Standardized tests

Given that there are many applicants to colleges, scholarships, etc and all of them come from different backgrounds, there must be some sort of test across the board that everyone takes to gauge an applicants ability relative to everyone else. That is the purpose of standardized tests – everyone takes the same test and they are measured by the same criteria.

By and large, we are not foreign to the concept of standardized testing. PSLE is one example of a standardized test (locally), O and A levels are other examples of such tests. However, the one that you would be most concerned about would probably be the following:

1. Advanced Placements (APs): The American equivalent of the A levels, except that it is not compulsory for them and it is used primarily to skip courses in college rather than for college admissions. Nonetheless, as with any other factor in your portfolio, good AP results will help towards college admissions as it indicates an academic rigour and shows that one is able to handle the demands of college academics.

For the APs, the school will do the registrations for you for most math and science subjects, so there isn’t really any work that you need to do other than study and do well on the APs. Our school curriculum is much more rigorous than that of the APs and you should not have any problems getting a 5.

How does one prepare for it then? I am a stickler for cost-effective methods and I do not see the point in buying guidebooks or anything of that sort. What you really need is practice because you probably already have most of that stuff in your head (if you dont you can go revise your notes), so you can get a lot of practice on the collegeboard website as they upload free-response questions for their AP exams for their past few years. There are 2 sets of AP papers every year (and for some there are 3), so you will have >10 sets of FRQs to spend your time on – should be more than enough practice.

For MCQs, collegeboard releases MCQ sets once every 5 years. Those are not available on their website, but the teachers have them and will definitely give it out as practice in class. If you want even more practice, you can borrow the guidebooks from the library, but bear in mind that these guidebooks often have MCQ questions that are harder than the actual AP test. The questions from the guidebooks are written by teachers or lecturers who are predicting the type of questions that will come out, but nothing beats the questions directly from collegeboard themselves. As such, while the guidebooks may be helpful, do bear in mind that they may not be that definitive.

2. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT): The SAT is required for application to all US colleges. While it is not required for some other countries (such as the UK or local universities) a good score will no doubt help your cause. Much has been said about the SAT (see other blogposts) so I will not go too much into the details other than that you have to apply to take it on your part, so keep track of deadlines and timelines!

3. Others, which comprise:
- BMAT (entrance to Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and Imperial undergrad medical schools), UKCAT (entrance to most other UK medical schools not mentioned above), ISAT (entrance to Monash, Queensland, University of Western Australia and University of Tasmania undergrad medical schools) and PQA (entrance to UAdelaide medical school) for medical school aspirants
- LNAT for those intending to study law in UK
- O Level mother tongue for those taking it
- TSA for those applying to Cambridge or Oxford
- TOEFL for some schools if you are a foreign student (Singaporeans are mostly exempted from taking TOEFL as English is our first language).
[Edited by Chui Yi]

In any case, a good score doesn’t hurt you, a bad score doesnt kill off all your chances of getting into the college that you want. Check out the other posts for more details about the APs and the SATs!

Year 6s are back!

Hello everybody!

I haven't been posting a lot because I've spent the past month and a half preparing for my APs (Advanced Placements) and then slacking ;) So now I'm back! And probably along with Viona and Kenneth as well *hint hint Vio and Ken*

I will split my post today into three totally different sections: AP preparation (personal thoughts), SAT Subject Tests (technical) and an article on email etiquette I stumbled across.

1. AP Preparation
For most people in our school this is a very stressful period. People retreat into their closets to mug. Some even take study leave; but I don't support this practice because I like to hear the teachers reviewing the concepts with us.

I, however, was unintentionally relaxed. Most unfortunately, I felt pretty confident for Chem and Bio AP because of the semester of preparation for these two olympiads. Those of you taking the olympiads might feel the same way when you take your APs too. Furthermore, I've spent like 11 years of my life taking exams and the past year taking a couple of standardized tests (SAT, AP, admissions exams); so these things don't work you up so much anymore =) Hence, I didn't study much for Bio and Chem AP. I'm not sure if this confidence is well-founded yet (AP results will only be out near the end of July) though.

Physics, Statistics and Calculus were slightly different. I was still taking it in my stride but I had to do more studying. I gave back to Dr Chong all my magnetism concepts, so nothing was left in my brain about it. Then statistics arh; statistics AP is like the weirdest AP. It was most uncomfortable to do because the questions are sooooo unpredictable and sooooo "artsy"/unscientific. So must revise that. Calculus. After learning about convergence and divergence tests, you will feel like crying. But my teacher always encouraged us. I did ALL the past year Free Response Questions on series before I finally felt confident in that topic.

Nevertheless, I am starting to find fun to finish standardized tests. (I haven't met anybody who finds it fun to study for them.) It's fun to tear string wrap (APs are wrapped to make sure nobody peeks at them during the transportation from US), paste AP "barcodes" (i.e. your AP number label), take computerized tests and find your way around another school. I'm not kidding! Please don't laugh at me.

Take away point: There are so many standardized tests you have to do in Year 6 (especially if you want to get into Medicine in multiple countries) that you should be confident and start to find them fun.

2. SAT Subject Tests at ACJC
I took the Chemistry and Physics SAT Subject test at ACJC. I wanted to test at Hwa Chong, where I went to previously, but the spaces were taken up. So guys, sign up early if you have a preferred test location!

A LOT of people tested at ACJC. They had a long queue of people for the SAT. The queue wasn't so bad for the SAT Subject Tests though. The place feels very packed, as opposed to Hwa Chong, where we had a large "preparation room" for us to sit in before we took the test. Plus ACJC uses normal blue exam tables, but Hwa Chong had large sturdy tables.

Physics is known to have a gentler grading curve, that is, you are allowed to lose more points to get a maximum score of 800. Hence I chose it over Biology, though I'm stronger at Bio. I got a The Princeton Review's book for AP Physics B so I used that to revise. Do note though, that relativity is not tested in AP but is tested in SAT. Plus, based on a Kaplan book that I borrowed but merely glanced through, for optics, SAT seems to focus on converging lens and not diverging lens or mirrors. I didn't answer 4-5 questions because I didn't have enough time :S Hope I can still do ok.

Chemistry was pretty easy. Managed to finish everything and had time to check. Revised with the Princeton Review but I recommend revising well for APs because the Princeton Review SAT book didn't contain some material that came out in Collegeboard's Official Guide for all SAT Subject Tests.

I didn't see Lay Kuan's post on Chinese SAT earlier so too bad for me, I took two sittings of SAT Subjects already. No $$$ left liao!

3. 10 Rules of Email Etiquette
In applications season, there is going to be a lot of emails going on between you and your college counsellor (we were assigned counsellors this year), you and the admissions officer, and you and your referees. Short rules on things to take note of from US News =) http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/10-Rules-of-Email-usnews-4178453220.html?x=0

Since E-mail is not going away any time soon, it makes sense to develop some ground rules for its usage. Here are 10 that I try to follow:

1. Do not use E-mail for sensitive subjects or topics that may be especially susceptible to misinterpretation.

2. Do not use E-mail if you are having a difference of opinion with the other person. It is very easy to come across as curt or uncaring in an E-mail message. Schedule a meeting with the person or pick up the phone.

3. Scrutinize the tone of your E-mails. Recognize that the receiver cannot hear your tone of voice and may not spot irony or humor.

4. Don't put anything in an E-mail that you wouldn't want to read on the front page of the newspaper or while sitting on the witness stand.

5. Be wary of forwarding E-mails unless you are certain that the sender would not mind if the message were forwarded. I've received forwarded E-mails that contained some rather personal comments in addition to the business content. I doubt if the author of the original message wanted me to know about her family situation.

6. If you want an E-mail to be regarded as urgent, then label it as such. Regard non-urgent messages the same way you'd regard regular mail and don't expect a reply within hours.

7. Beware of using text messaging abbreviations with people who might find it to be unprofessional, confusing or abrupt. I recently received an E-mail from a customer service department that was written in "textese." I thought it was funny but not everyone would have that reaction.

8. Unless the person is on the other side of the world, the fewer messages, the better [take note when getting your referee letters!]. If you need to communicate so much with someone who is just down the hall, go see the person.

9. Beware of rushed messages. Those are the ones you are most likely to regret.
10. Forgive notes that seem unpleasant or out of character. We all have days in which we need people to cut us some slack. Unless it is extreme, don't let one note ruin a relationship.

