Honestly though, the subject tests are pretty much a waste of time and money. Unless the schools you apply to require them, I would pass on them.</p>
<p>You can just take the PSAT starting your sophomore year. That’s how most people do it, and doing it freshman year seems a bit excessive and a waste of time/money. Just see what your school offers, and when. Also, even though the Failed Stimulation Effect is a good idea, it’s not practical to aim for. If you’re planning on doing something that satisfies the Failed Stimulation Effect, it won’t. The Failed Stimulation Effect isn’t something you plan for, it’s something that just happens. </p>
<p>@pmmywest </p>
<p>The point of sowing your seeds is something that can work. While I agree that you can’t just start off towards the Failed Simulation Effect’s end goal, you can have a good idea that you’re headed there. For example, you can study and take practice tests to work your way to USABO, despite the daunting task of it all.</p>