College entrance exams are a very important part of applying to college. College admission offices use these exams in addition to your high school record, recommendation letters, and essay to decide if you will be admitted. It is important that you know what tests to take and when and how you can prepare for these tests.
PSAT/NMSQT
The PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. This test can help you in three ways:
It can be considered a rehearsal for students who plan to take the SAT, which is the test
many colleges require for admission;
The PSAT/NMSQT is used to select students seeking National Merit Scholarships, which
are awarded spring term of the senior year, and to choose students for the National
Assistance Scholarship Program for Outstanding Black Students; and
You can have your scores reported to colleges interested in students scoring in your
range, and you will receive many pamphlets, catalogs, and brochures telling you about
those schools.
The PSAT/NMSQT is given each year in mid-October.
The format consists of alternating verbal and math sections. The Verbal Section
consists of 58 questions; 16 Sentence Completion, 12 Analogies, and 30 Critical Reading Questions. The Math Section consists of 50 questions; 25 Multiple-Choice, 15 Quantitative Comparisons, and 10 Student produced responses.
The Math Section covers arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. No calculator is required.
You can start taking the PSAT/NMSQT as early as your ninth grade year, and you may take it multiple times.
The PSAT/NMSQT is a 2-hour test that includes four 30-minute sections.
Your scores are not usually sent to any college unless you specifically request it, but they do not count it for admission.
Most schools want to see your scores on the SAT or ACT, these are the tests that are used to help colleges make admission decisions.
For more information about the PSAT you can go to www.collegeboard.com or contact your Guidance Counselor.
SAT (SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST) AND SAT II SUBJECT TESTS
You have probably heard about the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). It is a big buzzword for students who are considering college.
WHY?
Many colleges require the SAT I for admission because it is often used as a standard way of measuring a student.s ability to do college-level work. It is used to compare your academic achievements with those of students from different schools.
You should keep in mind though that colleges look at other things when making admission
decisions such as your high school record, essays, recommendations, interviews, and
extracurricular activities. Your SAT I test score is just one of many tools that help colleges make admission decisions.
Your SAT I scores can tell admission staff how you compare with other students who took the test.
All scores are reported on the 200-to-800 scales.
No single score can tell everything vabout how you tested so percentiles and score ranges are also included on the score reports sent to colleges.
Admission staff use these tools to evaluate the scores.
When you request score reports to be sent to colleges, your copy of the report will show you the SAT I verbal and math score ranges for the middle 50 percent of enrolled freshmen for those colleges, if available.
The SAT I measures verbal and math reasoning abilities. These abilities relate to some of the things you need to know to be successful in college.
The SAT I was designed with question types that reflect or show your reasoning abilities, not just the amount of information you have accumulated during school.
The SAT I measures verbal and math reasoning abilities that you develop over years of schooling and in your outside reading and study.
The best way to prepare for the SAT I is to:
Take the PSAT/NMSQT.
Spend time going over sample questions.
Review the directions, learn to pace yourself, and study the types of questions on the SAT I.
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Know the test directions and be familiar with the answer sheet. This is included in Taking the SAT I:
Reasoning Test, which is available at high schools and is free to students taking the test.
For more information about the SAT I you can go to www.collegeboard.com or contact your Guidance Counselor.
RESOURCES
- A Better Chance - www.abetterchance.org The mission is to increase substantially the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.
- CLEO – Council on Legal Education Opportunities – www.cleoscholars.org In 1968, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) was founded as a non-profit project of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education to expand opportunities for minority and low-income students to attend law school. In 1998, Congress passed the Higher Education Amendments Act, creating the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program, which they deemed be administered by CLEO.
- College Board – www.collegeboard.com The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board is composed of more than 5,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.
- Youth Change – www.youthchg.com/ Youth Change and Director Ruth Herman Wells, M.S. have been training youth professionals throughout North America for almost 20 years. We provide information-packed general session, on-site and recorded workshops. We also publish many books, ebooks, and DVDs, all designed to deliver the newest and fastest solutions for the "worst" kid problems.
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