Michael Wade writes Execupundit.com, an eclectic combination of management advice, observations, and links. A partner with the Phoenix firm of Sanders Wade Rodarte Consulting Inc., he has advised private and public-sector organizations for more than 30 years.

So all the best to Year 6s for application season! Don't forget to submit your personal statements to Mr Allan/Ms Huang by 31st June!

Foreign Language Requirements at US Universities

Many US universities have a foreign language requirement for graduation. Most of them will allow you to use Chinese/ Malay/ Tamil/ Hindi/ whatever language you took as a second language in high school to skip this requirement.

For those who learnt Chinese, it seems that your Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'O' Levels are not always accepted as an exemption criteria.

For example, Stanford requires students to take either the SAT II Chinese test and get 630 or above, or score 4, 5 on the Chinese AP exams. I know its true that taking Chinese SAT/ AP will carry little or no weight on your application to college if you studied Chinese as a second language in high school, but if you are considering to study in US, you might want to take the Chinese SAT anyway, since most US schools accept a good score on the SAT to allow you to exempt from the foreign language.

The CollegeBoard's recommended prep for the Chinese SAT II is "Study of Chinese as a second or foreign language for two to four years in high school, or the equivalent, and Gradual development of competence in the language over a period of years." It also says "You should have at least two years strong preperation in the language, but the more the better".

Seeing Singaporeans who did Chinese in Singapore should have at least 10 years studying the Chinese Language, I'll say you shouldn't have much problem with it. Just try and take it when you take your other SATs like Math and Chemistry. It doesn't cost too much more to take an additional Chinese Language test once you've paid the baseline registration fee, so you might consider taking it. Otherwise, you'll have to take the school's internal placement test once you decide to go there. Taking the SAT will probably save you some administrative work at least, for not too much additional cost or additional work.

From Wellesley College's website:

Foreign Language Requirement

1. You can satisfy the foreign language requirement in the following ways: by receiving a score of 690 or better on an SAT-II test or a 5 on an A.P. exam (4 for students who began before fall 2006); or by successfully completing two units of language study at the second-year level (in the same department) or one unit of language study at the third-year level.

2. All introductory and intermediate languages listed in the College Bulletin as "(1-2)" are full-year courses. This means that you will lose credit for the first semester in these courses unless you successfully complete the second semester. In reviewing your grade report, make sure that you have been granted the appropriate credit.

3. You cannot receive credit for more than two years of modern foreign language at the introductory level.

From Princeton University's website:

Foreign Language

Proficiency in a foreign language is required for graduation under the A.B. program. Many undergraduates satisfy the foreign language requirement by demonstrating proficiency when they enter the University; proficiency is demonstrated by documenting the results of AP tests or SAT Subject Tests, or by taking placement tests administered by academic departments at Princeton. Those tests can also determine whether a student is eligible to elect advanced courses (200 and 300 level). See the individual department entries for further information.

Foreign language study is required through successful completion of courses numbered 107 (or 108) in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, modern or classical Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, or Turkish if taken at Princeton, or through demonstration of an equivalent level of competence. When an undergraduate begins a language at Princeton, three or four terms of study will usually be necessary. If continuing a language begun elsewhere, the student is placed at an appropriate level. At the end of any term beyond the first, a student may take a departmentally administered test and may thereby fulfill the language requirement. All A.B. candidates should begin meeting this requirement as soon as possible because students are expected to develop proficiency in a foreign language by the end of junior year.

***

The CollegeBoard offers the following SAT Subject Language tests:
French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Korean.

For those who took Malay or Hindi or otherwise, I think you will have to take an internal placement test offered by your school instead - check with each individual school about this.

SAT essay prompts

So some person on collegeconfidential decided to compile a list of essay prompts for SAT over the past few papers and he found out that they can be classified into a few different categories. It is quite interesting (I never knew that there was some structure to SAT essay topics) and they can be found here:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764514-sat-essay-prompt-archetypes.html

Guide to the SATs (1/2)

An Overview to the SAT tests

Disclaimer: This is by no means a score-booster, prep-course or official SAT information.

In this relatively short series, I will give a short overview of what the SATs are (yes, there is more than one), what they stand for and why you should take them. I will then go on to give some suggestions about which to take and when to take them.

More colloquially known as the test-that-you-have-to-take-to-go-study-in-the-US, the SATs are required for most colleges in the US that NUS High School students will be looking to apply for. Conversely, they are not required by universities in the UK, Singapore or Australia although a perfect score definitely won’t hurt your chances.

However, what most people know as the SAT is actually the SAT Reasoning Test, one that consists of three main sections, Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing, all of which are multiple choice except for a 25 minute essay in the Writing section.

SAT Reasoning

Test takers receive a score upon 2400, where a score above 2000 is said to be good, a score above 2200 is excellent, a score above 2300 is fantastic, and 2400 (just meant you studied your butt off) is a crazily awesome score.

This test is said to measure literacy and writing skills that are needed for academic success in college as well assessing how well the test takers analyze and solve problems.

The Critical Reading section tests your vocabulary (hence the term SAT vocabulary) as well as your grasp of sentence structure and various other nuances of the English Language. Critical Reading would be SAT Reasoning’s equivalent to English Comprehension. Read the passage and answer the questions. (Except in multiple choice.)

SAT Reasoning’s equivalent to the Essay would be the Writing section which requires students to first complete a 25 minute essay. (This author would like to gripe about the lack of time to complete a proper essay as well as other personal biases, but this is neither the place nor time.) The remaining sections of Writing call upon your inner editor (and Grammar Nazi) to help spot errors in short paragraphs.

The Mathematics section tests well… math. However, the only possible shortcomings most NUS High School students will have with this section are carelessness, carelessness and carelessness.

The following is a joke. Please do not take it seriously. It has not yet been properly validated, but every component of the following equation has some basis in truth.

NUS High School Students have Mathematics section scores as calculated by this formula.

(800)(1-Carelessness)(Skill in Math)0 where Carelessness is graded from a scale of 0 to 0.15.

/joke.

No, seriously. As long as you checks your answers, remembers basic trigonometry and statistics as complicated as mean and mode, one will be fine. Your TI-89 will watch over you.

Now then, the very interesting question.

Is SAT Reasoning hard?

Yes, SAT Reasoning (in both senses of the phrase) is hard for the average NUS High School student. Although the Mathematics section is easy-peasy, some will still lose 30 points (or more) out of a possible 800 from this section as the SAT is graded on a curve and most good students get all the answers correct.

But surely 770 out of 800 is high, you might say, and rightfully so. 770 out of 800 is a very respectable score indeed. Not for NUS High School students and not for the Mathematics section.

If you should wish to apply to the big-name colleges of the US (which is normally why most people take the SAT anyway), or even the not-so-big name colleges that are still relatively competitive, a 770 score for math is not something to be incredibly proud of.

[Edit from Vanessa: I would like to add that one will get a 770 simply by leaving one math question blank. You don't even need to get any questions wrong. Yes, this is from personal experience. The question I left blank was classified "hard"; I shudder to think of the points you will lose from not answering an "easy" or "medium" question.]

In fact, nice statistics from collegeboard.com, the administrator of the SATs and APs will tell you that a score of 800 (not 770) means that you scored higher than 99% of last year’s graduating class who took the SAT.

However, the US Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences’ National Center for Education Statistics will also tell you that 3,328,000 high school students are expected to graduate in the 2008-2009 year. Assuming less than half of them apply for college (which is a severe underestimation but let’s go with that anyway), this means that 1% of those is a whopping 16640 students.

Got full marks for math? Guess what? So did 16639 other students.

Thus, the Mathematics section is hardly a good representation of your actual academic skill so there is no need to fret about it. But do not blow it off as nothing. Just play safe, check your answers and get your 800.

The most challenging part of SAT Reasoning for most NUS High School students would be the other two parts that test things that most NUS High School students did not enter NUS High School to specialize in.

Critical Reading and Writing

Basically, the spread of Critical Reading and Writing scores is somewhat representative of one’s actual English Language capability. I say somewhat because there are always exceptions to the rule. Yes, there are people who get 2400 just by mugging their butts off. Yes, that is possible, and No, I do not recommend it although you can do that if you reeeeallly want to.

Want to do well in the Critical Reading and Writing sections? Study English properly. Take time and effort to explore and attempt to understand the language. Investing in a good prep book will most probably also help you.

However, I do not recommend attempting to improve your English by using the prep books. The fundamentals are definitely not wrong in the books, but it is my personal opinion that they don’t teach you, only drill you.

