PSAT, SAT, ACT, & AP TESTING INFORMATION PRESENTED BY WES KEAN AND MARY BETH MARAZZA

BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL GUIDANCE WEBSITE: Under the Office of Collegiate Affairs tab, among other things, you will find the following…

THE OFFICE OF COLLEGIATE AFFAIRS A timeline under the College Application Information tab Guidance &College Visitation Calendars PSAT, SAT, ACT, and AP testing, registration information & preparation links Scholarships

THE PSAT Taken by Sophomores & Juniors Sophomores take it for practice and to determine strengths and weaknesses National Merit $cholarship Qualifying Exam for Juniors

THE PSAT Cost: $15 for 10 th grade, free for 11 th grade students Administered October 15, 2015 Results are reviewed in December Registration will take place April 20, 2015 – April 30, Papers will be distributed in homeroom and will be available on the guidance website

THE PSAT Changes for October 2015: Duration: 2 hrs. & 45 min Reading test, Writing and Language test, and Math test  Scoring will now be Rights-Only Scoring Receive point for correct answer, no deduction for incorrect answer or skipping a question

THE SAT Register by way of the Guidance website or Cost: $43.00 (+ $28.00 late fee if registering after the deadline) Select the Correct Testing Site! Upload a Photo ID and bring it along with the registration confirmation to the testing center. NO STUDENT IS ADMITTED WITHOUT A PHOTO ID

THE SAT We recommend that juniors take it twice: once in May or June and again in October.

THE ACT Register by way of the Guidance website or Cost: $ $16.50—Plus writing (add $21.00 late fee) Select the Correct Testing Site! Upload a Photo ID and bring it along with the photo admission ticket to the testing center. NO STUDENT IS ADMITTED WITHOUT A PHOTO ID and PHOTO ADMISSION TICKET

THE ACT We recommend that juniors take the ACT in April OR June (In 2015 the last test at NORWIN will be APRIL 18th)

Fee waivers are available for both test for students who qualify for free/reduced lunch!

SAT vs ACT

Duration: 3 hrs 3 ½ hrs (+ writing) Duration: 3 hrs, 45 Min ACT VS SAT

Is a more “big picture,”curriculum based exam yielding a single COMPOSITE score. Is broken into 10 sections yielding three scores: Critical Reading Mathematics Writing ACT VS SAT

SCORING ACT SAT 36 pts total WRITING scored separately out of 12 pts 800 pts/section ( 2400 pts total) SUBJECT TESTS scored separately ( pts)

Verbal questions tend to be more straightforward Verbal questions tend to require a little more thought and time in order to interpret and produce a response ACT VS SAT

Has a Science section. Has NO Science section, but has a strong emphasis on VOCABULARY ACT VS SAT

Measures more advanced math concepts (algebra 1 & 2, geometry and trigonometry) Measures through Algebra 2. ACT VS SAT

The 30 minute Writing section is, optional though may be required by the college of choice. The writing score is listed separately. The 25 minute essay is required and is factored into the writing score. ACT VS SAT

Each content area (English, Math, Reading, and Science) is taken in one big chunk of time per area Each content area ( Critical Reading, Math, and Writing ) is broken up into 10 alternating sections with the writing at the beginning ACT VS SAT

. College Admissions Counselors are MOST concerned about the COMPOSITE score College Admissions Counselors care about how you performed on EACH SECTION of the test (Critical Reading, Math, & Writing) ACT VS SAT

. Does NOT administer Subject Tests SAT administers a separate battery of Subject Tests to measure a depth of knowledge in a particular subject area. ACT VS SAT

SAT SUBJECT TESTS Literature Biology, Electricity & Magnetism, Chemistry, Physics Mathematics Levels I & II U.S. History &World History

SAT SUBJECT TESTS Languages with reading only option: French Spanish German Modern Hebrew Latin Italian

SAT SUBJECT TESTS Languages with Listening: French Spanish German Japanese Chinese Korean

MORE ON SCORING - SAT Average SAT is 1500 Students earn 1 pt/per correct answer Students are DEDUCTED ¼ pt per incorrect answer Scores below 1100 are considered LOW at most 4 year colleges

MORE ON SCORING - ACT Average ACT is between 20 & 21 Students earn 1 pt/per correct answer NO PENALTY for skipped or incorrect answers A score below 15 is considered LOW

SAT TIPS GUESS ONLY if you can ELIMINATE 1 or more items. Statistically, you will have a greater chance of earning more points…

SAT TIPS Know The Order of Difficulty: Easy (the first 1/3 of ea. section) Medium (the second 1/3 of ea section) Hard (The last 1/3 of ea section)

SAT TIPS Knowing the order of difficulty enables you to spend MORE time on the first two sections ensuring you have the correct answers. With the remaining time, the “Process of Elimination” strategy can be applied!

SAT TIPS Words from the Wise (AKA The Princeton Review): If you are working on an easy question, the answer that seems correct, IS correct… However, the OPPOSITE is true when you are working on a HARD question. Eliminate that item (the distractor) and perhaps another before you GUESS!!!

REMEMBER YOU DO NOT LOSE POINTS FOR GUESSING ON THE ACT

SAT & ACT WRITING TIPS Keep it Tidy! Write legibly! Write using the traditional Introduction (with a clear thesis), Body of supporting evidence, and Conclusion summarizing your essay.

SAT & ACT WRITING TIPS INDENT and Use ALL of the spaces on the answer sheet USE BIG WORDS, particularly in the introduction and the conclusion!

SAT & ACT PREP Access SAT & ACT Preparation links from the Guidance Website! /5385

SAT Changes coming for the class of 2017…

SOURCES FOR THIS PRESENTATION /File:SAT-ACT_Preference_Map.svg