Posts Tagged ‘college board’
What Does Your College SAT Score Mean?
Today, the students who took the March SAT will finally be able to refresh the CollegeBoard website and see their scores.
But now everybody’s wondering, “What does my score mean?”
According to College Board, SAT scores are on a scale from 200-800, with additional subscores for the essay (ranging from 2-12) and for multiple-choice writing questions (on a 20-80 scale). You probably knew that already, though.
So what you really want to know is what these scores mean to college admissions?
Here’s what CollegeBoard.com says about your score:
Your SAT scores tell college admissions how you did compared with other students who took the test. For example, if you scored close to the mean or average — about 500 on SAT critical reading and 500 on SAT mathematics — admissions staff would know that you scored as well as about half of the students who took the test nationally.
But this is also probably old news to you–of course your SAT score will help admissions officers see where you stand among your peers. You want to know what your SAT score means for your college search: Where can you get in? What’s a safety school? What’s a reach school?
While an SAT score can help you navigate your college options, it’s not the end-all be-all of your college career. If you score kinda low the first time, don’t get down on yourself, tear out all of your hair and announce to the world that you’re never going to get into college. Just don’t.
Do, however, take time going over your exam. Use your resources at school and online to see what you can improve. If there’s a will, there’s a way. Find the option that fits your goals and financial capabilities. There are SAT tutors, classes, books and even very helpful online products to help you increase your score. Then, take the test again.
So after you get a score you’re content with, what can you do with it?
Option #1: Tape your score to the wall beside your bed so you have something beautiful to wake up to every morning.
Option #2: Apply to college.
Since most of you will probably opt for #2, you should find where you score fits into different colleges. Every college has a different average of accepted students’ SAT scores, so it can get pretty confusing. Making a Cappex profile will make this process super simple by showing you your chances at each school based on historical data.
And now that you found that colleges you want to apply to, your’e probably asking, “but how much of admissions in based on the SAT score?”
Again, for each college it varies. One college might value the SAT dramatically more than another. If you’re super curious, speaking with college admissions departments will give you a better idea about what they’re looking for.
While it’s difficult to speak for all schools, we’re gonna go ahead and put an umbrella statement out there because the questions about SAT scores are pouring down on us: There’s more to your college application than your SAT score. A score can show aspects of your intelligence, but it barely cuts the surface of a student’s personality, wisdom or drive.
Rethinking Advanced Placement Classes for College
There’s a huge rush for college-bound students to sign up for AP classes in high school so they can accumulate early college credit after taking the college board AP exams. To students, taking AP classes means they can take the AP test and pass out of intro classes in college to save time and save money in college. But, the recent New York Time’s article points out, students aren’t necessarily getting the most out of these challenging college classes. Often times high school teachers wind up teaching just for the AP test and pass over the importance of abstract and analytical thinking that is needed to succeed in college.
This teaching for the test trend, however, is about to change. College Board will embark on a new direction for Advanced Placement that is anchored in a curriculum that focuses on what students need to be able to do with their knowledge, not just how to take a test:
As A.P. has proliferated, spreading to more than 30 subjects with 1.8 million students taking 3.2 million tests, the program has won praise for giving students an early chance at more challenging work. But many of the courses, particularly in the sciences and history, have also been criticized for overwhelming students with facts to memorize and then rushing through important topics. Students and educators alike say that biology, with 172,000 test takers this year, is one of the worst offenders.
A.P. teachers have long complained that lingering for an extra 10 or 15 minutes on a topic can be a zero-sum game, squeezing out something else that needs to be covered for the exam. PowerPoint lectures are the rule. The homework wears down many students. And studies show that most schools do the same canned laboratory exercises, providing little sense of the thrill of scientific discovery….
….Next month, the board, the nonprofit organization that owns the A.P. exams as well as the SAT, will release a wholesale revamping of A.P. biology as well as United States history — with 387,000 test takers the most popular A.P. subject. A preview of the changes shows that the board will slash the amount of material students need to know for the tests and provide, for the first time, a curriculum framework for what courses should look like. The goal is to clear students’ minds to focus on bigger concepts and stimulate more analytic thinking. In biology, a host of more creative, hands-on experiments are intended to help students think more like scientists.
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White Board Friday

You might say you’ve never watched The Jersey Shore, but you’re probably lying. In fact, not only have you “accidentally” watched half an episode because nothing else was on, but you just can’t believe Ronnie and Sammi are at it again or how much Snooki seriously loves pickles.
The next SAT exam date is March 12, and there’s still time to register! Late registration ends February 25. If you’re thinking about applying to a
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