I am not a terribly large fan of the Writing section as it has been shown to be relatively subjective, but the 25 min essay section is basically proof that SAT Reasoning is very muggable. There are techniques to answering the essay, most of which I choose not to mention here. (Google is your best friend.)

Besides the essay section, the MCQs of the Critical Reading section and Writing section are, in my humble opinion, relatively good indicators of your English standard. However, they can also be mugged, so if you were despairing at the thought of never getting that 2000 or 2200, despair no more. You can “hardwork” your way into a good score.

And good score on the Critical Reading and Writing sections is truly a good score, unlike the Mathematics section, so here’s to you improving your chances to look good. :)

----

Wait, you say. I mentioned that there was more than one SAT test in the first bracket of the article, didn’t I? (Yes, you can go back and check if you really want to.)

And yes, there is more than one SAT test. In fact, the second group of tests are known as the SAT IIs, or the SAT Subject Tests.

SAT Subject Tests

These are 20 1-hour multiple choice tests, the full list of which can be found here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT_Subject_Tests) Different subjects have tests with different numbers of MCQs.

SAT Subject Tests are not optional, and most colleges that require an SAT Reasoning score also require at least 2 SAT II scores.

Normally, students take these tests to score well and show off to the college they are applying to. (That’s the idea behind it, at least.) Most colleges only require students to submit 2 SAT II scores. However, Harvard College requires students to submit 3 SAT II scores, so most people end up taking 3 anyway. (We can’t all get into Harvard, but we can always try?)

These tests are of average standard and revision with the help of numerous prep books (just choose 1 or 2) is highly recommended as the topics tested cover a very wide range of those learnt in the NUS High School syllabus.

Some colleges do recommend their students to take specific SAT Subject Tests should they want to apply to specific fields. For example, most science/engineering applicants will want to take Math Level 2 and a Science, depending on their area of interest.

The SAT Subject Tests must be taken seriously, (Puns amuse me, can you tell?), as they are not trivial in difficulty and careless mistakes, conceptual errors and temporary blanking out will definitely cost you marks.

They are much easier than our school exams, just covering more content at once, so worry not, fellow NUS High School student. Study and you will be fine.

So, Why?

Indeed, why then, should you burden yourself with even more tests that you will need to study for? It’s not like we don’t study enough…

Why should you take the SAT? Why do people take the SAT?

People take the SAT because colleges require it.

Colleges require it because it gives them a relatively good standard upon which to get a grasp of the applicant’s academic strength.

Simply put, an A in a high school in State X might not be equivalent to an A in a high school in States W, Y or Z, thus the need for a common standard.

Thus, the SAT.

However, as only US colleges require the SAT set, you should only take the SAT if you are considering going to the US for college. Other than that, there is pretty much no point.

So there you have it.

A more in depth guide to SAT Reasoning and the SAT IIs will follow shortly, so keep your eyes peeled! :)

SAT Subject Test-My First

Hello everybody! Gonna do a quick post on my first SAT Subject Test experience.

Before the test
1. Consider the content.
You want to make sure that you have learnt everything in school before. I took the Mathematics Level 2 test. Now by the end of Year 5, we have covered almost everything tested in this test except for complex numbers. So what I had to consider was whether I had enough time to revise all the past years' work before the test (+ learn a little bit of complex numbers).

From CollegeBoard website:
Anticipated Skills
You're not expected to have studied every topic on the test, but you should anticipate the following:
Number and Operations
Algebra and Functions
Geometry and Measurement (coordinate, three dimensional, and trigonometry)
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability

For Math Level 2, be very very familiar with the content of the Functions and Graphs and Coordinate Geometry modules! And also Trigo!

More details on the subtopics can be found in the CollegeBoard guide books in our school library.

Interesting subtopics: Some of the more interesting subtopics I encountered on my test are polar coordinates, graphs of complex numbers and z-score. As you will find out through doing the various practice tests, the subtopics tested in each test are really different e.g. one practice test contained a vector question, and another contained a matrices question.
We're not supposed to be worried about special topics if we don't have enough time for revision but I recommend you start your revision early, make sure the functions, coordinate geometry and algebra materials are at your finger tips, then learn up all these special topics. I mean, since we've learnt them before, why not try to get those marks?

2. Test date
Taking my test yesterday was definitely not a wise choice. I barely ended my exams and am taking olympiads=> not good to take SAT now.

Really, check your dates very carefully. Like Ying Zhen mentioned in one of the earlier posts, try to take SAT Subject Tests together with your corresponding APs i.e. for most people, June of Year 6 is good for taking Bio, Chem, Phys.

3. Search for your study materials
I have not found the perfect SAT Math 2 guidebook. The one by McGraw Hill was loaned by someone else so I couldn't get my hands on it. I studied using Kaplan's 2006-2007 Edition of Mathematics Level 2. It covered the main topics pretty well but it did not cover enough ground in the special topics. I still pulled out my old math notes to look through, though I didn't revise as much as I would have liked to.

Please study and do not underestimate the difficulty of the Level 2 Test. There are many things that we may have forgotten so.. study! =)

4. Love your calculator
Self-explanatory. Shouldn't be a problem since we would have been using our GC for 4+ years by the time we take our SAT.

During the test
I flew through the first 20+ questions. Then I thought I had a lot of time so I slackened my pace. Turns out to be a bad choice because there were some difficult questions ahead. Guidebooks will always tell you to "work fast without losing accuracy" but that is easier said than done. Familiarity with your calculator will help you.

There is negative marking on the SAT i.e. for multiple choice questions, a fraction of a mark will be deducted for every wrong answer. For Math 2, it's a quarter of a mark. Guess if you can eliminate choices. I am a little embarrassed to say this but I left two questions blank because 1. I had totally no idea what the geometrical term meant 2. I could get nowhere close to any particular answer.

I was a little surprised at the liberty with which testing took place. Not to say that they allowed people to cheat and all that; no they kept really high standards of integrity. But if we registered for two or three tests, we could do the tests in any order that we want. All the tests are in the same book and all the answers are written in the same mark sheet. Of course, once you've started on a particular test in a particular hour, you can't flip to another test until that hour of testing is up.

Also, if you decide on the day itself that you want to take another test but didn't register for it beforehand, you can just continue sitting through the next testing hour. CollegeBoard will bill you accordingly later.

I only took one test. So after the first testing hour, invigilator said "those who are not taking any other test, please leave now" and I left.

My test centre
I would like to talk more about my test centre. I tested at Hwa Chong Institution (College) because NUSH doesn't offer SAT in Nov. It took a little bit of searching to find the signs that led me to the "Reading Room".

For my SAT 1 and now this SAT Math 2, the venues have both been air-conditioned. So bring a jacket if you think you'll get cold.

When I entered, they had an "outer room" where we could sit around to wait. There was also a whiteboard on which I found my name and my seating position. There were a couple of people who didn't register beforehand so they had to inform the "chief tester" (I think there is a term for this person but I've forgotten it) that their names are not in the list but they want to take the test. Success of these kinda "last min registrations" is subject to availability of test booklets.

Testing took place in an "inner room" (that is exactly what they called it!), which is a nice long room with large tables. The tables are like twice the size of those examination tables that we use at NUSH, so they are a luxury in that sense. Because the room was long, they had two clocks so those sitting nearer the back can still keep time.

Overall, testing at HCI was pretty comfortable. And because I did not know that the gates could be opened by pressing a button from the inside, I explored the campus more thoroughly than I needed to and can tell you that the campus is very nice ;) And big.

Chui Yi

NUS Admissions

Hello everybody!

Here are the application requirements for NUS High School Students entering NUS [taken from http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/apply/local/nushs/BYA-nushs.html]. If we want our SAT IIs to count for our application, we have to take our THREE SAT II within TWO sittings. Do be aware of them and plan your SAT Subject Tests well! However, your NUS High Diploma is sufficient for admissions already. According to what I read from a senior's post on another forum, these grades will be most important for US Universities (rather than SATs); have not really experienced this so can't say more.

Applicants (regardless of nationality) seeking admission to NUS should present the NUS High School of Mathematics and Science Diploma.

You should also meet the Mother Tongue (MT) requirement for admission by having one of the following:
minimum of D7 for the higher MT paper taken at the 'O' Level examination
minimum of ‘S’ grade for the H1 MTL paper or General Studies in Chinese
minimum of 'S' grade for the H2 MTLL paper taken at the 'A' Level examination
pass in the MT 'B' Syllabus paper at the 'A' Level examination

If you are a candidate who has been exempted from MT as approved by MOE, the MOE-approved subject-in-lieu will be considered as your MT subject.

Discretionary Admission
We set aside up to 10 % of vacancies for consideration of exceptional candidates for admission to NUS. For such candidates, we will consider other factors besides grades. The following are some samples of exceptional achievements that we may take into consideration :

Medal winner at the International Olympiads (Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics)
Winner in the National Science & Talent Search
Represented Singapore in Arts and/or Sports
Active participation in community service and volunteer programmes.
Work experience relevant to the course applied for (supporting document/s is/are required)
Key leadership positions in community organisations, sports and athletic clubs, etc (outside school)

In addition, you can provide information on awards/honours that you have won. If you wish to be considered under this scheme, you should provide the details in the 'Discretionary Admissions' section in the online application form. You should then follow up by sending supporting documents to NUS. Please note that if the 'Discretionary Admissions' section in the online application form is not filled in, you will be deemed as not interested for consideration under this scheme.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT I and SAT II) Requirements
SAT I - Reasoning Test
SAT I consist of 3 Sections, Critical Reading Section, Writing Section and Mathematics Section. The minimum acceptable Reasoning Test scores are 600 for the Critical Reading Section, 600 for the Writing Section, and 650 for the Mathematics Section.
For SAT I, all 3 Sections (i.e. Critical Reading Section, Writing Section and Mathematic Section) have to be taken in one sitting. Mixing and matching of different sections scores from various sitting cannot be accepted. => one of the stricter admissions requirements using SAT; c.f. Zhong Ming's post on how US Universities/Colleges view our SAT scores.

SAT II - Subject Tests
SAT II consists of 3 Subjects Test. The Subject Test, Mathematics Level II is compulsory. The two other Subjects Tests may be of your choice.

Compulsory subjects for the Subject Tests include :
Mathematics Level II
A second subject of your choice (excluding Mathematics Level I)
A third subject of your choice (excluding Mathematics Level I)

For SAT II, the 3 subjects can be taken in no more than two sittings, but within the period of one year. All other combinations or mixing of scores cannot be accepted. Please note that the old test format (SAT I & II) and the new test format (Reasoning Test and Subject Tests) cannot be combined. The validity of scores is five years, e.g. for applications closing on 28 February 2010, the validity period is from 28 February 2005 to 28 February 2010 (both dates inclusive).

The second and third subjects should be chosen based on the subject prerequisites of the courses you are applying for at NUS. For example, if you are applying for Chemical Engineering, you will need to choose Physics and Chemistry. If, however, you are applying for Business Administration, you may choose any subjects except Mathematics Level I. Just FYI for the many students considering medicine, it's Chemistry and Biology for medicine!
No minimum Subject Test scores have been stipulated. Mathematics Level II is a compulsory subject for all courses except Law. Applicants applying for admission to Law may take Mathematics Level I in lieu of Mathematics Level II.

Yup all the best for NUS applications!

Chui Yi

SAT Score Choice

The collegeboard, which executes the SAT, announced in December 2008 that for all students applying from March 2009 was allowed to do score-chocie, meaning they can now choose which of their SAT scores to send. However, this policy is not widely supported by all universities, and some, eg. Stanford, Yale, and etc., have requested that you send in all of yours scores.

A detailed version of the SAT score-choice can be found here: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf

I think it's a great document to read through, especially the first few pages for specific information.

Using your AP results in place of SAT!

...at Bryn Mawr. http://news.brynmawr.edu/?p=2793

Students wishing to enroll at Bryn Mawr for the fall 2010 semester will now be able to submit results from

The SAT Reasoning Test and a combination of two different SAT Subject Tests and/or two AP tests or

The ACT or

A combination of three SAT Subject Tests and/or AP tests in the following areas:
English, history or languages and

Math or science and

One subject of the student’s choice but in a subject different from the other two (only one non-English language may be submitted)

Timeline for the juniors out there.

So it's the June holidays and you are very free! You dont feel like doing your homework so what other constructive things can you do?

Well, 1 thing that you can do is to start planning for what you want to do or where you want to go in a few years time!

Here is a checklist of things which you will have to do en route your college admissions:
1. Do the SAT/IELTS/whatever standardized tests you need
2. Collate your academic portfolio
3. Come up with a list of extracurriculars which mean the most to you
4. Shortlist schools that you want to apply for
5. Write personalized statements/essays
6. Shortlist scholarships that you want to apply for

So let's go through each one before we do a summary of your timeline.
1. I am not so sure about the other standardized tests as I have never taken them but I will talk about the SAT.

Collegeboard holds the SAT on the 1st Saturday of October, November, December, January, May and June in various testing centres in Singapore (such as ACJC, St Francis Methodist School, etc). You have to sign up for them yourself, our school does not make it mandatory for you to take it.


From the collegeboard website: http://www.collegeboard.com

The SAT is compulsory for you to apply to most US colleges. There are 2 types of SAT: The SAT reasoning test (SAT I) or the SAT subject tests (SAT II). You cannot take the SAT I and SAT II in the same sitting, but you can take multiple SAT IIs (up to a maximum of 3) in 1 sitting. Again most universities require 2-3 SAT IIs so it's always good to do 3.

Dont take the SAT last minute because you never know if you want to take it again and you want to be in time for the scores to be sent to the colleges! Since the deadline of college applications are typically on 31/12 or 1/1 the following year, December is the last SAT score sitting that they will accept.

I would recommend that you do your SAT I from June/October in year 5. If you dont like the result, give it a period before you take it again, because you might want to re-evaluate the way that you have been preparing before you waste that ~$100.

For SAT II, most colleges expect a math SAT among the 3 that you take. Math I or Math II? Take math II - and you shouldnt do too badly in it. For the other 2 subject tests, given that you are in a math and science school I think chemistry, physics or biology would be easy. If you dont know whether to choose physics or biology, I'd say physics because physics has a gentler curve - i.e. easier to do well because there is more room for error.

When to take it? Math II is simple math, chemistry covers things that are slightly easier than AP syllabus and biology covers things that are less detailed (I didnt say easier, I said less detailed) than the AP biology syllabus. Physics covers concepts that are simpler than Physics B syllabus. So taking it during your AP month would be ideal because you are already studying for AP anyway. Trust me, taking it in October or November means that your studying level is not as high as May and you dont do as well. You shouldnt need to take SAT II more than once...or twice.

Of course you can choose to take other subjects, it's up to you. Don't bother taking Chinese if you are thinking of that because everyone who takes it gets 800 and you have your O level results anyway which are more valuable.

Biology E or M? Take M if you are good in your cell biology, take E if you are good in ecology. If you are good in both, I would say take M because the options are more clearcut whereas in Biology E the options can be vague at times and you may get confused.

Dont think that the environment and mock tests dont mean anything. The 1st time you take SAT I, you will find that after a while you can get very tired and unfocused because it's 4 hours of testing with intermittent breaks. Get used to it! Bring a jacket or sweater if you think you will need it, biscuits, buns, etc. The school you choose as your testing centre matters too! Proximity is often the 1st consideration, but different schools have different 'styles' of conducting SATs. For example, ACJC conducts it in a hall (with everyone taking it together), while St. Francis holds it in air conditioned classrooms - if that makes a difference to you.

Time required for SAT: 2 mornings of your time. SAT I will be from 8 (reporting time) to about 1, while SAT II will be from 8 - 12 assuming you take 3 tests on that day.

2. Collate your academic portfolio.

This means that you have to have on hand the following:
a) Overall CAP
b) Subject CAPs
c) Standardized test scores (SAT, APs, Chinese/Higher Chinese O Levels, IELTs, BMAT, etc)
d) Modules taken, subject combination
So ideally you have your transcript at hand and your progress reports. However when you apply for college you wouldnt have graduated so you wouldnt have your final transcript, so you will need to get your results from the college counsellors.

3. Coming up with a list of extracurriculars.

Most colleges want to see that you are not just an exam smart person, so be prepared to think of some activities to show that you have a passion for something else (e.g. sports, music) other than studying. What motivates you?

4. Shortlist schools you want to apply for

Already mentioned in other post. Check out the choosing a school label.

5. Essays and statements
Yes this is the most *^(@$%!@* of your application. Start EARLY. What are the advantages to starting early?
a) You get more time to make modifications
Dont assume that just because your english is good you dont need the extra time because your essay will be good. Similarly, dont assume that just because your english standard is bad your essay will be bad. Since your essay is not graded on language proficiency but on the impression it gives to the reader, you will want to write the essay with all your heart and thought. I know of people who made up to 20 drafts, and yes, I had about 10 drafts before I finalized my essay. Every sentence makes a difference, especially when you have a character limit.

