COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TESTS
….THE WHAT AND THE WHY
TRUE OR FALSE
Test scores are all that colleges
look at when considering
potential students?
THE PLAN TEST
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Pre-ACT test
Designed for 9th and 10th grade students
Assesses academics and career interests
Five Sections: English, Math, Reading,
Science, and the Interest Inventory & Needs
Assessment
• Recommended Test Dates: September –
December
THE PLAN TEST (cont’d)
• Test Duration: 1 hour and 55 minutes
• Skills Tested:
Student’s grasp of skills and knowledge and their
ability to apply that knowledge.
• Format/Questions: Multiple Choice
• Study Resources: www.act.org
PRELIMINARY SAT (PSAT/NMSQT)
• Preliminary SAT or National Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Test
• Practice for the SAT Reasoning Test
• Designed 11th grade students*
• Three-Sections: Critical Reading, math, and
writing
• Test Dates: mid-October
PRELIMINARY SAT (PSAT/NMSQT)
(cont’d)
• Test Duration: 2 hours and 10 minutes
• Skills Tested:
Critical Reading Section: extended reasoning,
literal comprehension, and vocabulary in
context
Math: algebra, functions, geometry,
measurement, data analysis, statistics, and
probability.
Writing: grammar, usage, and word choice
PRELIMINARY SAT (PSAT/NMSQT)
(cont’d)
• Format/Questions:
Critical Reading: uses sentence completion
and passage-based readings.
Math: uses multiple choice questions and
student-produced responses
Writing: uses multiple choice questions that
include improving sentences, identifying
sentence errors and improving paragraphs
• Study Resource: www.collegeboard.com
PRELIMINARY SAT (PSAT/NMSQT)
(cont’d)
• Scoring Information: The PSAT uses a negative
scoring system in which a student loses a
fraction of a point for each incorrect answer.
(Hint: Students must learn to recognize the
questions they should skip in preparation for
the PSAT).
THE ACT ASSESSMENT
• “American College Test”
• College entrance examination that measures
students’ knowledge and skills in English,
math, reading, and science reasoning, and the
application of these skills to future academic
tasks.
• Most colleges will use either the ACT or SAT
scores for admissions purposes.
THE ACT ASSESSMENT (cont’d)
• The writing test on the ACT is optional and
dependant upon individual college
requirements
• Test Duration: 2 hours and 55 minutes
• Test Dates: The ACT is given several times
throughout the traditional school year.
THE ACT ASSESSMENT (cont’d)
• Skills Tested:
English: punctuation, grammar, usage,
sentence structure, and rhetorical skills
including strategy, organization, and style.
Math: measures math skills usually acquired
by the end of the 11th grade year. Students
will need knowledge of basic formulas and
computational skills.
THE ACT ASSESSMENT (cont’d)
• Skills Tested
Reading: Requires students to show understanding
of both direct and implied meaning.
Science: This test assumes that students are in the
process of taking three years or more of core
science classes. These classes should include earth
science and/or physical science and or biology.
Writing (optional): Requires students to define an
issue and describe two points of views on that issue.
THE ACT ASSESSMENT (cont’d)
• Format/Questions: With the exception of the
writing test, multiple choice questions are
used in all the sections.
• Study Resources: www.act.org
• Additional Information: Unlike the SAT, the
ACT does not use negative scoring.
• Students may use certain types of calculators
on the mathematics section, but not on the
science section.
THE SAT REASONING TEST
• “The Scholastic Aptitude Test”
• The SAT is widely used in college admission to
assess a student’s readiness for and potential
for success in college.
• This test measures a students’ abilities in
critical reading, mathematics, and writing.
• Test Duration: 3 hours and 45 minutes
• Test Dates: The SAT test is offered several
times throughout the school year.
THE SAT REASONING TEST (cont’d)
• Skills Tested:
Critical Reading: This section measures a
student’s ability to identify genres, relationships
among parts of a text, cause and effect, rhetorical
devices, and comparative arguments.
*Reading passages are taken from different fields
including the natural sciences, the humanities,
the social sciences, and literary fiction.
THE SAT REASONING TEST (cont’d)
Skills Tested:
Math: This section measures a student’s
ability in numbers and operations; Algebra I, II,
and functions; geometry, and statistics,
probability, and data analysis.
Writing: This section is multiple choice and it
measures a student’s ability to recognize
errors, improve sentences, and improve
paragraphs within a written context.
THE SAT REASONING TEST (cont’d)
• Essay: This section measures a student’s ability
to develop and support a position on a topic.
• Format/Questions:
Critical Reading: This sections includes sentence
completions and multiple-choice items based on
the reading passage.
Math: Includes multiple-choice and student
produced responses.
Writing: This section requires students to answer
multiple-choice questions and write an essay.
THE SAT REASONING TEST
Study Resources: www.college board.org
Scoring Information: Like the PSAT the SAT uses
a negative scoring system.