With the approaching SATs, many juniors have set aside a part of their hectic schedule on January 26th to ready themselves for the test. As a necessity of the college admission process, the SATs are essentially a senior’s test; but the college office has recommended that juniors should start the SATs, at the latest, junior spring. Counselors explain that they regard this time of year very appropriate for the juniors to start taking the SATs as it gives the student a chance to familiarize oneself with the tense testing atmosphere and conditions during the test.
A junior living in Hill House expressed concurrence with the college office, “I think it is wise to take the SAT as a junior. It gives you valuable experience in taking the SAT and gives you an early indicator of how well you are doing if you plan on taking the test again.” This junior also revealed that he prepared for the SAT by practicing and studying multiple mock tests during his preparation. Besides the mock test, he also looks into prep books but his favorite sources of studying are the lessons and SAT questions of the day from the online site (www.collegeboard.com). “The online site gives very good tips and practices [for the SAT]”
Different students prepare in different ways and Ryan Rice prepared for the SAT by entering an in-depth course on cracking the SATs last term. Ryan believes that getting a “headstart” on prepping the SATs as a junior allows the student to get a lead off on the college application process. That is why he took this course during the fall term. Being an arduous course, this prep class met every Tuesday and Sunday for two and half to five hours each night, time spent focused on answering challenging questions and taking mock SAT tests. With all that practice on the SAT, Ryan made a last comment about the course saying, “If anything it just helped me become more confident.”
While some juniors, like Ryan, are serious business and really work hard to obtain a good and solid score, there are others that take it easy on the preparations and take the test just to find out what it’s like to be in a six hour long test. But, if one wants to get into a good college, just poking around won’t do much good. Ms Rodenhizer, one of the college counselors said, “Generally speaking, that (colleges only looking at the best scores) is true, but there is not absolute to it.” Although there are some colleges that do only look at the highest SAT scores, she believes that, “The colleges are right if it is in the best interest of the student.”
For those that do not have an affinity for the SATs, one could try the ACT, the competitor of the SAT. The ACT, like the SAT, is accepted by all colleges. In the states, around half the nation’s graduating class take the ACT each year although in most cases, SAT is the more popular choice. The Hill House junior commented on this, explaining, “I have considered the ACT [before] because many people have said they did better on the ACT, especially for math/science people. But some high-end schools require SAT scores.” Derek Lubetkin ‘08, currently applying to colleges felt “The ACT gave me the advantage in testing I did not find in the SAT”.
There is nothing to fear for those that detest exams. Like always, there are two extremes; there are schools that only accept high SAT scores and then schools that don’t require testing at all. An example of one of these colleges is the Bates College in Maine. But, for the reason that these schools don’t require SATs nor ACTs, these schools in turn place much more emphasis on applications and transcripts than the other colleges.
Despite these test-free colleges’ tempting aspect, some students don’t find much of an interest in these schools. For example Ryan Rice, who stated, “Despite my father actually going to Bates and becoming extremely successful, my choices for college all require the SATs.”