So when do you start? As early as possible. I started in June. There are often > 1 essays to write, so you will need a lot of time to make sure all of them really reflect who you are! Remember, you = your essay, not your essay = you.

You can write about anything at all, from what inspires you, to what you like, your favourite holiday, etc. The best advice that I can give (from Mr. Allan to me and now from me to you) is to show, not tell. Meaning instead of saying "I am a cheerful person" say "There is always a smile on my face" or something like that.

b) When you start early you end early, and you can submit your application early. Admission officers read your application the moment it comes in as they have lots more to read as time passes. When college admissions officers read your application first, lesser people have submitted their applications then, which means that they have more time to look at your application as compared to if you submit it last minute.

I submitted my Stanford application 1 month early, if you want to know.

c) You never know what you might need to add to your essay last minute. Maybe you came across an essay that gave you more inspiration than your current one. Etc. More time, again.

Get as many people to read your essay as possible, but take each comment with a pinch of salt. You'd be surprised at the variety of comments - the trick is to have a good balance because you dont know how your admission officer will think. I had someone telling me that a particular line is the crux of my essay and it made the whole essay funny. Another person, however, told me that line made me sound pompous and arrogant. Another person told me that line was unnecessary. Etc.

Ultimately it's your essay so you have to make the decision on what you want to retain and what you want to cut. I eventually decided to leave that line as it is.

6. Shortlist scholarships - I will talk about it another day.

So this is what your timeline should look like:
June, Year 5 - shortlist schools and scholarships
June - December Year 5 - take SATs
1st half of year 6 - take SATs
June Year 6 - start on essay
June - October Year 6 - Collate academic portfolio and extracurriculars
October - November Year 6 - Finalize applications and nitty-gritty, SUBMIT!

SAT guidebook for sale.

Oh as a sidenote, I have a Official SAT Study Guide (by Collegeboard) for sale. In fact, I have 2, one 2nd hand and one 3rd hand. $15 and $10 each (because one is in worse condition than the other). If you are interested to buy it please drop me a mail.

Possible majors and SATs

The official policy of the school is that the maximum number of majors you can specialise in is four. Therefore, the most demanding program would be 1 math + 3 sciences, all honours. However it is worth noting that the humanities majors are also extremely demanding, and so a student taking 1 math + 2 sci + 1 humanities/arts, with honours in all math and science subjects, will probably be equally as stressed.

The obvious exception to this rule is Zhongming. I am not sure if the school has officially approved his fifth major (history). I believe he will post about his experience taking five majors himself. But basically what he did was take 4 honours and just select the history elective modules. Technically, if he finishes all the history modules, the school cannot deny awarding him the history major.

He could take the extra modules on the side because humanities/arts modules are always scheduled separately, so they don't clash with languages/math/science modules (this is because these modules may be taken by people from different classes, so they have to make sure everyone can attend).

Realistically, the school will only approve the fifth major if you have consistently done well in your acads, like Zhongming.

Just for your info, here is a screenshot of the subject combinations of the graduated batch:

As for SATs I think Yingzhen has mentioned strategies for taking the SAT before, and some measure of its importance.

SATs, whether you are taking SAT Reasoning (new name for SAT 1) or SAT Subject Tests (new name for SAT 2), are entirely, truly optional. The school just functions as one of the many SAT test centers around Singapore.

A student might take SAT because:

1. He wants to apply to a US university. Almost all US universities require SAT 1 and 2 SAT 2s. Alternatively, he can take the ACT, which is an equally-recognised standardised test, but there are fewer ACT test dates and only one test center (Singapore American School in Woodlands).

2. He wants to apply for a scholarship that requires SAT scores, e.g. A*STAR.

3. He wants to attend a university that requires standard proof of English. The Reading component of SAT 1 is usually accepted as a measure of English ability. You need to get above a certain score which varies from university to university. Usually, studying in a Singapore school exempts you from this requirement (as you have studied in an English-medium school for the past few years), but there are still a few universities that may ask for standard proof.

4. He wants to study undergraduate Law in NUS, or any courses in SMU. SAT 1 scores are not a requirement but a high score can be an advantage.

When you sign up for SATs, the online registration will ask you to choose your preferred test center. If there are still spaces you will get that center. Besides NUS High, there are other centers such as Hwa Chong, ACS(I), and Singapore American School.

Because the test center allocation is on a first-come-first-serve basis, you will see non-NUSH-students in the exam hall on the day of the SAT. Similarly, even if you are a student in this school, if you choose to sign up at the last minute, you may have to settle for a test center somewhere else.

The SAT: Part III - The Importance of the SAT.

So is SAT important? I have met people who think that they can get into an ivy without anything else other than a high SAT score, and likewise I have met people on the other end of the spectrum: that a low SAT score is the end of the world.

Of course a good SAT score doesn't hurt and a bad SAT score is not something to be happy about.

So let's have a few case studies (for US). Again this only represents my opinion and you are free to have your own opinions.

Good everything else, applying to Ivy/top school: Bad score is an anomaly. I am sure you don't want to stand out for that reason. That said, if you are good, they might decide to overlook your bad score and admit you in.

Good everything else, applying to normal school: Who cares about a bad score if everything else looks good?

Nothing outstanding everything else, good score: No chance at ivies/top schools, potential chance at normal schools

For UK:

SAT helps to exempt you from TOEFL, IELTS and other English tests. Some schools dont recognize Singapore schools as English-medium schools and would require you to take the TOEFL/IELTS/whatever. Often a critical reading score of >650 or 600 (depending on the school) would be good enough to certify that you can read and speak English.

For Singapore:

Some scholarships do ask you for your SAT score. You need a minimum of 2100 for A-Star, for example.

Conclusion: Try to get above 2200 and you will be safe, get >2350 and you are more outstanding than your peers by a little bit, but a 2250 is decent enough. Once you get past a certain mark scores tend to count for little. 2100 is not very good and chances go down by quite a bit, 2000 please retake...

If you want to know more information, you can go to the profiles of each individual college you are interested in to see what is the average SAT score of the people that they accept. You can go to the college websites, but collegeboard.com also provides it.

The SAT: Part II - Improving Your Test Score

"I have a list of about 100 words that appear on EVERY SAT. I guarantee that the words will be there.

The only problem is that words are mostly words such triangle, degree, side, circle, and that they all appear in the Math sections." - Xiggi

This is going to be a short post because in my opinion there isnt very much to say about improving your score. Still. Again, as with every post I say that this is only my opinion and it's up to you to interpret it. Take what I say if you want, it's your choice.

I would first assume that all the NUSHians who come here dont have a problem with getting an 800 on Math. (If you do just do more practice questions and be less careless.) So it seems like the problem is with the Critical Reading and Writing. I will also assume that you dont have a lot of time (and you have say, 1 month) to brush up on your SAT. If you have a year, I suggest you read more to brush up your English standard in general.

1. DONT MEMORIZE VOCABULARY with funny flashcards. I often find people around me taking flash cards and memorizing certain vocabulary words from Barrons, Kaplan, Princeton, etc - all those prep books. Now I am not sure how much it helps them - you can ask them yourself - but I once read about a study where someone dug out all 10 years of SAT papers and checked the options of the vocabulary section against such lists and the result was that you can study all you want but it doesnt help by much. I dont have the study with me offhand, so I guess some credibility is lost. Still, I will let you know that I have never taken a list and memorized it day by day.

If you want to improve your vocabulary, go read everyday.

2. Practice, like how you would mug for the AP. I have never tried the prep books, but the blue SAT book that Collegeboard publishes is your best guide because it's straight from the horse's mouth. Collegeboard publishes 2 books and you should try both of them if you are rich enough to buy them or lucky enough to lay your hands on them: 1 of them is just called The Official SAT Study Guide - the big fat blue book with 8 practice papers inside and explanations for quite a number of questions, the other called 10 Practice Papers or something like that. Both books are in the library's red spot section, but since the library allows you to borrow red spot books overnight now you can do that. I have the big fat book, if you cant get your hands on one you can ring me and I will lend it to you. If you want you can buy it from me too for 10 bucks - but it's full of scribbles because I bought it 2nd hand so the previous owner wrote all over it. A new one costs 34 bucks at Kino.

