When Should You Take The SAT or ACT?
If a four-year college, especially a competitive one, is in your future, the question is not if you’ll be taking the SAT or ACT, but rather when. Some families want to start planning for test day during the first week of high school. Others, unfortunately, don’t consider testing until midway through senior year. But, as you’ve surely heard, timing is everything. Taking the SAT or ACT at the right time ensures the right levels of readiness while allowing a buffer for retesting. When should a student take the SAT or ACT? In the absence of extenuating circumstances, the best time to take these tests is 11th grade. Junior year is ideal for the tests for many reasons, which ACT has skillfully summarized: You’ve probably completed the coursework corresponding to the test material. You’ll have your test scores and other information in time to help you plan your senior year. (For…
Test Day Nightmares: Deer Attack
We should all follow Denis Waitley’s advice heading into a big test: “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” But some test day surprises surpass the bounds of common sense… like deer attacks. This past Saturday morning, a deer crashed the party during an SAT administration at Lockport High School. School Board President John A. Linderman said the deer struck a door in the music wing, damaging a pane on the door, and then ran off. “Some of the kids saw it,” Linderman said. He said no injuries were reported.The pane of glass on the door was broken. Linderman said that despite the drama, the kids were able to complete their testing. This is the first time I’ve heard about a test disrupted by a deer. Have you heard of other test day wildlife encounters?
Average SAT Score By INTENDED College Major
The 2014 SAT Report on College & Career Readiness published by the College Board is a treasure trove of information. Unfortunately, when this much data intersects highly charged issues, some misinformation leaks out as well. Such is the fruit of the labor that went into Here’s The Average SAT Score For Every College Major published by Business Insider. This is not to say that the article is not worth reading, but rather that its central premise is fallacious: the College Board tracked prospective majors, not actual college graduates. Nonetheless, we can learn a lot from the article and the research that supports it with the right perspective: 1. Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies attracted the highest average composite SAT scorers. This major describes a wide range of programs in which students are not restricted to a single area of study or occupational field. One wonders if the students who selected this…
New York State 2013 SAT Scores
Mid-July may be slow when it comes to professional sports, but interpreting national, state, and local SAT scores has become something of a sport in its own right. Around here, we’re poring over the Rochester Business Journal Schools Report Card, trying to make sense of what all these numbers mean. Are you wondering the same thing? One a granular level, score averages probably don’t mean as much as you think… just because your teen goes to a school with high average SAT scores doesn’t guarantee that her scores are impressing colleges. Fortunately, the inverse applies as well. But understanding some of the benchmarks provides context for individual score goals and achievements. A superficial review of national and state averages might have some New Yorkers running to their realtors for out-of-state listings: 2013 National Averages SAT Reading: 496 SAT Math: 514 SAT Writing: 488 2013 New York State Averages SAT Reading:…
Walls Are There For a Reason
The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people. ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture