Mrs. Kathy Van Liefde
Counselor – Jesuit High School

 9 th STS Educational Development
Assessment
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Similar to the entrance exam
 10 th PLAN – predictor to the ACT
 11 th PSAT – predictor to the SAT, gateway to the National Merit Scholarship Program

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My College QuickStart: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html
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 A free, personalized college and career planning tool powered by your PSAT/NMSQT results.
See your PSAT/NMSQT scores and your projected SAT score.
Review questions you got wrong —and why.
Practice for the SAT with hundreds of practice questions.
Save your college searches.
Take a personality test to find majors and careers fit for you

 All colleges will accept either the SAT
Reasoning or the ACT
 Only specific colleges require the SAT
Subject Tests

 SAT and ACT May/June of Junior year
 SAT and ACT Fall of the Senior year
 Subject Test as appropriate-if needed
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AP Bio, Bio XL June of Sophomore year
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Chemistry June of Junior year
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Math Level 2 fall of Senior year

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UC’s require/recommend tests for specific majors
 Testing requirements can be found on the school website under Admissions
 Website: http://www.collegeboard.com/
 http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissio ns/freshman/requirements/examinationrequirement/SAT-subject-tests/index.html

 Score Choice: http://sat.collegeboard.com/register/sat-score-choice
 Universities Score
Practice: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profd ownload/sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf

 The ACT includes a science test; the SAT does not.
 The ACT math section includes trigonometry.
 The SAT tests vocabulary much more than the ACT.
 The SAT is not entirely multiple choice.
 The SAT has a guessing penalty; the ACT does not.
 The ACT tests English grammar; the SAT does not.
 Remember, both the SAT and ACT are important parts of your application, but they're only one of several factors--from your courses and grades to recommendations and your personal statement--that colleges consider.

 http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdo wnload/act-sat-concordance-tables.pdf

 Takes 3 hr and 45 min
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Consists of 10 separately timed sections
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1 essay (25min)
3 critical reading (70min)
3 mathematics (70min)
2 writing questions(50min)
1 variable (unscored) critical reading, math, or writing
Includes three kinds of questions:
 Multiple-choice questions
 Student-produced responses
(mathematics only)
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Essay question
Scored by machine, except for the essay
.25 deduction for wrong answers

The ACT contains five curriculum-based tests:
 English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science Tests are standardized, multiple-choice
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Tests based on the major areas of high school instructional programs
The optional Writing Test is an impromptu essay on a given prompt.
Performance on these tests has a direct relationship to a student’s educational achievement.
There is no penalty for guessing

The English Test is a
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75-item, 45-minute test.
Measures the student’s understanding of the
 conventions of standard written English
(punctuation, grammar and usage, and sentence structure) and of
 rhetorical skills (strategy, organization, and style)

The Mathematics Test is a
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60-item, 60-minute test designed to assess the mathematical skills that students have typically acquired in courses taken up to the beginning of grade
12
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These courses generally include Algebra 1,
Geometry, and Algebra 2 (which covers beginning trigonometry concepts)

The Reading Test is a
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40-item, 35-minute test measures the student’s reading comprehension as a product of referring and reasoning skills. That is, the test items require the student to derive meaning from several texts by
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 referring to what is explicitly stated reasoning to determine implicit meanings and to draw conclusions, comparisons, and generalizations

The Science Test is a
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40-item, 35-minute test
The test measures the student’s interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in the natural sciences.

The Writing Test is a
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30-minute essay test
Measures students’ writing skills—
 specifically those writing skills emphasized in high school English classes and in entry-level college composition courses
Consists of one writing prompt that defines an issue and describes two points of view on that issue

 http://www.actstudent.org/regist/actfees.html
 http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ sat-reasoning/register/fees

 http://www.actstudent.org/regist/currentdates.
html
 http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ sat/calenfees.html