Online, there are 2 sites with free SAT papers. 1 is the collegeboard website itself that allows you to do 1 practice paper after you login (you should have an account given that you did your PSAT), the other is sparknotes which allows you to do 1 free paper as well if you sign up with them.

If you want more practice, go to www.number2.com - a website that Fiona recommended for me some time ago.

As a sidenote, as 1 collegeconfidential poster put it: "Do not use any other prep book as they do not use "real" questions. Only the College Board's own book does."
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggi-s-sat-prep-advice.html

3. Multiple Choice Questions: GO BY ELIMINATION. You will understand more when you read the big fat blue book.

4. Essay - get at least a 10! Essays are a good way to pull up your writing score as it makes up 30%. I havent come across anyone who didnt get a 10 and managed to get >700 on their writing score. A 10 or 12 is easy to get - when you know what they are looking for. Go to the collegeboard website and read the essays that scored a 10 or a 12 - you are definitely capable of it, you just need to write it in the style they want you to. Not a ton of examples like history essays, but 1 in-depth example for the whole essay.

A poster, called Xiggi, is held in high regard on collegeconfidential because of his advice on SAT. You can read it here along with other comments and questions that other posters have for him, as well as insights from former teachers of Kaplan and Princeton Review teaching the SAT: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggi-s-sat-prep-advice.html

I will copy what he has said in that thread here, I dont agree with everything he said, but it's up to you to infer. It's very comprehensive. Either way, you should go to the website because there are differing views about his method from some experts:
Who needs to "prep" for the SAT?
Before answering that question, I should address another question. Who LIKES to prepare for the SAT? That one is easier to answer ... nobody in his or her right mind would enjoy to spend hours practicing the lost art of filling little oval bubbles! However, there is so much at stake, that the sacrifice becomes bearable. One compromise might be found in the form of transforming the SAT into a game. In fact, there is a small amount of satisfaction ?if not pleasure- in finding ways to beat the SAT writers at their own game.

Back to the original question ... the answer is that most everyone needs to prepare for the SAT. While we hear occasional reports of a student acing the SAT without any preparation, there is a good chance that the formidable test taker had some experience with standardized tests or with some kind of intellectual competition. The reality is that the SAT is very different from most school exams or tests, and presents a very different set of challenges.

Despite testing English and mathematical concepts, the SAT does not test much of the material a typical student learns in high school. While expert are now battling to decide if the SAT has indeed become an "achievement" test versus the "aptitude" test it was before March 2005, I think that it makes little difference to the students who are facing this animal. In order to tame this "animal", we need to respect it and learn as much as we can about his behavior and idiosyncrasies. For some natural test takers, this would require a simple review of a past test and a general understanding of the arcane presentation and language. But, let's not fool ourselves ... those students are exceptions. Most of us, mere mortals, have to face the simple truth that to do well on this grueling test, we will need to practice.

Can brilliant students do poorly on the SAT?
Yes, they can! The first thing to realize is that acing advanced calculus won't do you much good on the SAT Math. The SAT is a different test that requires a different knowledge: the knowledge of the test itself. One usually gains that knowledge by practicing on released tests. This is the best way to start understand the format and recognize the type of questions. In a typical test, 90% of the questions are testing "old" concepts and very few questions (maybe 3 to 5) are a bit newer and unfamiliar.

Getting a good score does not require a deep knowledge of math –nor a very large vocabulary. For example, you can solve most -if not all- of the problems without ever using a calculator. So, what does it take? What is needed is the ability to recognize the questions and patterns without much effort, and especially without wasting time. In other words, the key is to know how to solve the problems FAST. For most problems, it is neither necessary nor advisable to work through all the steps to verify your answers. The SAT, unlike high school teachers, does not reward completeness and does not give partial credit. The only thing that matters is the accuracy of your answers.

Why is it hard to start and stick to a SAT self-preparation program?
Simple answer! Because there is so much “stuff” to read, and most of it is boring and sounds silly. Most of us have been there … Mom and Dad announced that they had a surprise for us. After a successful trip to Barnes and Noble, they slowly unveil the goods: a collection of fat and colorful books printed on cheap paper. Faking some enthusiasm, we grab the books and retreat to our room, hoping to find some peace. However, it is usually short lived as Mom and Dad announce that they expect us to take test Numero Uno on Saturday at 8AM. But, why? Our strong objections are simply rebutted by a stern, “Because so and so told us at the bookstore that it was important to take the test just like they do at the center. Oh well, let’s see what the books contain. Very soon, we are reading about strategies and tricks that ALL sound so simple. After a few pages, battling the desire to fall asleep, we decide to just take one of those simple tests. After all, we are not like Joe Blogg, that bumbling fool who gets tripped so easily. We work our way through the test finding as sole motivation the promise of a great score. Yeah, I’ll show Mom and Dad that I know all this stuff.

A few hours later, despite having gone well over the time limits, we announce to our unsuspecting parents that we may very well be done with the SAT. We give them our test and tell them, “Yep, go ahead, score it”. Mom, knowing better, passes the fat book to dear hubby. To your great surprise, you witness the fatidic apparition of more crosses than check marks. No, no, that can’t be. I am not Joe Blogg. How could I miss the third question? A level 2 question! The verdict comes in at around 550 for the math and verbal sections. Smartly enough, you did skip that stupid writing component. Dad does not seem too surprised and simply whispers, “Better luck next time,” A short week later, after many unsuccessful attempts to read more than twenty pages, the second test yields a similar result. While you avoided the same mistakes, other problems surfaced. That silly Reading Comprehension section just killed you.

Dad, as usual, does not say much, but Mom has a great idea. “Tomorrow, I’ll call those nice people at Prince Something Review or Kal Plan.” You accept this outcome with a degree of relief and are now doomed to sit through thirty to forty hours of organized torture. At least, if you fail, you could blame Mom and Dad.

Is there an alternative?
Yes, there is! As one would expect, I’ll start with the importance of viewing the SAT as a game to be defeated. For all sports, dedicated practices are extremely important. Preparing for the SAT is no different from practicing for tennis or soccer: it's a game of strategy and repetition. As I noted earlier, the material that will be tested on the SAT is not that difficult, but the presentation and language is confusing for anyone who has not done much testing or competitions.

In my opinion, there are two important phases in preparing successfully for the test. The first phase includes building small blocks of confidence and the second one involves time management. That is why I recommend breaking the tests in smaller and manageable sections.

The general idea is to devote about thirty minutes to completing a test section and about the same amount of time to review the answers proposed by The College Board. While most students focus on the scores and check their wrong answers, much can be gained from checking the correct answers. It is important to TRULY understand EVERY answer and to try to understand how the SAT questions are developed. To do this, one has to be comfortable with the material tested.

It is for this reason that I recommend to start working with open books and without time limits. Open books include the precise answers to the test. During this phase, student ought to review the books that form their SAT library. On this subject, I have a simple recommendation: buy as many SAT books as you can afford. There are no clear leaders and most books share very similar strategies and tips. For math, Gruber's is the most complete and should provide answers to most problems appearing on the SAT, with the potential absence of problems specific to the post March 2005 test. The other usual suspects are Princeton Review, Barron’s, Kaplan, and McGraw Hill. The strategies and tips for math will be very similar among the books listed. The strategies for the verbal components offer a few variances, which students should evaluate on an individual basis. With the advent of the new SAT, a number of new books have appeared. Those new books such at the RocketReview of Adam Robinson, the Maximum SAT of Peter Edwards, and the solution book by TestMaster(s) have raised the bar, and are in many ways better than the books published by the former “gorillas”. However, the choice of the source books is not that critical, and I did not try to prepare an exhaustive list of books. There are a number of other books that contain advice and strategies. My recommendation stays the same: buy as many as you can and check the strategies to find a few that apply to your individual taste. As you will say later, the best strategies will be self-developed.

This is the time to introduce a caveat. Under no circumstances should a student use tests that are not published by The College Board. You may have noticed that I did not list the Official Guide among the source books. It is, however, the must-have book since it contains all the tests you'll need to prepare for the SAT. I will comment on the online tools of The College Board in a later paragraph.

Are you now ready to get your X-acto knife out and rip that Official Guide in small sections? Better stock up on manila folders ... you'll need them.

On the issue of tricks and strategies
After spending time building the blocks of knowledge and confidence, students should start developing techniques to save time. The SAT is mostly a test of mental quickness. People who like to solve puzzles tend do well. One good facet of the SAT is that the “puzzles” thrown at students are rather simple and very often repeated.

Again, there are no great secrets. Dedicated students should be able to learn the techniques, leave the calculator in its case, and know what NOT to do. Developing time saving techniques will help students find not only the correct answer, but the best answer in the shortest amount of time. It is worth remembering that the four incorrect answers do NOT matter: nobody needs to show the steps and confirm the answer. Well, that is fine and dandy, but does one acquire the techniques? This is where your source books come in play. As we know, the books contain a number of tips and strategies. While most of the advice is helpful, it is important to tailor it to the individual student. In other words, by reading the various “industry” offerings, a student can acquire a set of tools that will start the process. However, the advice is really aimed at helping average students improve their scores. I am not saying this is a pejorative way! Most books –and organized classes- are most helpful for students who will score between 500 and 650. Despite being incomplete, the advice is still valid and will help anyone in the earlier phases. Concepts such as the process of elimination (POE) and plugging key numbers represent key components of any student’s arsenal. However, to really push your talent to the limit, you’ll have to graduate from the generic concepts. This is accomplished by practicing and looking for hidden patterns. Slowly but surely, your brain will recognize the questions and the answers will “flash” right in front of you. Oh, I know that someone said that the SAT was super easy because ALL the answers are always in front of you –except for the Student Produced Responses or grid-in questions. That is, however, not what I meant!

So, let’s depart from the sterile theory part and look at a few examples of the difference between following the generic advice and moving up to the next step.

For instance In the very beginning of a book published by Princeton Review, we find this strategy:

To follow the example, you need to visualize a square ABCD, and inscribed inside the square a half circle CFD. The half circle diameter is also CD. In this case, the value of the side is 8. This is a very common SAT problem and PR asks the student to identify the area represented by the square MINUS the half circle.

The 5 proposed answers are:

A. 16 - 8 Pi (Pi for [greek]p[/greek])
B. 16 - 16 Pi
C. 64 - 8 Pi
D. 64 - 16 Pi
E. 64

This is what PR proposes: We know that the value of Pi is a little more than 3. Let's replace Pi with 3 in the proposed answers. Choice A and B are negative numbers. From here, you could guess C, D, or E and it is a guess we SHOULD take. However, we can also eliminate E because 8*8 is 64 and represents the whole square. What do we end up with? A one-in-two shot of getting this problem right. Neat, huh!

Well, not so fast Princeton Review …

Let's look at the problem. How fast can we solve it?

1. Area of square? 8*8 = 64 .... 5 seconds
2. Area of half circle? Any student sitting for the PSAT or SAT should be able to play with the formulas for areas of circles, squares, and triangles. In this case, the 1/2 circle has a diameter of 8, hence the area of the 1/2 circle should be radius^2 * Pi * 1/2. The answer is 16 Pi/2 or 8 Pi. Time to compute this ... 15 seconds
3. Guess what? The answer to the question is 64 - 8 Pi. Now you are able to mark answer C with complete confidence, and only after about 25 seconds!

What is bad about the PR method? First, if forces the student to attempt FIVE calculations. Despite being mostly trivial, it introduces potential errors. With the building pressure, most students DO make careless mistakes; calculating 16 times 3 easily falls in the category of easy mistakes. Let’s assume that the student does not make a single error and gets it done rather quickly ... at the end, he still has TWO choices or a 50/50 chance. It could mean a plus 1 or a ...MINUS 0.25 in his tally, or a swing of 1.25!

Why do I consider this particular message to be wrong? It tells the student to forego attempting to solve a problem that most 7th graders can solve FAST and CORRECTLY. It also reinforces the idea that the test is all about gimmicks and tricks. While the POE taught by PR is a GOOD technique, I do not quite understand why they selected this problem to illustrate their method.

The next one involves a perennial favorite problem on the SAT: the average rate of speed. Here’s the problem:

A girl rides her bicycle to school at an average speed of 8 mph. She returns to her house using the same route at an average speed of 12 mph. If the round trip took 1 hour, how many miles is the round trip.

A. 8
B. 9 3/5
C. 10
D. 11 1/5
E. 12

PR offers this solution: First the problem is a hard problem (level 5). TCB assumes that the common student will not attempt to solve the problem and pick the trick answer of 10 since it represents the average of 8 and 12. The common student second choice will be to pick a value that is stated in the problem: 8 or 12. PR provides the strategy to eliminate those Joe Blogg answers. Again, the conclusion of PR is to end up with two choices and pick between B and D. In their words, the student will be in great shape!

What's my issue with this? In my eyes, a 50-50 chance is really not good enough. When you consider how this problem can be solved, the recommendation to guess becomes highly questionable.

What could a student have done? Use a simple formula for average rates -an opportunity that PR strangely forgets to mention. Is this formula really complicated? I could detail the way I developed it while working through similar problems, but the reality is that millions of people have seen it before. I’m absolutely convinced that many good tutors teach it, but you won’t find it in the typical help book. Here it is:

[2*Speed1*Speed2] / [speed1 + Speed2] or in this case:
2* 8 * 12 / 8 + 12.

Most everyone will notice that the answer is 2*96/20 or simply 96/10. This yields 9.6 or 9 3/5. The total time to do this, probably 20-45 seconds. Not a bad method to know!

It does get better. How would I solve it?

1. Check the problem to make sure we have a ONE hour unit. Most often, the SAT writers will use a one hour limit and not a different number of hours.

2. As soon as I verify that the unit is 1 hour, I will mark B because I know that the answer is ALWAYS a number slightly BELOW the straight average. It takes only a few problems OF THAT TYPE to realize that it ALWAYS works.

3. My total time including reading the problem: about 10 seconds!
Here you have it: two methods that are faster and are bound to yield the correct answer and a healthy dose of self-confidence!

Obviously, two examples do not tell the entire story. It does, however, reinforce that the SAT is not a test that can reduced to simple tricks. Too many students spend more time looking for quick shortcuts than working on the test itself. For some reason, they believe in a SAT Holy Grail, a mystical summary of tricks that will deliver perfect scores.

As I will repeat often, I do not pretend to know everything about the SAT. I've spent enough time on the SAT to know what works well and what does not work that well. There are merits to a number of strategies, and one has to TRY them in earnest. One of the biggest misconceptions is that the use of strategies represents a shortcut for PREPARATION TIME. Nothing could be further from the truth. The strategies only work for people who invest an adequate amount of time in troubleshooting the techniques and ascertain the relevance to their individual case.

Should you read any of the famous lists of words
Studying selected lists of words can be helpful, but in very limited occasions. For the overwhelming majority of students, lumbering through the list will provide a false sense of accomplishment and yield few positive results. I offered this opinion when analogies were on the test; you can safely assume that the removal of one of my favorite parts has done little to change my mind about the effectiveness of spending much time memorizing words out of their natural context.

In preparing for the SAT, it would be much better to simply read all the past SAT tests. You would be even better off by taking all the practice tests AND pay close attention to the style and tone of the test.

If you are set on spending the time working with lists and flashcards, you need to understand how the lists were compiled. Most of the lists started by compiling the words that appeared on past tests. The best lists are the ones that do NOT pretend to be more than a historical compilation. The worst lists are the ones that pretend to be better by adding a lot of seemingly difficult words that miss the SAT mark. The most egregious offender is Barron's: by recycling their mostly ineffective GRE list of words, the authors of the 3500 words are doing a gross disservice to unsuspecting high school students. I performed a mathematical analysis of the number of Barron's words that have appear on new tests, and the results confirmed my worst expectations. While Barron's provides a good indication of what showed up in the past, it does a horrible job of predicting future occurrences. The difference is important to know.

This said, there is value in working on your vocabulary, but is has to be gradual and constant. Several websites –and some tutoring companies- offer a service that sends out a number of words on a daily basis. Since it would take only a few minutes to open the emails or log in at the website, it is a good idea to start subscribe to a few of them. This is the kind of repetition that helps you prepare without really “feeling” it.

I'll leave you with a last tidbit of information. The SAT does not really test your vocabulary but you reasoning ability. The challenging questions are made difficult, not by testing arcane words, but by testing the secondary and tertiary meanings of EASY words. Examples of such meanings are "air" when used as a verb, "low" when representing a sound, and a slew of others. Do you think that "low" would ever show up on a SAT list and convey the meaning of "the characteristic sound uttered by cattle as in a moo?" Pretty doubtful!

If you want to improve your verbal scores, spend most of your energy understanding the techniques to recognize the patterns of Sentence Completion, and especially critical reading. If you truly have time to waste, spend it on the wordlists. Studying any wordlist without the absolute mastery of the verbal techniques is a recipe for disaster.

Are all “prep” companies and tutors similar?
As far as organized classes a la Kaplan or PR, I believe that an overall assessment has to yield a grade of no more than a C Minus, being a combination of a few B and a majority of F.

In my opinion, Princeton Review and Kaplan are pros at exploiting the feeling of inadequacy and guilt of parents. Simply stated, I think that the classes offered by the national chains are worthless, and this in spite of their cost of $600 to $1,200. The real downfall of this type of classes is that they have poorly prepared tutors simply rehash the same material that is widely available in their $30 books. Realize that there is a good chance that your “tutor” preparation did not entail much more than attending the same class you’re sitting in.

Except for forcing students to allocate 20 to 40 hours towards an organized event, I see few benefits. Anyone with a modicum of drive and desire should do much better by self-preparing. Learning techniques and strategies is only a small part of the preparation. Just like it is for sports and music, the key to success is repetition and practice. Duh, isn't that a profound statement? It is, however, so true!

On the other hand, I believe that there ARE tutors and tutoring companies that are well worth the price. It is pretty easy to find them and verify their credentials: they are mostly local, smaller, have an owner who is involved in the business, have verifiable references, and do not mind showing examples of their portfolio. If you are set on using PR or Kaplan, I would highly advise anyone to stick to the more expensive one-on-one tutoring. This is a way to ensure that the tutor will have a bit more than a few months of experience.

My overall conclusion: if you consider taking one of the organized classes from a large national company, DON’T! Consider using the budget to buy every book written on college admission. When you are finished with the process, you could resell the books at Amazon or, better, donate them to your local school. It may sound overwhelming to buy a bunch of books, but it does not take long to separate the bad ones from the very good ones. The bad news is that you may get tired to find a SAT prep book in every bathroom of your house. A fact that may cause your visiting neighbors and family to wonder about your life’s priorities!

On the issue of using released tests
When I started working on this issue, the world of the SAT was a bit easier. Since most SAT books had gone through several revisions, the job of identifying the best books was much simpler. For instance, nobody would confuse the Gruber’s anthology with the REA books. An important consensus was also reached regarding the published tests, and the differences between the official tests and the tests published by PR, Kaplan, Barron’s, among others. I believe that it was Incognito, a former CC poster, who coined the term “synthetic” tests. I have borrowed that term very often, or pushed the envelope by labeling them wannabe or fake test. In simple terms, using the synthetic tests was a bad, a very bad idea. It was also absolutely unnecessary: between the various publications of the 8 or 10 Real Tests and the purchase of released tests from The College Board, one astute test taker could have build up a collection of about 45 official tests. Enough to satisfy the appetite of the most voracious SAT candidate. I have to admit that I attempted to collect ALL of what was available and that I did go through ALL the ones I purchased.

Alas, we know a lot less about the current SAT than we did about the old one. The College Board no longer sells disclosed tests, except through a more restrictive Q&A Service. ETS sells only past versions of the PSAT. The situation is even more complicated for the current SAT.

Based on past experience, we CANNOT trust the companies that have tried to write tests for the new books. The issue is that most of the tests DO contain mistakes that can lead to students' confusion. As an example, the SAT book of Barron's contains good strategies but the tests are mostly irrelevant as they do NOT match the difficulty of the test. It is worth noting that it does NOT help to take a test that is more difficult than the real thing: the extra difficulty does not help a student prepare for the SAT if the type of question will NEVER show up! It is a pure waste of time. It would similar to using a book written for the former SAT Math-IIC test to prepare for the SAT. While you'll learn “something”, it won’t be what you seek to learn. The same can be said for books such as the Princeton Review 11 Tests for the New SAT. The book was rushed to capture last summer’s market. Notwithstanding that Princeton Review had never been able to write a single test that was valid for the “old” SAT, one had to question the integrity of PR to engage in such broad speculation about the contents and format of the March 2005 tests.

However, the situation is not as bleak at it seems. The College Board DID release an update to its must-have 10 Real Tests. At this time, I would encourage everyone to purchase and read the Official Study book, as well as consider subscribing to the TCB online help. I think it is important to understand HOW the writers of ETS/TCB think. Getting “in the head" of the test writers makes a lot of difference. When reading the solutions proposed by TCB, it is worth remembering that that they usually offer lengthy solution which cover all bases. Again, an important part of your preparation work is to devise shortcuts - some are available in the source books, but the best and most effective ones will be … your own.

Lastly, if you run of published test, do not hesitate to work with older tests. Obviously, you’ll have to discard the analogies’ and QCs’ sections, but the rest is still golden. Please consider that ETS will have their hands full with creating new content for Algebra II or Writing that they won’t consider throwing out their older questions for A LONG TIME.

The conclusion is rather simple: there is no reason to use any of the non-official tests.

>> Part III - The Importance of the SAT

The SAT: Part I - The Trends

Before I go for my tuition, I just thought I'd start a 3 part series about the SAT. As usual bear in mind I am not an adcom officer but this is just what I feel from, well experience and cc readings.

Obviously a good SAT score doesn't hurt you at all. What's good? Well above 2100 is good, above 2200 is safe, about 2300 is competitive.

How do you improve your SAT score? First of all I feel that SAT is really a measure of your English basics - the reason why I say that is because discounting all November 2008 onwards scores, 3 people in my batch did an analysis of all the SAT scores that we knew of our level - which amounted to about 23 people, and this was what we found out (all results without superscoring).

1. Average times people took the SAT among the 23 people: 1.625. However accuracy of this is questionable as a)Many people took a retake of the SAT in November and December 2008 in a bid to improve their scores - resulting in extra takes of course and b) We font have the scores of the whole level so it doesnt represent the whole level.

2. Lowest score: 1900. Highest score: 2360 - courtesy of Fiona

3. Out of the 23, 8 people had their best scores in the 2100+ range, 7 people had their highest scores above 2200, and the rest had their best scores below 2100.

4. Most people get full marks for math, it is the critical reading and especially the

writing that pulls people down - essays anyone?

5. This last point was probably the most crucial finding of all. Out of the 7 people, 6 of them were ex-GEPers. The rest of the GEPers scored no less than 2150.

I am not trying to be elitist by saying GEPers are better than non GEPers but it is a fact that the GEP programme is quite rigorous in terms of teaching English, Math and Science, so I think it is quite reasonable to say that they, as a result have a better footing in terms of their English basics than anyone else, at least to explain the trend in the SAT scores. Ask any GEPer in your level and they will tell you what their GEP education was like.

Of course it is by no means a proper statistical study but the results are there, you can make your own conclusions. At least, that is the conclusion that I have made. And of course, it doesnt mean that if you are a GEPer you will get above 2200+ and if not you wont get it, because it may be a correlation rather than a causation effect for all we know. I am sure Mr. Allan has more information about the trend of the SATs in my level.

I am of the opinion that you can study for SATs if you really try. I dont believe in going for outside prep classes - there have been complaints about certain reputable testing centres where some ex-teachers there confess that they were supposed to teach using the center's model rather than what's right for the kids. All for the sake of money making I guess.

Okay the next few parts of this series will talk about:

Part 2 - Improving your SAT score

Part 3 - The Importance of SAT in Adcoms, Scholarships, etc

Again I would like to stress that I don't have statistics so please remember that this is only the opinion of 1 person derived from informal asking around and not anyone else. You are free to devise your own methods of studying and interpretations of what I have posted above.

I probably can comment more about this after April when all the results of the US universities come out, but right now this is what I feel. Maybe I will write another article again in April. Okay I got to go for tuition now, I will post the next few parts soon.

>> Part II - Improving Your Test Score

The new SAT score policy - IMPORTANT FOR ALL JUNIORS.

ALL JUNIORS SHOULD READ THIS BECAUSE THE BELOWMENTIONED ARTICLE IS GOING TO AFFECT YOU.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/172585

SAT scores made optional?

Bates college made the submission of SAT scores optional for the last 20 years. To quote Mr. Syverson of Lawrence University: "In 2004, Bates College reported on 20 years as a test-optional college. They had collected SAT scores from non-submitters who ultimately enrolled and determined that, in spite of having SATs that were 160 points lower, the “non-submitters” graduated from Bates and achieved GPAs that were virtually identical to those of the “submitters.” "

http://www.bates.edu/ip-optional-testing-20years.xml

A US college Q & A, with answers from admission officers from Yale, Pomona, Lawrence University and University of Texas Austin.

http://questions.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/qa-college-admissions/?hp#reader1